A panel of IU faculty and a graduate student plans to discuss Islamophobia 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday in the IU School of Global and International Studies auditorium.
Bloomington Against Islamophobia organizer Amanda Lanzillo said the group has been planning “Islamophobia: Roots and Repercussions” since last semester.
Panelists plan to address religious authority, the media, gender and the effects of 9/11.
Lanzillo said she hopes people who don’t usually study these topics will attend and gain awareness of how Islamophobia might arise in their daily lives.
“The thing that I’ve noticed here is that nobody tries to be racist or Islamophobic or misogynist,” she said. “I think most people are fairly aware that these are not good things.”
Lanzillo’s hope is that attendees think about the contexts in which prejudice is not quite as obvious.
According to Lanzillo, Bloomington Against Islamophobia formed as a result of events in which the organizers felt like members of the Bloomington Muslim community were targeted.
“That led to some rallies, but what we realized at the rallies was that people wanted education,” she said. “They wanted a chance to talk about these issues and to listen to people who are experts in these fields.”
The group tried to invite speakers who hadn’t spoken at their previous events, as well as people who could examine different disciplines, areas of focus and time periods.
“It’s interesting because it’s a local problem, and it’s a global problem,” Lanzillo said. “So how do we, here in Bloomington, fit into this global discussion?”
Sponsors of the panel include a range of University departments and student groups.
