Intersecting flows of Islamophobia («INTERSECT»)

The last decades have witnessed a sharp rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiments and practices (often referred to as "Islamophobia") across the world. The term itself is highly disputed, but has gained increased academic acceptance in recent years. Islamophobia is expressed in various societal fields; in some countries mostly through social media, in others also in politics, law and/or violence against Muslim minority communities. Anti-Muslim legislation may regulate citizenship rights, marriage rights, or death rituals in ways that affect Muslim communities in particular ways. Hate against Islam and Muslim practices have become a prominent feature of public debate in Europe and North America. In the Norwegian context organizations like SIAN (Stop Islamization of Norway) takes advantage of Norway’s liberal freedom of speech legislation to burn the Quran in public space, as a tool to stop the alleged Islamization of Norway. INTERSECT research shows, however, that such ritualized forms of public Islamophobia constitute a rather specific cultural expression found in the Nordic region. INTERSECT research has contributed to our understanding of Islamophobia by showing that Islamophobia is not confined to the West. On the contrary, anti-Muslim sentiments are politically significant in other parts of the world as well, for instance in China, India and Buddhist Asia. In existing research, the global aspects of Islamophobia have received little scholarly attention, and are mostly treated as parallel, local phenomena. However, INTERSECT research provide empirical evidence demonstrating that Islamophobic content travels across local contexts. For example, we see evidence of such transnational flows with regard to the mosque attacks in New Zealand and the mosque attack in Bærum and the killing of Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen in 2019. Also, our research show that notions of so-called “Love Jihad” (that Muslim men allure non-Muslim women into marriage as a means of Islamization) is a trope originating in India, now spreading to other parts of the globe. In INTERSECT we study "Islamophobia" as a globalizing phenomenon transmitted beyond local communities of origin through tropes, persons and artefacts, and as a phenomenon negotiated at various scales, and as intersecting flows facilitated by increased mobility and digital mediatization. You can read more about the project at our webpage: intersectingflows.com

The last decades have witnessed a sharp rise in anti-Muslim sentiments and practices (Islamophobia) across the world. This is expressed in traditional media and social media. Concerns over Islam and Muslim practices (like female veiling, halal slaughter and public religiosity) have become a prominent feature of public debate in Europe and North America. Importantly, however, Islamophobia is not confined to the ‘West’. On the contrary, anti-Muslim sentiments and violence are high in other parts of the world as well, particularly in India and Buddhist Asia where violence against Muslim minorities are on the rise. The 2017 ethnic cleansing of more than 700 000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh is so far the most extreme and violent expression of Buddhist fears of Islam. In existing research, the global aspects of Islamophobia have received surprisingly little scholarly attention, and Islamophobia is mostly treated as parallel, local phenomena. However, there is empirical evidence demonstrating that Islamophobia travels across local contexts. In order to address this research lacuna, INTERSECT researchers will study Islamophobia as a global phenomenon transmitted beyond local communities of origin through tropes, persons and artefacts, and as a phenomenon negotiated at various scales. The aim of INTERSECT is three-fold 1) to explore Islamophobia as a global phenomenon through the analysis of intersecting flows and scalability, 2) to theorize Islamophobia as a global phenomenon, and 3) to theorize how Islamophobic dystopias re-configure notions of nationhood. By bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines (religious studies, anthropology, media studies, online research) this project seeks to break new theoretical and methodological grounds in the study of nationalism, religion and globalization. We believe the project to offer important academic innovation, as well as having high societal relevance, in Norway/Scandinavia and beyond.