Affect, Animality, and Islamophobia: Human-Animal Relations in the Production of Muslim Difference in America
American internet Islamophobia is fascinated with Muslim attitudes towards animals - especially pigs. Through an examination of internet memes found on right-wing and white supremacist websites and social media groups, this essay argues that affective relations to certain animals are part of what ma...
| Published in: | Bulletin for the study of religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox
[2017]
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| In: |
Bulletin for the study of religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Muslim
/ Animals
/ Affectivity
/ Ingroup
/ Islamophobia
/ Fremdgruppe
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| RelBib Classification: | BJ Islam KBQ North America NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | American internet Islamophobia is fascinated with Muslim attitudes towards animals - especially pigs. Through an examination of internet memes found on right-wing and white supremacist websites and social media groups, this essay argues that affective relations to certain animals are part of what mark the Muslim as other and worthy of hate in American Islamophobic rhetoric. More importantly, this Islamophobic pig imagery, which often mischaracterizes or willfully misrepresents Muslim dietary restrictions, reveals that Islamophobic internet memes are not primarily aimed at Muslims nor are they first and foremost an expression of fear of Islam. Instead this Islamophobic rhetoric takes the form of an inside joke, affectively linking those who are in on the joke, uniting them in a jovial transgression of politically correct" norms. This form of Islamophobia might be better termed Islamophobophilia, since it marks some Americans as insiders and others as outsiders. It is a method for non-Muslim Americans to signal to other other non-Muslim Americans that they are the right kind of American. |
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| ISSN: | 2041-1871 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Bulletin for the study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/bsor.33901 |