'They make us feel like we're a virus': the multiple impacts of Islamophobic hostility towards veiled Muslim women

Within the prevailing post-9/11 climate, veiled Muslim women are commonly portrayed as oppressed, ‘culturally dangerous’ and ‘threatening’ to the western way of life and to notions of public safety and security by virtue of being fully covered in the public sphere. It is in such a context that manifestations of Islamophobia often emerge as a means of responding to these ‘threats’. Drawing from qualitative data elicited through a UK-based study, this article reflects upon the lived experiences of veiled Muslim women as actual and potential victims of Islamophobia and examines the impacts of Islamophobic attacks upon victims, their families and wider Muslim communities. Among the central themes we explore are impacts upon their sense of vulnerability, the visibility of their Muslim identity, and the management of their safety in public. The individual and collective harms associated with this form of victimisation are considered through notions of a worldwide, transnational Muslim community, the ummah, which connects Muslims from all over world. We conclude by noting that the effects of this victimisation are not exclusively restricted to the global ummah; rather, the harm extends to society as a whole by exacerbating the polarisation which already exists between ‘us’ and ‘them’

‘I will Blow your face off’—Virtual and Physical World Anti-Muslim Hate Crime

Anti-Muslim hate crime is usually viewed in the prism of physical attacks; however, it also occurs in a cyber context, and this reality has considerable consequences for victims. In seeking to help improve our understanding of anti-Muslim hate crime, this article draws on the findings from a project that involved qualitative interviews with Muslim men and women who experienced both virtual and physical world anti-Muslim hate, and reported their experiences to the British government-funded service Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks). In doing so, this article sets out the first ever study to examine the nature, determinants and impacts of both virtual and physical world anti-Muslim hate crime upon Muslim men and Muslim women in the United Kingdom (UK). Correspondingly, we found that victims of both virtual and physical world anti-Muslim hate crime are likely to suffer from emotional stress, anxiety and fear of cyber threats materialising in the ‘real world’

"Looking back, I wouldn't join up again": the lived experiences of police officers as victims of bias and prejudice perpetrated by fellow staff within an English police force

Women, ethnic minority and LGB police officers often experience prejudice, disadvantage and exclusion within police forces because of their perceived 'otherness' in a predominantly white, heterosexual, male organisation. In the context of an increasingly diverse service, the paper argues that the concept of intersectionality is important in order to understand the experiences of police officers who encounter bias and prejudice because of their multiple, intersecting identities. Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with 20 individuals based in an English police force, the paper examines their occupational experiences of bias, discrimination and exclusion perpetrated by their colleagues and supervisors. Utilising Hirschman's (1970) 'exit, voice and loyalty' model, the paper analyses how police officers are affected by, and respond to these experiences. Taken together, these arguments lay the foundation for future work to further understand the experiences of police officers as victims of bias and prejudice due to their multiple, intersecting identities

‘It's a part of me, I feel naked without it': choice, agency and identity for Muslim women who wear the niqab

In the context of heightened suspicion and anti-Muslim stereotypes in a post-9/11 and 7/7 era, Muslim women who wear the niqab (face veil) are stigmatised, criminalised and marked as ‘dangerous’ to British/Western values. Several countries have imposed bans on the wearing of face veils in public places based on the premise that the niqab is a ‘threat’ to notions of gender equality, integration and national security. While the wearing of the niqab has elicited a good deal of media, political and public debates, little attention has been paid to the opinions of Muslim women who wear it. Drawing on individual and focus group interviews with Muslim women who wear the niqab in the United Kingdom (UK), this article places at the centre of the debate the voices of those women who do wear it, and explores their reasons for adopting it. The findings show that the wearing of the niqab emerges as a personal choice, an expression of religious piety, public modesty and belonging to the ‘ummah’. It is also perceived as a form of agency, resistance and non-conformity to Western consumerist culture and lifestyle. It will be concluded that wearing the niqab empowers women in their public presence and offers them a sense of ‘liberation’, which is associated with the notion of anonymity that it provides them

Twitter's Role in the Formation of Public Knowledge About COVID-19

This article analyzed the role of Twitter in the formation of public knowledge regarding COVID-19. During the pandemic, public knowledge became essential to take concrete actions for the prevention and handling of the situation. The authors used a qualitative descriptive method to describe in general terms information related to the pandemic that they found on Twitter. The results showed that Twitter is an effective communication network to provide public information. Central accounts can be created on Twitter that can act as information centers. As such, the public not only gains more diverse knowledge but can also participate in active virtual discussions. The authors thus view Twitter as a helpful form of collaborative learning to spread awareness about COVID-19. Keywords: public knowledge, Twitter, COVID-19, communication networ

Social Media in the Anticorruption Movement: Social Network Analysis on the Refusal of the “Koruptor Boleh Nyaleg” Decision on Twitter

This article aims to reveal the social network of an anticorruption movement via social media by showing the key actors, exchange of messages, and dynamics of the inter-temporal communication network. The anticorruption movement seems to be developing in line with increasing public awareness and the support of information and communications technology. By applying social network analysis on Twitter with the hashtag #koruptorkoknyaleg, study results indicated that a social network was formed in order to facilitate public voices pertaining to the issue of corruption. Actors possessing a track record in fighting against corruption in Indonesia became pioneers in establishing a social network. The research findings also indicated that the social network structure was dynamic. Although the social network seems to facilitate the spread of the anticorruption movement, it has limitations in altering political decisions relating to cases of corruption