Thursday, June 23, 2011

Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project

UC Berkeley

While Yale has shut down its center investigating anti-semitism (YISSA), UC Berkeley is opening a center studying "Islamophobia"-nice huh?

IRDP Home | Defining "Islamophobia" | Media & Events | Islamophobia Studies Journal

***

*** BREAKING NEWS (6/23/11): CAIR & CRG Release First Annual Islamophobia Report, Same Hate, New Target, Hold Press Conference in Washington DC. More Info Here! ***

ISLAMOPHOBIA RESEARCH & DOCUMENTATION PROJECT (IRDP)

The Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) focuses on a systematic and empirical approach to the study of Islamophobia and its impact on the American Muslim community. Today, Muslims in the U.S., parts of Europe, and around the world have been transformed into a demonized and feared global "other," subjected to legal, social, and political discrimination.Even at the highest levels of political discourse, the 2008 U.S. Presidential elections, Islamophobia took center stage as a sizeable number of Americans expressed fear that Barack Obama, the first African American president, is somehow a closet Muslim. Newspaper articles, tv shows, books, popular movies, political debates, and cultural conflicts over immigration and security produce ample evidence of the stigmatization of Islam within dominant culture.

The challenge for understanding the current cultural and political period centers on providing a more workable and encompassing definition for the Islamophobia phenomenon, a theoretical framework to anchor present and future research, and a centralized mechanism to document and analyze diverse data sets from around the U.S. and in comparison with other areas around the world.

PROJECT GOALS

The Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project has the following goals:

Support graduate and undergraduate research and documentation focused on issues of Islamophobia through mentorship and intellectual exchange
Establish an advisory group of a diverse community of faculty working on issues related to Islamophobia
Provide seed funding for specific research projects on Islamophobia
Publish an annual report documenting the status of Islamophobia within the United States
Publish a bi-annual peer reviewed academic periodical focusing on emerging research on Islamophobia
Host an annual conference to discuss and analyze research outcomes

The research agenda is centered on Muslims in the Diaspora and the intersection between two categories of inquiry: 1) race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and religion, and 2) the global "war on terror," its impact on Muslim communities and American culture, and the use of the war to reintroduce long discredited Eurocentric paradigms.

Comments: Something inherently wrong/evil regarding eurocentric paradigms? They are audacious enough to move this question forward but you and I are forbidden to question the Islamic paradigm and if we do, they invent a term "Islamophobia" and twist and turn the dialogue so that uninformed individuals, particularly in the West fall for such deception. Frame the term inside academia and immediate credibility is assumed-the operate word is "assumed". Use the paradigm word and assume what follows is accurate. Using their definition, assuming it is valid so many holes exist it is beyond this post to discern. You and I are accused of the I word if we dare question the violence associated with Islam, if we demonstrate, data driven that certain forms of Islam are related with terrorism, and should we dare state, btw as they do that our belief system is better/more appropriate than theirs-wow, the I word comes shooting out. However, they can state that their religion is the ONLY religion, is better than other religions and we are expected to stand down, to not stand for our beliefs. Sorry, your research logic is grossly flawed!

No comments: