Editorial: A twenty‐first century scourge: Introducing the special issue on Islamophobia

A twenty-first century scourge: Introducing the special issue on IslamophobiaIn this special issue of the journal, an applied psychoanalytic study of the phenomenon of Islamophobia has brought together several contributors to share their ideas, insights and perspectives and enrich a burgeoning discussion of a contemporary problem of great importance globally.While all forms of prejudice inflicted by humans on fellow humans are, much to everyone 0 s dismay, alive and well, Islamophobia appears to be heading toward a position of greatly destructive prominence among the diverse types of cancers of bigotry afflicting the body of humanity in the present era.Ironically, and not withstanding the role of some Muslims in its spread, this prejudice is directed toward a religion that educates its followers that there is no virtue based on race, color, language, geographical location, wealth, or gender.As is likely quite obvious to most readers and as will be demonstrated in this issue, Islamophobia exerts substantial psychological as well as sociopolitical influences on the lives of Muslims that deserve in depth study and exploration.It is, in this regard, no more or less deserving of psychoanalytic inquiry than any other form of prejudice or problematic aspect of human behaviour and interpersonal interaction.As a matter of fact, one could justifiably argue that such an inquiry is urgently needed, given the developments of the past couple of decades, at least.Yet, it has not attracted adequate attention within the psychoanalytic community.A search using the keyword 'Islamophobia' in the online Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing (PEP, http://support.pep-web.org[accessed June 2017]) just before sending this special issue to the publisher produces no more than 24 hits, all dating from 2002 onwards, with only three articles having the term in their titles.This special issue aims to be a step toward rectifying this oversight by the psychoanalytic community.I will herein provide an overview of the contents of this special issue, which explores the intrapsychic processes, interpsychic and large-group dynamics, as well as social, cultural historical and political dimensions of this complex issue.