The Political Appropriation of the Muslim Body

Drawing upon law, politics, sociology, and gender studies, this volume explores the ways in which the Muslim body is stereotyped, interrogated, appropriated and demonized in Western societies and subject to counter-terror legislation and the suspension of human rights. The author examines the intense scrutiny of Muslim women’s dress and appearance, and their experience of hate crimes, as well as how Muslim men’s bodies are emasculated, effeminized and subjected to torture. Chapters explore a range of issues including Western legislation and foreign policy against the ‘Other’, orientalism, Islamophobia, masculinity, the intersection of gender with nationalism and questions about diversity, inclusion, religious freedom, citizenship and identity.

This text will be of interest to scholars and students across a range of disciplines, including sociology, gender studies, law, politics, cultural studies, international relations, and human rights.

Susan S.M. Edwards is Professor in Law, Emerita at University of Buckingham and has degrees in law and sociology. She is a barrister, women’s rights activist and campaigner. She has researched and lectured around the world, including in the Middle East.

“In this powerful and far-reaching analysis, Edwards charts how the dehumanisation and essentialising of Muslim communities historically has paved the way to the manifold denial of the fundamental rights and diminishing of Muslim lives that we see today. Essential reading for anyone interested in how the unconscionable Islamophobia we see in media, state policy, legislation and popular culture has come to be so frighteningly normalised.”
Latifa Akay, Director of Education at Maslaha, trustee at the Inclusive Mosque Initiative

“This book undertakes a forensic examination of the physical and rhetorical attacks committed against Muslims and Muslim-looking people [those believed to be Muslim] in the years since September 11, 2001. Edwards' indictment of the Islamophobia that saturates contemporary media-coverage, counter-terrorism strategy, and foreign policy-making is both deeply personal and highly scholarly, drawing upon insights from law, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies”.
Shakira Hussein, author of From Victims to Suspects: Muslim women since 9/11 

“This is a serious and important book. We only have to review the human rights abuses domestically and globally to see that Muslims are facing targeted crimes, cruel discrimination and vicious ill-treatment on an alarming scale. In some places it is amounting to genocide. My tribute to Susan Edwards. A great lawyer and champion of human rights.”
Helena Kennedy QC, Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws, member of the House of Lords, co-Director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute