Decolonising Islamophobia

The predominant conception of Islamophobia defines it as anti-Muslim racism. The consequence of this rather narrow characterisation is that Islamophobia is treated as a Western conundrum—that is, as a form of racism in Western societies—that affects Muslim immigrants from non-Western—Arab, Asian, and African—societies. I contend that whilst the conception of Islamophobia as racism is germane to Western societies, it is hardly universalisable not least because Islamophobia manifests in different ways in different societies. I argue that Islamophobia in some non-Western societies is not so much about racism but about tribalism as it involves grouping of Muslims into a single tribe and associating Muslimness with negative stereotypes regardless of racial identity. I contend that Islamophobia manifests as anti-Muslim tribalism in some non-Western contexts in order to capture varied expressions of the phenomenon beyond the West. For illustrative purposes, I draw on Nigeria where Islamophobia is typically expressed in ethnoreligious and ethnoregional strife.