Indian Islamophobia as Racism

Abstract

AbstractTo date, analyses of ‘cultural racism’ or ‘neoracism’ have largely been oriented towards Western countries, where the pattern of discrimination at issue remains linked to perceptions of phenotypical characteristics. In India, by contrast, there are no physical markers of difference between Muslims and other social groups. Nonetheless, Islamophobia in India should be described as a form of racism, given the history of the term and its normative implications. Within Indian Islamophobic discourses, the Muslim ‘type’ functions much like racial types within European anti‐semitism. In addition, the disadvantaged social location of Indian Muslims resembles that of African Americans in significant respects. The label matters because it also offers a diagnosis and prescribes remedies. For legal, moral and political purposes, viewing the situation of Indian Muslims through the lens of racism points to solutions different from the ones the Indian state has implemented under the aegis of secularism.