Abstracts Category : Other

When You Are the News: The Health Effects of Contemporary Islamophobia on Muslims in the United States and United Kingdom

by Safiah Seid Hassan

Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, Muslims in the United States and United Kingdom have been the targets of Islamophobia: unwavering scrutiny, discrimination, and being made to feel like others. I use mixed methods of literature review, qualitative interviews, and quantitative analysis to argue that this Islamophobia affects the health of Muslims. I draw primarily from the concepts of orientalism and biological citizenship to link history with contemporary Islamophobia. My main qualitative findings include that there are highly significant studies linking Islamophobia and perceived discrimination with objective health outcomes and that there are three main levels that contribute to the overall perceived discrimination of Muslims. These three levels are interpersonal, community, and societal-level discrimination. Through quantitative analysis, I show that with confounding variables aside, Muslims experience more discrimination than similar non-Muslims, which leads to adverse mental and self-reported health outcomes, decreased happiness, and decreased feeling at home in America. By framing Islamophobia as a public health issue, I argue that its condemnation is essential to improving population health.Advisors/Committee Members: Gabriel N. Mendes (chair), Laura J.M. Stark (committee member).