Thinking Through Islamophobia

Sayyid and Vakil’s edited anthology presents 27 essays from a broad range of contributors working in a diversity of academic disciplines, including law, history, sociology, music and gender studies. In contrast to the proliferation of recent publications focused upon Islamophobia largely within a European or Anglophone context, Sayyid and Vakil aim to develop current debate through the exploration of a plurality of global spaces. In debating the ‘perpetually contested category’ of Islamophobia (p. 2), the wide range of contributors offer a diversity of international accounts, focused on both historical and contemporary contexts. As the opening chapter states, such an approach recognizes that ‘being a Muslim can mean very different things in different places’ and such a collection endeavours to reflect the experiences of a wide variety of Muslim communities across the globe. (p. 3)