Contesting Islamophobia

This project examines the dynamics of anti- and pro-Muslim online activism.

Using Twitter # campaigns as its starting point we focus on the appropriation of global ‘trigger’ events, such as terror attacks, by right wing US activists to create anti-Muslim narratives, and how these narratives are in turn opposed by anti-racist groups.

We firstly examine the actors and interactions that enable particular narratives to gain dominance. We then analyse mainstream media depictions of these narratives to assess the conditions under which certain stories gain wider publicity. Finally, we situate these campaigns by analysing the websites of significant activists and interviewing key stakeholders such as journalists and opinion leaders circulating the discourse.

By analysing the dynamics of these narratives we aim to develop a better understanding of how hate speech gains visibility and identify key difficulties and useful strategies for contesting hate speech. To this end we will be working with two Muslim advocacy groups, the Muslim Council of Britain and MEND to advise on effective communication campaigns. Similarly, the findings will be used to provide recommendations to government agencies and social media corporations on managing online hate speech.

• Keele Academic Lead: Professor Elizabeth Poole
• Methods used: Computational methods; quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Twitter; interviews with activists.
• Lead partner: MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development)
• Other partners: The Muslim Council of Britain