Strategies for Decentering Islamophobia

Professor Khaldoun Samman began his talk by recounting how as a young Jordanian boy recently transplanted to New Jersey, he had been taught never to flush the toilet for “number 1,” but only for “number 2.”  Thus, after neglecting to flush the toilet while at the home of a schoolmate, Samman was confronted by his friend’s mother who politely informed the young immigrant, “in America, we always flush the toilet.”

In actuality, the no-flush rule in Samman’s househould was born out of practicality. The septic tank was only periodically emptied, and overuse by a family of 5 could result in an unpleasant overflow and odor.

The case of the unflushed toilet demonstrates how even the seemingly innocuous subject of bathroom etiquette, calls into question the reflexive judgments we make about one another. When polarized distinctions—what Samman refers to as cultural-binaries—are drawn between two worlds, the results can be cultural isolation, misunderstanding, and fear. A more sobering example of this is the criticism and negative attention that has been directed at Muslim communities for purportedly endorsing practices such as female “honor killings.” This practice has been framed as a purely Islamic phenomenon, and consequentially one that does not exist in the West.

An analysis of U.S. criminal statistics however, reveals that 1/3 of female murders were committed by a boyfriend, husband, or lover. Viewed in this light, an honor killing loses its divisive power as a uniquely Muslim atrocity. We are forced instead into questioning our own cultural practices and identities. The victimization of young women is no longer a uniquely Muslim crime, but rather, a human one. Profesor Samman believes that it is only by discarding the epistemologies of cultural binaries—of us and them, Orient and Occident—will we be able to move beyond the politics of fear and diviseness that has come to dominate our public and political discourse.