Narzanin Massoumi & Tom Mills 
What is Islamophobia? 
Racism, Social Movements and the State

As racist undercurrents in many western societies become manifestly entrenched, the prevalence of Islamophobia – and the need to understand what perpetuates it – has never been greater.



Critiquing the arguments found in notionally left accounts and addressing the limitations of existing responses, What is Islamophobia? demonstrates that Islamophobia is not simply a product of abstract, or discursive, ideological processes, but of concrete social, political and cultural actions undertaken in the pursuit of certain interests.



The book centres on what the editors refer to as the ‘five pillars of Islamophobia’: the institutions and machinery of the state; the far right, incorporating the counterjihad movement; the neoconservative movement; the transnational Zionist movement; and assorted liberal groupings including the pro-war left, and the new atheist movement. The book concludes with reflections on existing strategies for tackling Islamophobia, considering what their distinctive approaches mean for fighting back.

Table of Content

List of Tables

List of Figures

List of Acronyms

Acknowledgements

Part I: Introduction: What is Islamophobia?

1. Islamophobia, Social Movements and the State: For a Movement-centred Approach – Narzanin Massoumi, David Miller and Tom Mills

Part II: Islamophobia, Counter-terrorism and the State

2. Islamophobia as Ideology of U.S. Empire – Arun Kundnani

3. Islamophobia and Empire: An Intermestic Approach to the Study of Anti-Muslim Racism – Deepa Kumar

4. The U.K. Counter-terrorism Matrix: Structural Racism and the Case of Mahdi Hashi – Asim Qureshi

5. The ‘War on Terror’ and the Attack on Muslim Civil Society – Shenaz Bunglawala

Part III: Social Movements From Above

6. Mainstreaming Anti-Muslim Prejudice: The Rise of the Islamophobia Industry in American Electoral Politics – Nathan C. Lean

7. Terror Incognito: Black Flags, Plastic Swords and Other Weapons of Mass Disruption in Australia – Scott Poynting and Linda Briskman

8. Islamophobia, Counter-extremism and the Counterjihad Movement – Hilary Aked

9. The Transatlantic Network: Funding Islamophobia and Israeli Settlements – Sarah Marusek

10. The Neoconservative Movement: Think Tanks as Elite Elements of Social Movements from Above – Tom Griffin, David Miller and Tom Mills

11. Liberal and Left Movements and the Rise of Islamophobia – Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills and David Miller

Part IV: Fighting Back

12. Fighting Back: Challenging the State and Social Movements from Above – Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills and David Miller

Notes on Contributors

Index

About the author

David Miller is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath. He is the co-editor of What is Islamophobia? (Pluto, 2017) and the author of Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy (Pluto, 2007) and A Century of Spin (Pluto, 2007).