Bo Goodrich

Karam Dana
Honors 394B: Islam and Muslims in Western Contexts
6 March 2016

Muslim Self Perception in Western Contexts and Double Consciousness

In the conversation that followed the February 5th showing of Disgraced at the Seattle

Repertory Theater, I sat next to a self-identified Muslim Saudi-American couple that vocally

expressed disgust at the stereotypical and “Trumponian” representation of Muslims in the play. The

couple expressed a visceral fear at how they would be perceived by the majority Anglo audience that

surrounded them, and despite attempts by the cast, producer, and other audience members to tell

them that this play was a commentary meant to create discussion over the racialization of Muslims in

the US, they remained unwavering in their disgust and fear. The assistant producer commented that

people often see their own existing perspectives in the play and it was clear this couple saw one

where they deeply feared how they would be perceived.

This interaction inspired my research into how Muslims in western contexts perceive

themselves and the western context in which they live as well as how these perceptions are formed.

As I got further into my research I narrowed the purview of it to more specifically explore if the

deeply set fear of negative perception that was demonstrated by the Muslim American couple at

Disgraced was a common experience of Muslims in western contexts and what may be creating this.

To pursue a resolution to this question I sought out both qualitative and quantitative data, utilizing as

my main sources the 50 page final report of The Gallup Coexist Index 2009, the Pew Research

Center’s 2011 Muslim American Survey Data, Tariq Ramadan’s What I Believe, as well as How Does

it Feel to be a Problem and This Muslim American Life by Moustafa Bayoumi.

I began my quantitative research in the Pew Research Center’s Muslim Americans: No Signs

of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism which draws its data from Pew’s 2011 Muslim

American Survey. This provided a wide breadth of information on Muslim life, religiosity, and
opinions on contentious issues such as support for extremism among many other issues. Much of this

data provided information on how Muslims in the US view themselves and the world around them,

but it did not speak to revealing what forces created the dichotomy between Muslims in the US being

overall more satisfied with the US than the population as a whole while also feeling threatened by

widely held negative views about Muslims and discrimination.

The Gallup Coexist Index 2009 report serves to provide quantitative support that this gap

between self-perception and negative public perceptions is very real for Muslims living western

contexts. For example, 36% more French Muslims perceive themselves as loyal to France than the

French public perceives French Muslims and the trend continues to other western contexts.

In exploring how these two very different experiences coexist, my research turned to How

does it Feel to be a Problem, where Bayoumi coins the term “double consciousness” (similar to that

of W. E. B. Du Bois) to describe the way that Muslim Americans expertly understand and navigate

the gap between their personal Muslim worlds and the public western sphere that vilifies them in

order to coexist in both and be satisfied with their lives.

The Pew Center’s data also served to confirm that 48% of Muslims Americans felt that US

Muslim leaders had not done enough to condemn extremism and defend the Islam against the

perception that it supports these actions.

In conclusion, I found that Muslims straddle two worlds of contrasting perceptions but

maintain the coexistence of both through the development of a “double consciousness” that explains

the dichotomy between overall Muslims American satisfaction and the adversity they face. I argue

one of the methods to maintaining this careful balance is the perceived need to defend themselves

against information that threatens their personal lives and self-perceptions as was seen in the words

of the Muslim American couple at Disgraced discussion.

 Works Consulted

"A Portrait of Muslim Americans." Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 30 Aug.

2011. Web. 05 Mar. 2016. <http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/a-portrait-of-

muslim-americans/>.

Bayoumi, Moustafa. How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America.

New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Bayoumi, Moustafa. This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror. NYC:

NYU, 2015. Print.

Matthes, Frauke. "Islam in the West: Perceptions and Self-Perceptions of Muslims in Navid

Kermani's Kurzmitteilung1." German Life and Letters 64.2 (2011): 305-16. Wiley Online

Library. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-

0483.2010.01535.x/full>.

"Muslim Americans: No Signs of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism." Pew

Research Center for the People and the Press. 30 Aug. 2011. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-

alienation-or-support-for-extremism/>.

Mogahed, Dalia. The Gallup Coexist Index 2009: A Global Study of Interfaith Relations.

Publication. Washington D.C.: Gallup, 2009. Euro-Islam. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.euro-islam.info/wp-

content/uploads/pdfs/gallup_coexist_2009_interfaith_relations_uk_france_germany.pdf>.

Ramadan, Tariq. What I Believe. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.