On the occasion of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia on 15th March, the ReOrientations blog has published a pedagogical pack for teaching Islamophobia. The pack primarily draws on resources produced by ReOrient and the Critical Muslim Studies project.

Islamophobia is not a comfortable study in the academic world in general and particularly in French academia especially when the researcher is Muslim. It is not a mainstream topic in social sciences disciplines like geography, and my experience as a French Muslim geographer can attest to this. The traditional French scientific culture expects researchers to be objective, neutral and external to their object of study.

L’islamophobie n’est pas une étude confortable dans le monde académique en général et particulièrement dans le milieu universitaire français surtout lorsque le chercheur est musulman. Ce n’est pas un sujet courant dans les disciplines des sciences sociales comme la géographie, et mon expérience de géographe musulmane française peut en témoigner. La culture scientifique traditionnelle française attend des chercheurs qu’ils soient objectifs, neutres et extérieurs à leur objet d’étude.

“Are we ready to carry out an intifada in Paris? In the banlieues? In our neighborhoods?”

When Elias d’Imzalene pronounced these words in front of a pro-Palestinian crowd in Paris on the 8th of September 2024, no soul could have predicted the swift turn of events about to unfold. Elias, one of the key leaders of Urgence Palestine — the main pro-Palestinian group in France — had been at the forefront of every protest against the genocide in the country. With his bold and proud Muslimness on display, he achieved what seemed impossible in France: imposing a relevant voice firmly rooted in Islam in a pro-Palestinian space long dominated by the Left.

Debates over the APPG on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia have centred on a key tension: while conceptualising Islamophobia as ‘a form of racism’, clarifies legal and policy tools for addressing it, critics worry that this framing conflates race and religion, potentially neglecting the diversity of Muslim identities. Criticisms, albeit weak, include discussions ranging from claims from commentators from outside the Muslim community that it prevents a legitimate criticism of Islam to claims from within a small section of the Muslim community that Muslims are not a ‘race’ and so on. It is this latter misconception of Muslims and race that I wish to dwell upon in this article, as such critiques often misunderstand the sociological process of racialisation.

In 2004, Saba Mahmood’s Politics of Piety reshaped feminist debates on agency and secularism, challenging entrenched assumptions and sparking sharp critique. Often perceived as overtly anti-Western and critical of dominant feminist paradigms, Mahmood’s work questioned the universal applicability of liberal ideals and the imperialist undertones embedded in the saviour mentality of human rights and feminist endeavours. Twenty years on, the text remains a cornerstone for interrogating secular norms and the intersections of religion, politics, and feminism.