Muslim youth collective amnesia of US government-inflicted violence against Muslims in the War on Terror

Abstract

Evidence suggests that incidents of US government-inflicted violence against Muslims are absent from the post-9/11 generation of Muslims’ collective memory. To examine and confirm this collective amnesia, young Muslim American adults were nationally surveyed and interviewed on their knowledge of the Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib detention centers. In total, 100 survey responses were collected and 5 interviews were conducted to examine the extent and formation of the Muslim American youth’s collective perception of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. While nearly all participants displayed awareness of the 9/11 attacks, a significant number of them were unaware of Guantanamo Bay, and most of them were unaware of Abu Ghraib. This study reveals a potential generational gap in the collective memory of Muslim Americans, the individual-level perception of post-9/11 violence against Muslims amongst young Muslim Americans, and new topics for future directions as outlined in the conclusion. It also argues that the absence of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib from young Muslims’ collective memory of the War on Terror (WOT) creates an image of Muslims being the perpetrators of violence and never victims, making it impossible for young Muslims to break out of the dominant frame of memory of 9/11 and its aftermath.