Diversity and exclusion an intersectional analysis of the experiences of Muslim students after the 2016 Presidential Election
Date
2019
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
After the events of September 11, 2001, Muslim people from diverse backgrounds experienced violence and discrimination which altered both gendered and racialized Muslim identity in the US. This has contributed to the societal reshaping of the Muslim experience, yet, more recently, the 2016 Presidential Election and its aftermath has impacted various marginalized groups. Muslims have once again encountered a hostile sociopolitical climate where they experience victimization through harassment, biased hate speech, and violence in broader society. ☐ While there have been some studies surrounding the experiences of Muslim students at American colleges and universities in the years after 9/11, there remains a focus on specific types of students thus, largely erasing the diversity of Muslims and their intersecting social identities. Among studies regarding Muslim students, there remains a heavy focus on those from the Middle East, international students, and veiled women thus, marginalizing domestic Muslim Americans across race/ethnicity, women who do not veil, and non-Arab/South Asian Muslim populations. ☐ This qualitative study examines the experiences of self-identified Muslim students attending a predominantly white institution (PWI) and a historically black college/university (HBCU) in a Mid-Atlantic state through in-depth interviews (n=50) to capture a more comprehensive understanding of the diversity of Muslim students’ experiences in the Trump Era. This study centers the perceptions of Muslim students at specific intersecting identities (gender, race/ethnicity, citizenship/legal status, region of national origin, as well as student status), to gain greater insight into how a diverse population of marginalized religious minorities perceive issues surrounding Islamophobia, xenophobia, and anti-Black racism given the changing sociopolitical climate of the US. ☐ Findings indicate unique experiences within the Muslim student population linked to social identities including gender and race/ethnicity, but also, between undergraduates and graduates, as well as international, immigrant, and domestic students. This study additionally contributes to understanding perceptions surrounding inclusive diversity for marginalized Muslim students, especially given the compounded nature of Islamophobia, xenophobia, and anti-Black racism. In addition, the intersectional nature of Islamophobia, exacerbated by social intolerance, has resulted in racially motivated harassment of Muslim women via microaggressions on campus, as well as hostility, intimidation, and violence in public spaces. Finally, this study proposes a theoretical model of Twice Racialized Intersectionality to examine the unique experiences of multi-layered racism on doubly marginalized individuals, as well as under-studied Muslim adjacent communities.