尤物视频

On November 14th, 2017 Itrath Syed, a PhD Candidate at the School of Communications at SFU gave a lecture on Gendered Islamophobia and Muslim Women鈥檚 Resistance (). Following the talk, Itrath was in conversation with Samaah Jaffer of SFU鈥檚 Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Here is a transcript of their discussion:

Samaah Jaffer: How do you see the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project鈥檚 notion of 鈥渃ivilizational rehab鈥� enacted in Canada?

Itrath Syed: One of the things that I look at in my dissertation is the ideological genealogies of Islamophobia. It is the idea that Muslims are pre-modern and that anything that identifies someone as Muslim is irredeemably premodern. They challenge the core of the western enlightenment theory. That is, with enough development, everybody will look the same, everyone will experience life the same. Some Muslims live their lives in a way that defy that kind of dichotomy between modernity and pre-modernity. For example, Muslims who choose to identify religiously in various different kinds of ways but also want to run for political office or want to get a PhD or want to do many of the other things that are normally associated with a particular construct of modernity.  

SJ: We see moral panic emerge around such instances. For example, Dalhousie student and public figure at her university, Masuma Khan. The awful threats that were sent to her inbox. The media covered the story based on her involvement as a student and nothing was said about the individual behind the threats.

IS: She鈥檚 a relatively young person. She鈥檚 an undergrad. The rape threats were from adult men. The university should have mobilized on protecting her. That should have been the primary concern of the university. But it wasn鈥檛. It was around protecting white fragility. There is an institutional imbalance of power that was activated in this instance. What was activated was the model minority discourse. Where the Muslim community itself is like, 鈥淭hey hate us. Let鈥檚 all behave. Lets just be quiet.鈥� That part of the discourse is understandable because it鈥檚 a part of a response of a community that feels racialized. It鈥檚 also a disciplinary force that鈥檚 used both within the community and by the state to marginalized communities. Masuma鈥檚 political words and her defiance in the face of massive civilizational institutional attacks really made her a problem subject for the Muslim community, for the university and for political discourse. There was no box to put her in.

SJ: In this, we see that institutions can also be a site of Islamophobia in discourse and in the classroom.

IS: I had experiences as an undergrad and as a grad student. I know there鈥檚 a difference. When I walk into a classroom, I have to do an extra amount of labour to establish authority. There鈥檚 a certain kind of labour there that I have to do because my body is not read as being naturally one in that role. I鈥檝e been teaching for about ten years. Still, Whenever I walk into the copy room, I am assumed to be a student whose stealing photocopying. I鈥檝e been at that institution for nine years. We understand what people in certain levels of authority are supposed to look like. Muslim women, particularly Muslim women who wear head scarves, are not understood to be naturally in that role. People will tell me about the one book that they read by a Muslim woman. It鈥檚 usually a book that I absolutely hate and is the antithesis of everything that I do or speak or say or write 鈥� and they鈥檒l be like, 鈥淵ou remind me so much of that woman!鈥� And I鈥檓 like 鈥淲ell you can鈥檛 hear me clearly then.鈥� They can鈥檛 tell Indians apart, which I find very interesting.

SJ: You talk about the sites of modernity and how Muslim women don鈥檛 necessarily belong in those spaces both as immigrants and as racialized subjects. For example, Bill 62 (the Quebec legislation disallowing people with face coverings to access certain public services).

IS: It鈥檚 things like taking buses, getting healthcare, accessing childcare, and being a childcare worker. It鈥檚 a real intrusion into the regulation of your body. Even if you don鈥檛 choose to wear a face veil, the rights of women who choose to are very important. People don鈥檛 have to agree with you to get their rights. I think that鈥檚 a basic principle everyone should understand.

SJ: During the Remembrance Day ceremonies at UBC there were Nazi posters that surfaced on the premises. We do see this kind of reemergence of a kind of bold white supremacy. There is an outward expression of it in conjunction with Trump鈥檚 election. It has exasperated Islamophobia in this moment, making these conversations even more important.

IS: In Canada, there鈥檚 been an emboldening of a far right discourse that gets sympathy and power politically. We鈥檝e both been at rallies where we鈥檝e seen people visibly identifying themselves with Trump and trying to provoke the crowd. It鈥檚 a turning point for fascism. It鈥檚 important that we have solidarity across different communities to stand against the rise of fascism. A lot of the Islamophobic tropes that have been deployed by the far right, are actually also present on the left. What makes them so pervasive is because they have resonance. There鈥檚 a lot of people who would not identify themselves as a Nazi, but would be like, 鈥渢hey do have a point.鈥� There is a sort of latent sympathy for the Islamophobic tropes which allow them to gain a logic in the political discourse. I think that has to be challenged.

SJ: A couple months ago my little sister and I were chatting. She was like 鈥淥h, I want to be a hijab fashion blogger to break all the stereotypes.鈥� I don鈥檛 think she was pleased with my response: 鈥渞eally? Another one?鈥� It鈥檚 as if you have to be either submissive, oppressed or shattering all of the stereotypes.

IS: I feel really sad that that鈥檚 still a thing. Didn鈥檛 my generation do enough so that they can have different dreams? I follow @MuslimGirl on Twitter and I find her to be fascinating. I have an ambivalence about the new construction of the consumerist Muslim fashionista where Islam is a style choice. It鈥檚 something that has lent itself very neatly into being used by corporate structures as part of the niche. For example, Ibtihaj Muhammad 鈥� the olympic fencer 鈥� there鈥檚 a new Barbie doll based on her. As a feminist, I don鈥檛 know how to feel about a Muslim Barbie. I adore Ibtihaj Muhammad. If you hear her speak she鈥檚 a force to be reckoned with. She鈥檚 talked publicly in the media and in the Muslim community about the kind of hate that she received by other athletes at the olympics. So I adore her鈥� but a Barbie? I don鈥檛 know.