Islam isn’t a racial group. But here in the United States of 2016, Muslims are often treated as if they’re part of a single, fundamental category, endowed with certain essential and inborn characteristics. That construction of Muslim-ness can seem closely related to the construction of racial categories.
Scholars call this process racialization. And while the term is contested, there’s certainly evidence that Muslim-ness in the United States is constructed as a kind of racial category, no matter how incoherent that construction may seem.
Hoping to understand this process better, The Cubit called up Saher Selod, a sociologist at Simmons College who studies the racialization of American Muslim communities. She spoke with RD about racial categorization, the surveillance state, and why Sikh men are so often confused for Muslims.
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