American Muslim Comedians Use of Humour as a Persuasive Agent to Counter Islamophobia

This paper aims to explore the humour discourses of American Muslim standup comedians in response to Islamophobia in the post 9/11 era. There has been extensive research on how American Muslim standup comedy evolved through time, audience perception about Muslim standup comedians and the link between Muslim standup comedy and Islamophobia. For this purpose, three American Muslim standup comedians are selected through purposive sampling; Maz Jobrani, Hasan Minhaj and Muhammad Amer. Discourse analysis is conducted for selected comedians' Grand Netflix videos to study their humour discourses. This research adopts ‘Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of Carnivalesque’ as a theoretical framework to answer the research question. The findings suggest that comedians employed the incongruous humour function the most, then relief function and rarely employed the superiority function of humour in their standup discourses to counter the subjugation and discrimination Muslims have to suffer in western societies. Muslim comedians are successful in countering Islamophobia through humour but are unable to overthrow it from American culture. Nonetheless, the efforts of American Muslim comedians in highlighting and countering Islamophobia through humour discourses cannot be neglected.

Arab American Adolescents’ Responses to Perceived Discrimination: A Phenomenological Study

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face{font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:roman;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:Times;panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1342185562 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}.MsoChpDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;mso-default-props:yes;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}size:8.5in 11.0in;margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;mso-header-margin:.5in;mso-footer-margin:.5in;mso-paper-source:0;}div.WordSection1{page:WordSection1;}Racial discrimination is on the rise in the United States. Arab AmericanMuslims is one group that has experienced an increase in perceived racialdiscrimination. Even less is known about Arab American Muslim Adolescents experiencesof coping when faced with racial discrimination.&nbsp; This study aims to highlight the livedexperiences of Arab American adolescents’ perceived racial discrimination as itrelates to their coping experiences. Therewere 10 (female=5; male=5) Arab American youth ages 13-17 and identifiedas Muslim. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling. Using aphenomenological approach, data were collected using semi-structured individualinterviews and online journals. Validity was assessed via member checks andtriangulation of data using multiple participants and sources.&nbsp; The data were analyzed using interpretivephenomenological analysis, guided by Risk and Resilience theory and CriticalRace Theory. Results highlighted three positive and three negative waysparticipants experienced coping to perceived racial discrimination.Implicationsof this study can aid psychologists in promoting positive responses to racialdiscrimination while also helping students recognize negative responses.Understanding the way an adolescent responds provides better insight into theirpsychological well-being. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Turks and Other Muslims in the US: An Analysis of Perceptions

Surveys show that, in the United States, Americans have a less favorable view of Muslims due to various reasons as opposed to American Muslims who conversely favor the American state and population. In line with this fact, this study tries to understand whether the Turkish community living in the US has different views about Americans than American Muslims do. This study makes a comparison because not all ethnic groups in the American Muslim community have the same views about Americans. While analyzing the Turkish community’s perceptions, this study also analyzes the views Americans and Muslim Americans have towards each other. The study compares previous surveys with the survey conducted among Turks living in the US and concludes that Muslims generally have the same perceptions regarding Americans. It also reveals that aside from the basic reasons which result in a negative view towards Muslims, being a small community and fragmented are two significant factors that damage the image of Muslims. In addition, it reveals that a lack of knowledge about each other increases negative perceptions.

Pluralism, Authority, and Islamophobia

One of the aims of Professor Esposito’s scholarship has been to emphasize the pluralistic nature of Islamic thought. The North American Muslim community presents a vivid example of Islam’s pluralism, with almost all major trends in global Islam represented. Ironically, the very pluralism of North American Islam undermines North American Muslims’ ability to speak collectively in the public square regarding the place of Islam in democratic life. The fragmentation of the Muslim public sphere effectively cedes control over the discourse about Islam to much better funded and better organized groups with a long history of anti-Muslim sentiments, especially Evangelical Christianity, for whom Islam and Muslims are demonic actors who must be defeated in order to usher in universal salvation. Until Muslims create institutions of sufficient scale to allow them to speak with one voice on matters of public concern, it is unlikely that scholarly endeavors alone can succeed in dispelling Islamophobia.