Seminar in Middle East and North African Studies (301-1-20)

Topic

Traveling While Muslim: Islam, Mobility, and Secur

Instructors

Emrah Yildiz
1819 Hinman Ave, #103
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1-3pm

Meeting Info

ANTHRO Sem Rm 104 - 1810 Hinmn: Tues, Thurs 5:00PM - 6:20PM

Overview of class

Particularly after the 9/11 attacks and during the war on terror that has ensued shortly thereafter, Muslims on the move—from international students and pilgrims to scientists and artists—have faced increasing scrutiny and surveillance in both global travel economies and national immigration regimes, especially under the rule of authoritarian leaders in power across the globe from the US to India. What often unites Modi's India and Trump's United States is Islamophobia— albeit in different guises—or the racialization of Islam and Muslims. What are the stakes of traveling while Muslim in that post 9/11 era of racing Islam? What assumptions underpin the attendant constructions of religion and race in such understandings, as various state and non-state actors enlist themselves to manage the movements of Muslims? In probing these questions, this seminar has three aims: (1) becoming well-versed in studies of Islam and Islamophobia in the US and across the globe, (2) gaining a better understanding of Islam as a center tenet in a deeply uneven and racialized regime of ‘global' mobility, and lastly, (3) critically designs of security that manage those differential regimes of mobility.