Hostile public scrutiny becomes internalized as the architecture of Muslim American identity

Evidence

It is impossible to ignore the enemy–friend binary. Attempts to move beyond it are always self-conscious; they produce a kind of double vision. In the very act of building their own communities and public identities, American Muslims must take into account the prejudices and expectations of an imagined, non-Muslim observer. As a result, new distinctions between Self and Other are constantly woven into Muslim American self-definitions. The irony of disciplinary inclusion is the extent to which it turns phobic and philic sentiments into the very architecture of identity formation. It constructs Muslim enemies even as (or precisely because) it stipulates the qualities of Muslim friends. Disciplinary inclusion encourages the Muslim friend to control and marginalize the Muslim enemy, a contest that unfolds in the Self, the family, the community, the nation-state, and the transregional diaspora. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 709 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The accountability for all Muslims felt by Muslim women who wear the hijab is so powerful that it can have an impact on Muslim children as well. In a post-­9/11 society, Muslim children are growing up with the awareness that their religious identity is under constant scrutiny. Reema’s statement reveals the pressure Muslim kids are placed under because of this public surveillance. They are raised feeling a responsibility to demonstrate they are good people, because it will counter the negative associations that the public has with Islam. Racialized surveillance can become deeply internalized when Muslim American children are taught to self-­discipline and self-­surveil. At a young age, Muslim American youth are learning they are not like other American children but are held to different standards. One of the consequences of this racialization is the denial of individuality. Muslim Americans are denied their individuality in public spaces and are forced to navigate society within the confines of an externally imposed collective identity. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 546 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Satanic Verses affair forged Muslims into an organized political identity category.; State repression, not just culture, sustained American Islamophobia — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 344; American-born Muslim women are assaulted for being recognizably Muslim (+28 more)

Related

• Everyday harassment from strangers makes Muslim American children internalize illegitimacy (similarity 0.91)
• Racialized surveillance gets internalized by Muslim American children as self-discipline (similarity 0.89)
• Surveilled Muslim Americans internalize the state gaze through self-censure and modified dress (similarity 0.87)
• Class privilege does not shield Muslim Americans from racialized surveillance (similarity 0.86)
• Racialized surveillance denies Muslim children their individuality and citizenship privileges (similarity 0.85)
• Anti-Muslim prejudice shapes Muslim-American identity formation from within (similarity 0.84)
• Racialization denies Muslim Americans the individuality that American citizenship requires (similarity 0.84)
• Surveillance causes Muslims to discipline their own behavior preemptively (similarity 0.82)
• Racialized surveillance denies Muslim Americans the individuality citizenship requires. (similarity 0.82)
• Surveillance fear makes Muslims internalize discipline and self-police (similarity 0.82)
• No US religious community endures such simultaneous embrace and surveillance (similarity 0.82)
• Identities are reinforced by outsider-given labels (similarity 0.81)
• Hypersurveillance itself is the mechanism that racializes Muslim Americans (similarity 0.81)
• Private citizens surveil Muslim religious practice as a threat to American values. (similarity 0.81)
• Muslims in the United States endure discrimination in their everyday lives (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Anti-Muslim prejudice shapes Muslim-American identity formation from within #corroborates (0.85) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 709
• Racialized surveillance gets internalized by Muslim American children as self-discipline #exemplifies (0.75) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 546
• Muslim inclusion in American civic life comes at the price of disciplined loyalty #expands (0.60)