Anglo-American Islamophobia is not new, its roots demonstrated by an historical exploration of British and American literature between 1690 and 1947.

Evidence

Given the lack of contact with Muslims except in moments of crisis and through missionaries, Americans often relied on British views to inform their apprehensions about Islam. Thus, Thomas S. Kidd has observed, “Although one should hesitate to describe early Americans as conversant with Islam, they certainly conversed about Islam regularly.” — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 40 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Americans derived much of their Islamophobia from British colonial sources. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear:…, 40; American Islamophobia borrowed British stereotypes because Americans had little contact with Muslims; Nineteenth-century Americans and Britons attributed Islam’s spread to coercion rather than persuasion.

Related

• Americans derived much of their Islamophobia from British colonial sources. (similarity 0.94)
• American Islamophobia borrowed British stereotypes because Americans had little contact with Muslims (similarity 0.91)
• Early Americans’ image of Islam derived secondhand from British sources (similarity 0.86)
• Islamophobia took different shapes in Britain and America because each faced different Muslim relations (similarity 0.84)
• Nineteenth-century Americans and Britons attributed Islam’s spread to coercion rather than persuasion. (similarity 0.83)
• Both Americans and Britons held Islam a perennial menace by its proselytizing and violence (similarity 0.83)
• Britons in India refashioned inherited Islamophobia to serve colonial governance needs (similarity 0.83)
• Asian and American Islamophobia diverged according to each society’s domestic situation (similarity 0.83)
• Anglo-American observers explained Muslim expansion as violent coercion. (similarity 0.82)
• Direct contact with Muslims shaped imperial perceptions of Islam. (similarity 0.81)
• Lack of direct Muslim contact drove Americans to borrow British colonial stereotypes (similarity 0.81)
• American Islamophobia equipped China and India to persecute their Muslim populations. (similarity 0.81)
• Americans feared Muslims before any meaningful Muslim presence existed in the hemisphere (similarity 0.81)
• Anglo-American discourse framed Islam as Christianity’s inherent and inexorable nemesis. (similarity 0.81)
• Kazi frames Asian Islamophobia only through American policy, not on its own terms (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Americans derived much of their Islamophobia from British colonial sources. #corroborates (0.70) — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 40
• American Islamophobia borrowed British stereotypes because Americans had little contact with Muslims #corroborates (0.65)
• Nineteenth-century Americans and Britons attributed Islam’s spread to coercion rather than persuasion. #expands (0.60)