On 15 June 2021, we published a statement denouncing Hindutva’s assault on academic freedom at the Manipal Association of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, India. In May, Professor Deepa Kumar, a faculty member at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University, USA, was due to record a Tedx talk on Islamophobia, her area of expertise, for MAHE Manipal, India. The recording was to be played on 30 May, followed by discussion and Q&A session with MAHE students. The students had talk was organized following guidelines set by Tedx. However, as soon as the talk was advertised, a Hindu right-wing campaign was launched, vilifying Dr Kumar and demanding that the invitation to speak be withdrawn. Within twenty-four hours, the Vice Chancellor of MAHE cancelled the talk. InSAF India and India Civil Watch International have collaborated to provide an online safe-space platform for the event. For our full statement read our blog post here.
Islamophobia is Anti-Muslim Racism
Delivered 13 September 2021
September 11, 2021 marks twenty years of the Global War on Terror.
In response to the attacks on the twin towers, the US launched a "forever war" to advance its imperial interests around the world.
The result has been that tens of millions have been displaced by US wars and hundreds of thousands killed. Islamophobia or anti-Muslim racism served to justify these levels of violence and the attacks on civil rights and civil liberties.
Various nations from France, the UK, India, China and Myanmar have capitalized on the War on Terror brand to further their own domestic and regional agendas.
In this talk, Professor Deepa Kumar outlines how anti-Muslim works and how Muslims and those who "look Muslim" have been turned into racialized subjects upon whom violence. The talk is followed by a stimulating Q&A session with the audience.
This webinar was co-hosted by:
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire by Deepa Kumar is published by Verso Books.
For other lectures in the series, see the Series Home Page
Co-hosts for the above webinars include Ambedkar King Study Circle (California), India Civil Watch International, British Association for South Asian Studies, Scholars At Risk, the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam, The Forum on Education in Asia (UCL), and the SIU University Honors Program