A professor’s casual joke can publicly stigmatize a Muslim student as a terrorist

Evidence

But I remember in the middle of one class or [the] beginning of one class, he’s like, “Oh, we’re talking about Afghanistan today.” But he’s like, “Aziz, have you been to any camps there?” And that really was like crossing the line to me. … The professor was referencing a terrorist training camp. By asking Aziz if he was there, this professor created the association of him with Islamic extremism and terrorism. This stigmatized Aziz in front of his fellow classmates by suggesting he was capable of being disloyal and dangerous to his own country because he was a Muslim. The power dynamic in this relationship prevented Aziz from registering a complaint against his professor because he feared it would impact his grade and status in the program, as well as potential job opportunities. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 321

Categorization

• SEED: Visceral material for the ‘citizens as permanent suspects’ angle — how the classroom and MBA program become sites of racializing surveillance, an intimate US-focus counter to the Global Racial Enemy map.