EXPERT: Mobashra Tazamal
Mobashra Tazamal is Associate Director at the Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University. Her work centres on examining the impact of the War on Terror discourse and state-sponsored Islamophobia on a global scale.
Mobashra Tazamal is the Associate Director of the Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University. She describes the historic roots of Islamophobic narratives used in service of colonial interests, and how Islam replaced communism in the American imagination. The media and various anti-Islamic movements has fed into these stereotypes, normalising Islamophobia. Post 9/11 in America, there was increased securitisation and the mainstreaming of Islamophobic tropes. In Europe, there was an increased hostility to Muslim culture which has filtered into violent attacks and dangerous myths. Across the board, it has increased the impact of the far-right in the US and Europe, and led to violence and discrimination against Muslims on a broad scale.