Securing whiteness?: Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the securitization of Muslims in education

ABSTRACT

This article revisits Critical Race Theory and brings it’s explanatory capacity to bear on the contemporary racialization of Muslims in Europe, most specifically the experience of British Muslim communities in education. The article argues that CRT can provide a theoretically fruitful means of gauging the ways in which anti-Muslim discrimination might be engendered through various strategies around securitization. In a social and political context characterized by a hyper-vigilance of Muslim educators in particular, the article concludes that applying CRT allows us to explore how a general latent whiteness is given political content through a particular racialization of Muslims.

KEYWORDS:

• British Muslims
• securitization
• Critical Race Theory
• interest convergence
• fundamental British values
• whiteness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/19/sadiq-khan-leads-calls-for-calm-in-wake-of-finsbury-park-terror-attack-6718247/ We are grateful to Claire Alexander for making us aware of this reference.