The Relationship Between Islamophobia and Antisemitism in the Context of Cultural Racism

Abstract

Especially when it comes to concepts in the humanities, it is often necessary to go beyond the obvious. Because images are much more than meanings. Ideas gain repeatedly meaning with each cultural and historical experience that includes definition. Therefore, attention should be paid to the period in which the constructed concepts were created and under what conditions they became widespread. Racism, a key idea in daily discourse and sociological theory over the last fifty years, also implies a heavily negative moral and political connotation. The process that prioritizes all forms of discrimination, such as racism, hatred, genocide, and xenophobia, begins with "othering." Western civilization, which has been trying to strengthen and build identity through the "other" throughout history, treats cultures that are not itself as the "other" through the values that make up the essence of Europe. In this sense, the multiculturalism of Western civilization and its monotypic structure that excludes those who are not from it causes xenophobia in general and Islamophobia in particular. Historically, the term Islamophobia, which became very popular after the Twin Tower attacks on September 11, 2001, is new in terms of conceptualization. Still, the cultural, historical, and theological prejudices behind the term have a long history. For a certain period, a connection could not be established between racism and Islamophobia, which is rapidly increasing in the Western world since it is generally considered on a biological and racial basis in the classical sense. Whereas xenophobia is closely linked to racism, the newer/cultural features of racism perpetuate this hostility. In many cases, it is difficult to distinguish between racism and xenophobia as motivations for behavior. In this study, we have tried to address the concept of Islamophobia as a concept that should be re-evaluated, especially in the context of racism and cultural racism, while never ignoring the concept's historical, theological, and political foundations. In our study, we also discussed the understanding of race and racism, which we see as one of the essential reasons for the marginalization of Muslims and their association with violence and terrorism, and the most concrete product of this understanding, xenophobic attitude and whether to evaluate Islamophobia in the context of cultural racism, a new branch of racism. However, in this understanding of the other, there is a relationship that tries to be established between Muslims and Jews from time to time. These contents have also spawned a debate on the possibilities and limitations of comparative approaches and analogies regarding the relationship between antisemitism and Islamophobia in public and academic debates. In this discussion, scientists from various fields started research to compare antisemitism and Islamophobia and reveal the similarities and differences between the two and raise multiple questions. For example, with the increasing fear/anti-Islam, hatred, and racism tendency in the Western world, especially in the Middle Ages and XX. How can a connection be established between the antisemitism experienced in the 21st century? Or, in other words, can Muslims today be seen as the new Jews of Europe? Therefore, one of the issues we discussed in the text is whether a similarity can be established between the discrimination Muslims face today and the anti-Semitism experienced, especially in the Middle Ages and its immediate aftermath. Especially recently, there have been studies that evaluate Islamophobia individually in the context of cultural racism, both in the public and in the academic community. However, studies that evaluate Islamophobia and antisemitism together and deal with it in the context of cultural racism are relatively few. When we look at the discussions on the similarities and differences between the concepts of Islamophobia and antisemitism, some historical, theological, and conceptual explanations have been developed. As we have emphasized before, the images of "other understanding" and "racism" are placed in the axis of the debate. In general, most determinations that focus on hostility towards Jews and Muslims take shape on the axis of cultural racism. In the discussions held in this framework, the cultural differences of Muslims and Jews are brought to the fore, and the issue of foreignness to shared values is discussed. In the last part of our study, we examined whether Islamophobia and antisemitism could be evaluated on the same level. We tried to answer whether this similarity could have a strategic counterpart in practice.