Chapter 8: Billboards, Blowback, and Fear: Teaching About Islam in the American South

According to Merriam Webster (n.d.), Islamophobia is defined as the “irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against Islam or people who practice Islam.” Instances of violence, discrimination, and widespread prejudice against the roughly 3.3 million Muslims in the United States escalated in the wake of the 9/11 attacks (Hossain, 2017; Maira, 2004). Given that many teachers do not have an operational understanding of Islam, the need for greater curricular and classroom representation is imperative to shape our culturally pluralistic civic arena (Hoot et al., 2003).

The pseudonymously named Dr. Sharon Tripani is one such teacher. She is a self-described global educator who is multilingual, has over 30 years of teaching experience, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. Beyond this, she has served as the department head of the social studies department of a large affluent high school in the suburbs of a city in the Southeast United States pseudonymously named Sandydale. This is her story, one that she consented to share, where as a researcher I was invited to sit in on teacher education classes she taught at Sandydale University. She prides herself on bringing diverse viewpoints into her classes. At her high school, she invited a Muslim Imam to discuss the tenets of Islam with her Advanced Placement World History class; the fallout from this singular event continues to the present.