Editing Islamophobia (section)

===Identity politics===
It has been suggested that Islamophobia is closely related to [[identity politics]], and gives its adherents the perceived benefit of constructing their identity in opposition to a negative, essentialized image of Muslims. This occurs in the form of self-righteousness, assignment of blame and key identity markers.<ref name="doving1">{{cite journal |last1=Døving |first1=Cora Alexa |year=2010 |title=Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia: A Comparison of Imposed Group Identities |journal=Tidsskrift for Islamforskning |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=52–76 |doi=10.7146/tifo.v4i2.24596 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Davina Bhandar writes that:<ref name="Bhandar">{{Cite journal | last1 = Bhandar | first1 = D. | title = Cultural politics: Disciplining citizenship | doi = 10.1080/13621021003731963 | journal = Citizenship Studies | volume = 14 | issue = 3 | pages = 331–43 | year = 2010 | s2cid = 146490574 }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=[...] the term 'cultural' has become synonymous with the category of the ethnic or minority [...]. It views culture as an entity that is highly abstracted from the practices of daily life and therefore represents the illusion that there exists a spirit of the people. This formulation leads to the homogenisation of cultural identity and the ascription of particular values and proclivities onto minority cultural groups.}}

She views this as an [[ontology|ontological]] trap that hinders the perception of culture as something "materially situated in the living practices of the everyday, situated in time-space and not based in abstract projections of what constitutes either a particular tradition or culture."

In some societies, Islamophobia has materialized due to the portrayal of Islam and Muslims as the national "[[Other (philosophy)|Other]]", where exclusion and discrimination occurs on the basis of their religion and civilization which differs with national tradition and identity. Examples include Pakistani and Algerian migrants in Britain and France respectively.{{sfn|Poole|2003|p=216}}{{sfn|Miles|Brown|2003|p=163}} This sentiment, according to Malcolm Brown and Robert Miles, significantly interacts with [[racism]], although Islamophobia itself is not racism.{{sfn|Miles|Brown|2003|p=163}}{{sfn|Miles|Brown|2003|p=164}} Author [[Doug Saunders]] has drawn parallels between [[Islamophobia in the United States]] and its older [[Anti-Catholicism in the United States|discrimination and hate against Roman Catholics]], saying that Catholicism was seen as backwards and imperial, while Catholic immigrants had poorer education and some were responsible for crime and terrorism.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Saunders|first=Doug|author-link=Doug Saunders|date=2012-09-17|title=Opinion: Catholics Then, Muslims Now|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/catholics-then-muslims-now.html|access-date=2014-02-18|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Haddad|2002|p=19}}<ref>''Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All (Summary)'', Runnymede Trust, 1997, p. 1, cited in {{cite book |last=Quraishi |first=Muzammil |title=Muslims and crime: a comparative study |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7546-4233-6 |location=Aldershot, Hants, England |page=60}}</ref>

Brown and Miles write that another feature of Islamophobic discourse is to amalgamate nationality (e.g. Saudi), religion (Islam), and politics (terrorism, fundamentalism)&nbsp;– while most other religions are not associated with terrorism, or even "ethnic or national distinctiveness".{{sfn|Miles|Brown|2003|p=163}} They feel that "many of the stereotypes and misinformation that contribute to the articulation of Islamophobia are rooted in a particular perception of Islam", such as the notion that Islam promotes terrorism&nbsp;– especially prevalent after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].{{sfn|Miles|Brown|2003|p=166}}

The two-way stereotyping resulting from Islamophobia has in some instances resulted in mainstreaming of earlier controversial discourses, such as liberal attitudes towards gender equality<ref name="doving1"/><ref name="Bhandar"/> and homosexuals.<ref name=Mepschen2010>{{Cite journal | last1 = Mepschen | first1 = P. | last2 = Duyvendak | first2 = J. W. | last3 = Tonkens | first3 = E. H. | doi = 10.1177/0038038510375740 | title = Sexual Politics, Orientalism and Multicultural Citizenship in the Netherlands | journal = Sociology | volume = 44 | issue = 5 | pages = 962–79 | year = 2010 | s2cid = 85645153 }}</ref> Christina Ho has warned against framing of such mainstreaming of gender equality in a [[colonialism|colonial]], [[paternalism|paternal]] discourse, arguing that this may undermine minority women's ability to speak out about their concerns.<ref name=Ho2007>{{Cite journal | last = Ho | first = Christina | title = Muslim women's new defenders: Women's rights, nationalism and Islamophobia in contemporary Australia | journal = [[Women's Studies International Forum]] | volume = 30 | issue = 4 | pages = 290–98 | doi = 10.1016/j.wsif.2007.05.002 | date = July–August 2007 | hdl = 10453/3255 | url = https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/3255/3/2006009025.pdf | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

[[Steven Salaita]] contends that, since 9/11, [[Arab Americans]] have evolved from what Nadine Naber described as an invisible group in the United States into a highly visible community that directly or indirectly has an effect on the United States' culture wars, foreign policy, presidential elections and legislative tradition.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://muse.jhu.edu/article/209750/summary|title = Beyond Orientalism and Islamophobia: 9/11, Anti-Arab Racism, and the Mythos of National Pride|last = Salaita|first = Steven|date = Fall 2006|journal = CR: The New Centennial Review|doi = 10.1353/ncr.2007.0011|access-date = 20 November 2015|issue = 2|volume = 6|pages = 245–266|s2cid = 143847106}}</ref>

The academics S. Sayyid and Abdoolkarim Vakil maintain that Islamophobia is a response to the emergence of a distinct Muslim public identity globally, the presence of Muslims in itself not being an indicator of the degree of Islamophobia in a society. Sayyid and Vakil maintain that there are societies where virtually no Muslims live but many institutionalized forms of Islamophobia still exist in them.<ref name=Sayyid&Vakil>{{cite book |last1=Sayyid |first1=Salman |author-link=Salman Sayyid |last2=Vakil |first2=Abdoolkarim |year=2010 |title=Thinking Through Islamophobia: Global Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=glHhHIaCm9AC |location=New York |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |page=319 |isbn=9780231702065}}</ref>