War on Terror racism treats Muslim culture as an immutable natural cause of violence

Evidence

“Islam,” particularly in theories of radicalization, as Arun Kundnani argues in his comprehensive book The Muslims Are Coming!, came to be understood as an ideology that places Muslims on a fast track to terrorism. What is at work is the logic of cultural racism. Étienne Balibar notes that “culture can also function like a nature, and it can in particular function as a way of locking individuals and groups a priori into a genealogy, into a determination that is immutable and intangible in origin.” Thus, Islam as culture/ideology is understood to shape behavior in current forms of war on terror racism in ways not entirely dissimilar to earlier biological and civilizational notions of race (see Chapters 1 and 2). — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 542

Categorization

• XREF: Balibar’s genealogy-locking formula — culture as nature — sharpens the vault’s distinction between cultural and biological racism and echoes earlier chapters’ race theory. — connects to: The War on Terror racializes all Muslims as a boundless enemy to justify war — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 540; Cultural racism explains Muslim violence through religion rather than lived circumstances — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 621; The War on Terror racially constructed Muslims as terrorists. (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Clash of civilizations framing located terrorism’s cause within Islam itself #expands (0.92) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 266
• The War on Terror racially constructed Muslims as terrorists. #expands (0.88)
• The War on Terror globally embedded a racialized terrorist stereotype of Muslims #expands (0.82) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1120
• War on Terror homogenized Muslims the way earlier eras homogenized Native Americans and Africans #expands (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 232
• Conservative and liberal approaches to Islamic extremism share a cultural-racist frame #expands (0.78)
• Being called ”terrorist” in violence racializes the Muslim independent of actual religiosity. #expands (0.78)
• Anti-Muslim oppression constitutes structural racism, not mere religious intolerance #corroborates (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 91
• Interpreting Islamophobia solely as cultural racism essentialises and reduces the faith #complicates (0.75) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 773
• Anti-Muslim sentiment predated and undergirded the War on Terror #corroborates (0.72) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 283