Abstract
One of the central underpinnings of Islamophobia is the theoretical construction of Muslim women as “Other”. Going hand in hand with colonization, the overall Orientalist imaginary has depicted Muslims as misogynistic, homophobic, and gynophobic in contrast to the normal and enlightened Western European subject. Liberation psychology, as a field of decolonial work, emphasizes several main tasks one of which is the recovery of historical memory in relation to how humans see each other and the world. This paper builds on the work of recovering historical memory to emphasize the Indo-European origins of misogyny and patriarchy and the subsequent cover-up of this history as a part of the legacy of colonialism and current narratives of Islamophobia. The paper concludes that the work of psychology should include decoding reality to uncover the true nature of the origins of patriarchy, thus building new, revitalized understandings of human society.
Highlights
A question that Martín-Baró (1994) asked that is central to the epistemological foundation of liberation psychology, is what is mental illness, and is it a primary problem in society or a secondary problem? Martín-Baró stated: If the uniqueness of human beings consists less in their being endowed with life and more in the kind of life they construct historically, mental health ceases to be a secondary problem and becomes a fundamental one
An ongoing example of historical amnesia at the societal level is the construction of the image of the Muslim woman
One of the recurring themes of Muslims’ self-image, in the United States, which is a repetition of media tropes, is that Muslims are overwhelmingly homophobic
Summary
ISLAMOPHOBIA STUDIES JOURNAL VOLUME 5, NO. 2 Fall 2020, PP. 238–248. Published by: Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, Center for Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley. They are not the expression of the editorial or advisory board and staff. Either expressed or implied, is made of the accuracy of the material in this journal, and ISJ cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. The reader must make his or her own evaluation of the accuracy and appropriateness of those materials
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