Doctor Sayyid presenting a slideshow on the effects of “Hot Islamophobia” // Photo Courtesy of Veronica Wakefield
Hofstra University welcomed Dr. Salman Sayyid on Sept. 23 to host a series of lectures on Islamophobia and white supremacy in the United States. Joined by Professor Salim T.P. Daniels, who offered welcoming introductions and remarks, discussed the history of Islamophobia and how it traces back to white supremacy.
Daniels, a professor of anthropology and chair of the anthropology department at Hofstra University, expressed the importance of Sayyid’s visit and of the lectures he would be giving.
“I think [Hofstra students] need to understand things about our society because Islamophobia has an old and long history in America,” Daniels said.
Following his address, Daniels welcomed Sayyid to the stage. Sayyid is a professor and the previous head of the school of sociology and social policy at the University of Leeds and focuses specifically on social theory and decolonial thought. Sayyid has taught at universities across the United Kingdom, including in Manchester and London.
He started by discussing how, despite Islam being a religion, Islamophobia is treated as a form of racism in the United States and abroad. Sayyid said that Islamophobia really increased in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, leading to increased violence targeted at Muslim people or people who are perceived as Muslim. The first murder motivated by Islamophobia was of a man who was not Muslim but Sikh.
“So, in other words, what you have in racism is not the existence of racists but the process of racialization making something into a category that you can see, that you can define and you can determine how it is,” Sayyid said. “And part of it is how it teaches you to see particular ways of racial organization.”
Dr. Sayyid discussed how islamophobia originates as one of the earliest forms of racism, creating a timeline with comparisons to the origins of other forms of racism. Sayyid said that in many ways, this form of racism influences the everyday lives of others, specifically through concepts like “Hot Islamophobia” and “Cold Islamophobia.”
Sayyid said that “Hot Islamophobia” is the outward aggressiveness toward a Muslim-perceived person or group, including any form of abuse on a person, their character, or their property because of them being perceived as a Muslim. He explained Cold Islamophobia as the more systemic approach, offering the example of a person being stopped at an airport because of the color of their skin or because of their headdress.
Sayyid left the floor open for students to ask questions, an offer some Hofstra students took him up on.
Professor of sociology Margaret Abraham said this dialogue was important in expanding student exposure. “I think it is particularly important because we want our students to get a broader perspective, as well as a global perspective,” Abraham said.
“This is very important because these types of issues can be very subtle and embedded within people’s consciousness, and they may not even realize it,” said Rayan Bhatti, a sophomore cybersecurity major.
Junior criminology major Zipporah Brown said that this talk emphasized a key point about Hofstra University itself. “Especially in a diverse school like this, you can’t just be stuck in your own culture, you have to be open-minded to everybody,” Brown said.