are socially constructed and given meaning through action and language, we must be mindful of the more privileged, powerful cultures that we give voice to, specifi cally when thinking about Islamophobia or any other discourse, as all social systems are interlinked and relational (Krause, 2002). Additionally, the process of meaning making via language is based on our interpretations, positions and perspectives, which inform how we understand the world around us. Our personal and cultural lenses are impacted upon by myriad truths via societal discourses, which are co-constructed through powerful institutions, as discussed, infl uence this. T us, I hypothesise that Orientalism informed Western notions of what Islam and Muslims are. T is has fuelled our current discourse of Islamophobia in Britain, for example, East vs West, despotism vs democracy and backwardness vs modernity (Said, 1978). Burnham’s (1986) generational scripts and


Carter and McGoldrick’s (1988) family life cycle nodal points help me when thinking about family beliefs, values and principles that are passed down through generations. A recursive process is then enforced where dominant ideologies are sustained through learnt behaviours – In my case, to not lose my faith as I may then lose my cultural identity to Western society: or from my white English peers perspective, that British values will be lost by the infl ux of migrants and/ or Muslims. Curiosity surrounding British imperialism, colonisation, displacement and the impact of this in regards to generational trauma is also considered. My memories of my grandparents’ reverence towards the British Empire as positive are something that further punctuates this. What wasn’t apparent to me was the subservient at itude they displayed towards whiteness and the English as being all-powerful and something to be thankful for. T is led me to question the overly meek thankfulness at my being accepted into a highly reputable organisation for my systemic studies – which is predominately white and middle class. T is highlights the contradictory discourses and double bind that can be created for young people from ethnic minorities transitioning into adolescence, where identity and belonging is being formed and informed by their social worlds.


Case example: T ese fears of reprisals for being Muslim and the internal confl icts for young people


Context 170, August 2020


are demonstrated in my work that I wrote about in Context magazine (June, 2019), titled Radicalisation or exploitation? Working systemically in the National Health Service (NHS) with “religiously radicalised youth”. In summary: In 2017, A cohort of children were


highlighted by the social care Prevent team and SO15 branch of the metropolitan police as being radicalised over the course of a year by clerics in an East London mosque. T e children were shown images of beheadings, indoctrinated into anti- west ISIS propaganda/ideology with the aim to carry out simultaneous at acks around London – similar to the London Bridge at acks. My team was set up to support Social Care from a mental health perspective. T is was a fi rst-of-its-kind project within the NHS. My role was seen as preventative and the aim was to engage families, who were initially reluctant, with the view to supporting them with a systemic intervention to facilitate thinking about and managing the issues that arose surrounding their presenting issues; specifi cally, trauma related to the grooming process and wider contextual issues such as societal and community views. General themes that had arisen in the work with the parents or guardians was a sense of fear, shame, alienation, confusion and anxiety from being targeted by anti-Muslim hate crimes. T is was a primary source for the lack of engagement with professionals. Noor was a Somali migrant seeking


refuge in the UK and a single parent of three children, who protested: “You are the fourth person to my house…why should I talk? English don’t like Muslims. You see TV? What they say?... I am scared for my children… for me”. T is demonstrates how Noor felt


positioned by societal views, by her genuine sense of being at risk of harm due to Islamophobia – which was the case for the families overall, creating a bind, as their anxiety was enforced by their perceived otherness as a negative within our society. Positioning them further as being at fault and to blame for their children being exploited – which was not the case – in turn caused a feedback loop of not wanting to engage with professionals. T e confusion and internal confl ict created for the children is highlighted


in the example of Dawood, a thirteen- year-old boy who expressed: “England and America are bad to Muslim countries aren’t they? T at’s what I thought. What I was told. It’s bad what they do to Muslims”. T is was fed to the children by the clerics via anti-west propaganda, resulting in nightmares, fl ashbacks and being in need of answers. I also facilitated group therapy where the topic of how the UK generally viewed British Muslims was top of the agenda for the children. A space was created where a rich, passionate, emotive discussion and debate was had – with a view to promoting critical thinking in a safe and contained environment. Emotive discussion was not only limited to the families, but also my colleagues. I became particularly curious about some of the language used in professionals’ meetings and, in retrospect, wonder what may have informed some of their ideas; for example, in multi-disciplinary meetings with social workers, police and school leads expressed in some instances that families need to assimilate or need to learn British values. Again, highlighting the power of prejudice and the role it plays in the oppression (conscious or unconscious) of individuals or groups of people. T ese assumptions are also referred to as unconscious bias. T is is something that happens automatically, triggering a quick assumption, which is embedded/informed by our social, cultural and historical narratives – which is linked to the main premise for discussion within this article. I am not suggesting that the children’s needs were not at the heart of the work or that the remit of the profession did not direct the focus, such as the police upholding the law and stopping terrorism. However, at ention must be given to the complexity of the human condition in respect of our triggers, biases and prejudices, which translates directly into how we relate to others and the ethical implications this has in our work.


To what end? So, the question remains: Why would


the media generalise British Muslims in a predominately negative light? Why would they incite fear and hatred creating divisions rather than unity? How does having this insight support us in working with families as well as individuals? Based on ideas presented in this article, I suggest that the privileging of certain


21


Islamophobia – a systemic perspective: Unpacking prejudices and assumptions


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