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Video, Past Event, Social Justice

Itrath Syed: Gendered Islamophobia and Muslim Women’s Resistance

November 14, 2017


The debate surrounding MP Iqra Khalid’s parliamentary motion [M-103] to condemn Islamophobia unearthed much of the latent Islamophobia in Canadian political discourse. While the MP herself was subject to vitriolic hate mail, there was also a range of questions surrounding the definition of the term and confusion about the lived experience of those subject to this form of racism. In this talk, Itrath Syed discussed the ways in which Islamophobia has historically functioned in Canada and, in particular, how Muslim women became the targets of this discourse as both a threat to be feared and as an infantilized object to be rescued. She also explored the ways in which Muslim women continue to resist being limited by these categories.

Post-lecture dialogue was moderated by SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement's Samaah Jaffer.

Speaker Bio

Itrath Syed is a PhD Candidate at the School of Communication at SFU where her research involves an analysis of the ideological history of Islamophobia in Canada. Her MA in Gender Studies (UBC) explored the gendered and racialized construction of the Muslim community in the media discourse surrounding the Islamic Arbitration or “Shariah” debate in Ontario. She is an Instructor at the School of Communication at SFU, in Women’s Studies at Langara College, and in Asian Studies at Kwantlen University. Itrath has a history of activism against war and occupation, and against the racial profiling of the Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities in Canada.

Co-Presented by

SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement, School for International Studies, Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures, Global Communication MA Double Degree Program, Institue for the Humanities and Critical Muslim Voices.

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