American elites projected Orientalist stereotypes onto all Muslim-looking people regardless of actual ethnicity

Evidence

Combined with the results of Study 2, the results from the current study demonstrate Islamophobia as a multifaceted construct. Although AP was strongly correlated with both facets of the IS (rs from . to .69), it was not significantly correlated with sympathy for the Muslim in the film clip like I-CG. This pattern shows that the Islamophobia and Arab American prejudice scales tap different constructs despite their strong link. — Sherman A. Lee, Chelsea A. Reid, Stephen D. Short, Jeffrey A. Gibbons, Ruth Yeh, and Matthew L. Campbell, Fear of Muslims, 140 (#complicates, via linked claim)

However, abolitionists capitalized on this opportunity to denounce American slavery, seeing in the attention received by white slavery a chance to discuss the enslavement of West Africans. Moreover, actual encounters with Muslims dissipated negative stereotypes. For instance, when Americans learned that Muslims treated their enslaved populations in more humane ways and that they had a long history of abstaining from alcohol, it was used in some quarters to advance anti-slavery and temperance arguments. The logic employed by advocates in these movements was that Americans could hardly claim the mantle of civilization if they practiced such immoral behaviors. Nor could they claim to be superior to the Turks in opposition to whom their national identity was constructed. This was still an Orientalist mode of representation, but one that used shaming tactics to force reforms. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 216 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: American Orientalism couples inherited European alienness claims with produced Arab stereotypes. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 204; American casting conflates Arabs and South Asians into a single racialized Muslim figure; American Orientalism fused European notions of Islam’s alienness with new Arab stereotypes — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 204 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobia and Arab American prejudice are distinct constructs despite strong correlation #complicates (0.73) — Sherman A. Lee, Chelsea A. Reid, Stephen D. Short, Jeffrey A. Gibbons, Ruth Yeh, and Matthew L. Campbell, Fear of Muslims, 140
• Actual encounters with Muslims could dissipate American negative stereotypes #complicates (0.72) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 216