This thesis argues that there is a complex and relational link between race and Muslim mobility which is shaped by global and local processes of Islamophobia. The research uses a social constructivist theoretical approach to racism and insights from the ‘new mobilities’ paradigm – notably, the ‘politics of mobility’ – to examine how the geographies of Islamophobia influence the way young Muslims engage in urban spaces. Empirically, the thesis draws on the findings of two mixed-method case studies, which used web-based surveys and follow-up interviews with young Muslims aged 18-35 years living in Sydney, Australia, and the San Francisco Bay Area, USA. The thesis advances three key contributions. Theoretically, the thesis contributes to emerging debates on the geographies of racism by mapping the spatial imaginaries of Islamophobia from the perspective of the racialised. These findings add nuance to existing research on the geographies of racism that have restricted their analyses to racial attitudes rather than perceptions of racism. Additionally, the research enhances emerging debates on the racialised politics of mobility by exploring how the relationship between race, space and movement shapes Muslim (im)mobility in each city. Finally, the study contributes to comparative urbanisms by uncovering the relational processes as well as contextual variations in how the racialised politics of mobility is both spatialised and negotiated by racialised individuals. The thesis is structured in a ‘PhD by a series of papers’ format, with four results chapters presented in the form of academic journal articles. Three (3) papers are published and one (1) is accepted for publication (in-print). Each paper is introduced with an exegesis that contextualises the research and the papers. The thesis is connected through six (6) additional chapters that form the ‘overarching statement’. Together, the findings highlight the need for local and context-specific anti-racism policy practice, public education campaigns and policy initiatives that respond to the geographies racism according to the spatial imaginaries and lived experiences of racialised groups. Such responses must account for the spatial impacts of past, as well as current socio-political events on racialised (im)mobilities in contemporary urban spaces
