RELS 246 Muslim Abolitionist Futures
This course explores modern Muslim engagements with, and resistance to, the violence of Islamophobia, colonial racial capitalism, and the carceral state. Our examination will unfold through a series of historical case studies from the Muslim abolitionist movement against the Transatlantic slave trade in colonial West Africa to the Nation of Islam’s Civil Rights Era struggle against policing and incarceration and, more recently, the astonishing rise of a capitalist-friendly American Muslim neo-conservatism that promotes a color-blind allegiance to the carceral state. Throughout the course, students will learn about different strategies of power used to discipline and regulate populations—from biopolitical and carceral technologies to new forms of surveillance capitalism—and Muslim responses to their proliferation—from strategic accommodation to decolonial critique and social justice activism. Students will be able to observe and compare Muslim approaches to prison reform and abolition through the work of organizations such as the Tayba Foundation, the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Believers Bail Out. Finally, in addition to familiarizing students with Euro-American scholarship on race and power, the course will also introduce them to indigenous Muslim theorizations of black suffering, liberation theology, and social justice in the field of critical Muslim studies.
Credits
This is a 4-unit course. On average, you should expect to spend at least twelve (12) hours a week (including in-class time) on this course.