Master’s Level Anti-Islamophobia Education as Transformative Pedagogy: Implications for Teaching

This courses examines Islamophobia through a historical and educational lens. The course begins by tracing Islamophobia’s genealogy and ‘othering’ of Muslims in five main periods: (1) Crusades and Islam as heresy; (2) Colonialism and the invasion of Berber Muslims; (3) Neocolonialism and the impact of media; (4) September 11, 2001 attacks and its aftermath; and (5) Rise of populism: post-Trump and the rhetoric of hate. In the second section of the course, we will critically engage with literature that looks at the manufacturing of fear toward Islam and Muslims and the way this has impacted how Muslim, particularly women, are represented in the media. In the third and final section of the course, Muslim students and educators’ experiences of Islamophobia, particularly in Canada, are explored. In this section, critical counter-narratives are examined. This course will further focus on how educators identify literature and media that creates and provides counterarguments for Islamophobia within a critical pedagogical framework.