Muslims in North America have been impacted by Islamophobia and the erosion of their civil liberties in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Despite feeling a sense of injustice, western Muslims have not engaged in significant political action in response. But Muslims have acted collectively on other issues, such as the Syrian refugee crisis. This episode explores the complex identity politics of minority Muslim groups, challenges in forming a religious identity and the landscape after the Christchurch attacks.
Quinn Mecham is Associate Professor of Political Science and the Coordinator for Middle East Studies at Brigham Young University. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University.
Dr. Mecham is the author of Institutional Origins of Islamist Political Mobilization, which provides a theory of the institutional origins of Islamist politics, focusing on the development of religious common knowledge, religious entrepreneurship and coordinating focal points as critical to the success of Islamist activism.