Responses to Islam in the Classroom: A Case of Muslim Girls from Minority Communities of Interpretation

Abstract

Coinciding with the rise of Islamophobia in the United States is a small but growing set of educational scholarship around the curricular impact of and response to Islamophobia. The qualitative case study discussed in this manuscript aims to contribute to this conversation by investigating how Muslim girls from minority communities of interpretation (n=6) made sense of and responded to the curriculum on Islam in their Social Studies classes. The central finding describes how sample students responded to Islamophobia in the classroom by building bridges across differences. Ultimately, this study advocates a curriculum on Islam honoring complexity.