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ABSTRACT
Recent debates in social and cultural geography on the inclusionary/exclusionary nature of space have brought our attention to the ‘everywhere different’ nature of racism across cities. Among these debates have been calls to interrogate the socio-spatial dimensions of new forms of racism, like Islamophobia as they evolve. This paper draws on the findings of an online survey conducted from September 2016 to April 2017 with young Muslim American residents of the Bay Area, California. It provides empirical material on the way young Muslims map ‘the geography of Islamophobia’ across this region to uncover how the racialization of Muslims has translated into perceptions of racism across city spaces. The findings indicate that Islamophobia occurs in various public spheres, particularly on public transport and in airports. There is a spatial concentration of Islamophobic spaces in the Bay Area, focussed in the North and Outer-East Bay regions – relatively rural parts of the region with a less significant Muslim population. Conversely, areas with larger Muslim populations were associated with lower levels of perceived Islamophobia. This paper highlights the need for more localised, socio-spatial engagements in racism that capture the evolving nature of the American racisms, and how they are spatialised across cities.
RÉSUMÉ
Investigaciones recientes en geografía social y cultural sobre la naturaleza inclusiva/excluyente del espacio han llamado la atención sobre la naturaleza ‘diferente en todas partes’ del racismo en las ciudades. Ha habido llamadas a interrogar las dimensiones socio-espaciales de nuevas formas de racismo como la islamofobia. Este artículo informa sobre los hallazgos de una encuesta en línea realizada entre septiembre de 2016 y abril de 2017 a jóvenes musulmanes residentes estadounidenses en el Área de la Bahía, California. Proporciona material empírico sobre ‘la geografía de la islamofobia’ en esta región, basándose en la forma en que los jóvenes musulmanes trazan el mapa de ‘la geografía de la islamofobia’ en toda la ciudad. Los resultados indican que la islamofobia es percibida en varios espacios públicos, particularmente en el transporte público y en los aeropuertos. Hay una concentración espacial de espacios islamófobos en el área, enfocados en las regiones del Norte y del Este de la Bahía, partes relativamente rurales de la región con una población musulmana menos significativa. En contraste, las áreas con poblaciones musulmanas más grandes se asociaron con niveles más bajos de islamofobia percibida. Este documento destaca la necesidad de compromisos socio-espaciales más localizados sobre el racismo que capturen las transformaciones de los racismos estadounidenses y cómo estos se espacializan en las ciudades.
RÉSUMÉ
Les travaux récents en géographie sociale et culturelle sur la dimension inclusive ou exclusive de l’espace ont attiré notre attention sur le caractère polymorphe du racisme à travers les villes. Il est désormais urgent d’interroger la dimension socio-spatiale des nouvelles formes de racisme telles l’islamophobie. Cet article rend compte des résultats d’un questionnaire diffusé en ligne de septembre 2016 à avril 2017 auprès de jeunes musulmans américains résidant dans la Baie de San Francisco, en Californie. L’article fournit des données empiriques sur la « géographie de l’islamophobie » dans cet espace à partir de la façon dont les jeunes musulmans cartographient l’islamophobie à travers la ville. Les résultats montrent que l’islamophobie est ressentie dans différents espaces publics, tout particulièrement dans les transports en commun et les aéroports. Une concentration des espaces de l’islamophobie est perceptible au Nord et dans le Grand-Est de la Baie, deux régions relativement rurales où la population musulmane est plus faible que dans le reste de la Baie. À l’inverse, les espaces où la population musulmane est plus élevée ont été associés à une perception moins forte de l’islamophobie. Cet article souligne la nécessité de mener davantage d’études socio-spatiales et localisées sur le racisme afin de refléter la nature changeante des racismes américains et la façon dont ils se spatialisent au travers des villes.
PALABRAS CLAVE:
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Endeavour Postgraduate Scholarship, the PhD supervisory staff at Western Sydney University as well as the generous voluntary efforts of academic staff at the University of California, Berkeley. Supporters from UC Berkeley included Dr Hatem Bazian from the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at the Center for Race and Gender, who supervised the data collection/fieldwork, Dr. John Stehlin from the Department of Geography who advised on the formation of the regional boundaries used in this paper and Samir Gambhir who gracefully assisted with generating the maps presented in this body of work. Finally, thank you to the members of the Muslim community in the Bay Area for sharing your time and experiences to bring this research to life.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Pioneered by Edward Said’s Orientalism (Citation1978), a wide range of scholars have discussed the long-standing history of anti-Muslim sentiment and discourse in the American psyche from the Iranian 1979 Revolution, onwards, and the ongoing othering of the Arab ‘Muslim terrorist’ as political enemy (Maira, Citation2016; Orfalea, Citation2006).
2. Asian American’s are commonly depicted as academic superstars or model minorities through economic success. According to the model-minority stereotype, Asian Americans are successful because they work hard and come from cultures that believe in the value of education. The success of Asian Americans is often contrasted with the underachievement of other minorities (Lee, Citation1994, p. 413).
3. See for example, Lucy and Phillips (Citation2001) and Vicino (Citation2008).
4. The study also involved semi-structured interviews which are not analysed in this paper.
5. Surveys were excluded from analysis on the following basis: immigration status that did not satisfy the requirements of participation, exceeding the age-range of 18–35 years, or partially completed surveys.
6. These groups included: ‘Bay Area Muslims’, ‘Muslim Writers Collective’ and Muslim Student Associations across the Bay Area.
7. Questions on Islamic identity were interested in Muslim dress codes adopted, levels of religiosity, commitment to prayer and duration of religious practice in years.
8. ‘SD’ is used in the remainder of this paper when referring to the Semantic Differential scale questions in the Survey.
9. These had been tested and superseded with scales used in Itaoui’s (Citation2016) mapping of Islamophobia across Sydney, Australia.
10. Safe (crime rates)/unsafe (crime rates) and wealthy/poor were also used in the survey, however these SD adjectives were not analysed in this paper as they were the two sets of indicators that did not reflect rates of Islamophobia.
11. Muslims are commanded to perform salah – prayers, five times a day, assigned to prescribed times which are measured according to the movements of the sun.