Itrath Syed will discuss the way in which Islamophobia has historically functioned in Canada and, in particular, how Muslim women become the targets of this discourse as both a threat to be feared and as an infantilized object to be rescued
Date/Time: Nov 14 2017, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Vancouver, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts | Event calendarAge: ever
Cost: Free
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 were 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 will discuss the ways in which Islamophobia has historically functioned in Canada and, in particular, how Muslim women become the targets of this discourse as both a threat to be feared and as an infantilized object to be rescued. She will also explore the ways in which Muslim women continue to resist being limited by these categories.
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.
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