The Securitization of Muslim Civil Society in Canada

Ahmad, Fahad Faraz

doi:10.1108/s1521-613620200000025007

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…It is perhaps an unlikely genre for North American Muslim authors, when Canadian and US Muslims alike, have been put under increased rates of surveillance because of their religious affiliation, as Fahad Ahmad noted in "Securitization and the Muslim community in Canada." 59 Crime novels have also been less popular in other communities with a history of police surveillance. Jonathan Smolin suggests, for example, that the emergence of Moroccan Arabic crime novels and films marked a shift in the country's climate after the death of Hassan II, which ended the nation's repressive "Years of Lead."…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Attempt to De‐criminalize Muslims: The Detective Novels of Ausma Zehanat Khan

Lynx-Qualey¹

2021

The Muslim World

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I n her study, Lesbian Detective Fiction, Phyllis M. Betz suggest that lesbian authors succeeded in co-opting the detective novel and using it to turn a subject position considered socially aberrant and quasi-criminal-queer identity-into one that was normal or generic. 1 In comparison to the evidently thriving subgenre of lesbian detective fiction, there are few explicitly Muslim detective novels. Anthony Slide notes that through the 1970s, queerness in mystery novels was considered a quasi-criminal state. 2 In much the same way, being Muslim in many contemporary thrillers and detective fiction is to be in a quasi-criminal state. In what follows, I argue that by positioning the hero in her detective series as explicitly Muslim-and moreover, as a believing Muslim-Canadian author Ausma Zehanat Khan works toward de-criminalizing Muslim identity.John Cawelti, for his part, in a wide-ranging study of the adventure, mystery, and romance genres, notes that classic crime fiction affirms the principal that crime is a matter of individual motivations-the handiwork of a few bad apples-and thus reaffirms the validity of the existing social order. 3 Muslim characters, often but not always conflated with Arabs, have regularly been the criminals in English-language crime fiction, something that has been noted in the work of Jack Shaheen, L. K. Fuller, and others. 4 And yet, in Betz's view, these popular genres can also shift perceptions of criminality. She writes:This ability of popular genres to address and accept change brings us full circle to the purpose and value of such literature. The normalizing function of the reliance on formula and repetition gives popular fiction the ability to contain the potentially dangerous

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Attempt to De‐criminalize Muslims: The Detective Novels of Ausma Zehanat Khan

Lynx-Qualey¹

2021

The Muslim World

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“…McKendrick and Finch (2017) term this a non-linear war as it pursues terrorists wherever they are to be found globally as well as internally within nation-state boundaries. The war on terror has resulted in foreign and domestic intercultural relations that are marked by increasing securitization measures in the West due to the introduction of anti-terrorist legislation that affords them the power to initiate acts of surveillance and aggression globally, particularly in Muslim majority countries, as well as domestically in the name of maintaining national security (Ahmad, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2022

Int J SW Values and Ethics

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Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness" (All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, 2018, p. 50). With the alarming rise of populist Islamophobic sentiments across the Global North, Islamophobia represents a significant ethical issue of our times. Social workers are implicated in this form of racism due to factors including state-driven anti-terrorist legislation that co-opt social workers in the supposed 'war on terror,' frontline work with children and families of newcomers with refugee status, many of whom are recent arrivals from Muslim majority countries; as well as members of the public who internalize misperceptions of Islam and Muslims. Social work ethics articulated within the liberal enlightenment traditions and found in the Canadian Association of Social Work, are also colonial in nature and therefore limited in their ability to counter Islamophobia. As a result,

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“…First, because of its origins and aims to tackle "Islamist" radicalization, CVE effectively reinforces the status of Muslims as "suspect communities" who are perennially at the risk of radicalizing to violence (Breen-Smyth, 2014). CVE has resulted in the surveillance, stigmatization, and securitization of Muslim communities (Ahmad, 2020;Kundnani, 2012). Second, CVE is not merely about disrupting violence, but shaping the identity and cultural values of Muslim "Others" who are thought to be incompatible with notions of imagined "Western" values (Lynch, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Echoes of Terror(ism)

Millett

Ahmad

2021

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Our paper examines the latest frontier of the “War on Terror,” countering violent extremism (CVE), non-coercive approaches that aim to prevent “radicalization” that may lead to “violent extremism” or terrorism. We look at the recent implementation of CVE in Québec’s education sector. Based on an analysis of key policy documents and interviews with CVE practitioners, we find that: (1) teachers are responsibilized to safeguard society from the risk of terrorism through being expected to “know the signs” of radicalization and to build “resilience,” (2) students are responsibilized as agents who can influence their peers against violent extremist messaging and toward “prosocial” behaviour, and (3) elements of school curriculum are responsibilized, especially social studies education, to provide students with “critical thinking” skills thought to be lacking among those at risk of radicalization. We highlight the inherent contradictions in CVE, which, in Québec, claims to foster pluralism and inclusivity to combat Islamophobia, but as a modality of the “War on Terror” also targets and stigmatizes Muslim communities. Critical discussion of CVE’s social implications are needed to initiate critical dialogue in Canada over the impact of CVE in social services provision and the risk of securitizing the education sector in Québec.

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The Securitization of Muslim Civil Society in Canada

Cited by 11 publications

References 34 publications

An Attempt to De‐criminalize Muslims: The Detective Novels of Ausma Zehanat Khan

An Attempt to De‐criminalize Muslims: The Detective Novels of Ausma Zehanat Khan

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Echoes of Terror(ism)

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