Dangerous Definitions: On the Debate Around Defining Islamophobia within the UK by Prof. Rebecca Ruth Gould

This presentation will review recent calls within the UK for government-backed definitions of Islamophobia, while considering the unanticipated consequences of such proposals, as well as the convergence of the discussion around defining antisemitism with defining anti-Muslim racism. I focus on the definition of Islamophobia which is being proposed for adoption by government and a range of civil society organisations, and compare and contrast that definition with other ways of understanding anti-Muslim racism. To the extent that a definition of Islamophobia will fail to address the government’s role in propagating Islamophobia through ill-considered legislation that conflates Islamist discourse with hate speech, the proposal for a government-backed definition of Islamophobia should not be regarded favourably. We can also learn from the lessons of the negative effects of the government's adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Alongside opposing government attempts to define Islamophobia (and Islam), I argue that advocacy efforts should instead focus on disambiguating government counter-terrorism initiatives from the government management of controversies within Islam.