Latent Islamophobia operates through tacit assumptions and enabling geopolitical context

Evidence

However, there is also what I would describe as a strain of latent Islamophobia, dependent on a powerful, often tacit assumption that Islam and Muslim cultures are inferior to an evolved, secular Western model. This distinction is stoked by the slew of decontextualized soundbites that daily present us with instances of the injustice and barbarity perpetrated in Muslim lands without obliging us to consider histories of imperialism. It is augmented by the underlying thrust of domestic and foreign policies designed to pursue Western strategic and economic interests, which define Muslims and Muslim lands as in need of correction. Therefore, in addition to looking at Islamophobia as a mode of prejudice that might be practiced by individuals or groups against other individuals or groups, we need also to remember the enabling context for such prejudice. This involves considering contemporary global geopolitical arrangements, their complex prehistories, and the manner in which inequalities of power can be cloaked by shrill, pseudo-objective discourses that essentialize difference and seek to justify repressive policies against Muslims. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 42

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the distinction between manifest Islamophobia (words/actions) and latent Islamophobia (tacit assumptions of Muslim inferiority backed by a geopolitical enabling context).
• XREF: connects to: Geopolitical leverage and economic value delayed Muslim persecution in Spain. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 120