What’s the point? Anti-racism and students’ voices against Islamophobia

Abstract

In a climate of Islamophobic racism, where media racism saturates our TV screens and newspapers, where racism on the streets, on campus, in our community become everyday realities, I ask, what can we – teachers, lecturers and educationalists – do in the work of anti-racism in education? This article examines classroom debates on Islamophobia by exploring the connections between student experiences and the wider social political issues and ideologies that create and re-enforce racism. The underlying interest for me is to examine the ways in which classroom interaction; dialogue and exchanges can undo racist thinking by informed anti-racist critique. This article has three sections; first, I discuss the multicultural and anti-racist discourses within education in the British context. I then go on to explore theoretical developments found in Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a tool for this anti-racism in education. In the second section I examine Islamophobia, the hatred of Muslims, as a measurement of current racism. My interest is to explore the meanings of Islamophobia, and its relevance to students lived realities. Media representation and text on Islamophobia are used as a way of pulling out the student views and lived experiences of such racism. In the final section I raise the question of ‘what’s the point of studying racism?’ Here I discuss a class seminar on the viewing of a YouTube role play of a racist incident against a hijaab wearing woman. The point here is to unpack student’s views and reactions to Islamophobia. I conclude that classroom discussions can be a place where anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-oppressive views emerge to inform the discussion for social justice in education.

Keywords:

• Critical Race Theory
• anti-racism
• social justice education and student voice

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Joyce Canaan for her reading of this paper. Her feminist, anti-racist and critical pedagogy has brought much clarity to my writing.