Students in my “Muslims in American Society” course at Rice University are writing blog posts over the course of the semester. Small groups have been assigned on students’ areas of interest including Islamophobia, jihad, Christian-Muslim relations, Islam and hip-hop, and Muslims in the 2016 presidential election. Here is the first blog post titled “Unpacking Islamophobia: History, Politics and Industry.” Here is an excerpt, but I hope you continue reading in the link below:

To further understand the phenomenon of Islamophobia, we would first like to think about the following questions: What is the motivation behind the Islamophobia industry? Why would people donate millions of dollars to perpetuate fear and distortion of Islam? Who is to gain from spreading fear of Muslims? We unpack below the source and reproduction of the irrational fear and negative attitude towards Islam through a historical, political and economic lens.

“This system of Islamophobia in the United States,” Vicky and Benjamin add, “is self-perpetuating as those who profit off of the narrative are the ones who control it the most… By giving this misinformation to influential social and political figures, the narrative is perpetuated as is people’s perception of the prevalence of the issue of Islamic terrorism. ”

Continue reading on our course blog Muslims America