American Islamophobia borrowed British stereotypes because Americans had little contact with Muslims

Evidence

An historical exploration of British and American literature between 1690 and 1947 demonstrates the roots and qualities of Islamophobia that Britons and Americans have shared. Meanwhile significant differences between the perspectives found in the two countries demonstrate how these were fashioned by differing concerns about their own societies. In order to emphasize this difference, we choose to compare American views of Muslims with those found among Britons who had lived in India. In the latter context, predominantly white Christian Britons found themselves a minority in a land once ruled by successive Muslim rulers who left impressive vestiges of their once mighty empires. As a ruling elite, Britons had to adapt their Islamophobic inheritance to the exigencies of governing tens of millions of Muslims. In the United States, engagements with Muslims appeared to be a matter of international affairs alone, “Mohammedans” representing an “other” far more distant than the Jews, Catholics, and other religious minorities who lived among the Protestant majority. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 18 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The report notes that racism and Islamophobia in the British context are often mixed together; as a result, anti-Muslim feelings and anti-Asian sentiment are often connected. In other Western contexts, it might be anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments. When Muslims are involved, racist practices and prejudices get a pass. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 64 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Anglo-American Islamophobia is not new, its roots demonstrated by an historical exploration of British and American literature between 1690 and 1947.; Americans derived much of their Islamophobia from British colonial sources. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear:…, 40; British census data on Muslim numbers amplified Anglo-American fears. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear:…, 90 (+6 more)

Related

• Americans derived much of their Islamophobia from British colonial sources. (similarity 0.93)
• Anglo-American Islamophobia is not new, its roots demonstrated by an historical exploration of British and American literature between 1690 and 1947. (similarity 0.91)
• Asian and American Islamophobia diverged according to each society’s domestic situation (similarity 0.90)
• Islamophobia took different shapes in Britain and America because each faced different Muslim relations (similarity 0.89)
• Both Americans and Britons held Islam a perennial menace by its proselytizing and violence (similarity 0.89)
• Islamophobia and racial prejudice are entangled in distinct ways across Western contexts (similarity 0.86)
• Britons in India refashioned inherited Islamophobia to serve colonial governance needs (similarity 0.86)
• Lack of direct Muslim contact drove Americans to borrow British colonial stereotypes (similarity 0.85)
• American Islamophobia equipped China and India to persecute their Muslim populations. (similarity 0.84)
• Kazi frames Asian Islamophobia only through American policy, not on its own terms (similarity 0.84)
• Early Americans’ image of Islam derived secondhand from British sources (similarity 0.84)
• Direct contact with Muslims shaped imperial perceptions of Islam. (similarity 0.83)
• A minority of Americans and Britons valued Islam despite dominant fear-based publications. (similarity 0.82)
• British India feared pan-Islamism later than America did (similarity 0.82)
• British census data on Muslim numbers amplified Anglo-American fears. (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Both Americans and Britons held Islam a perennial menace by its proselytizing and violence #qualifies (0.55)
• Asian and American Islamophobia diverged according to each society’s domestic situation #corroborates (0.50) — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 18
• Islamophobia and racial prejudice are entangled in distinct ways across Western contexts #corroborates (0.40) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 64
• Anti-Palestinian racism historically produced Islamophobia in the United States #expands (0.30) — Evelyn Alsultany, Antisemitism and Islamophobia The…, 21