From Black to Brown: (Non)Shifts in the Racial Positioning of Muslims in the United States

From Black to Brown: (Non)Shifts in the Racial Positioning of Muslims in the United States Public Deposited

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Creator

Husain, Atiya
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology

Abstract

This study examines the racialization of Muslims in the US and what it means for the positioning of Muslims within the US racial framework. I conduct content and discourse analysis of mainstream media representations of Islam and Muslims in newspaper articles, randomly sampling articles from three mainstream newspapers over the period of three years before and after 9/11 to investigate the following research questions: How are Muslims and Islam racialized before and after 9/11? Have there been any shifts in representation during this time period? While a number of studies have conducted content analysis to analyze Muslim racialization, they have focused on "Arabs and Muslims," and thus left African American Muslims outside of their analysis. My primary finding is that Muslims across racial groups are racialized as foreign to the US, and that the ways in which they are racialized as foreign depends on their "actual" race/ethnicity.

Date of publication