Who’s Afraid of Islam?

How do figures like Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins contribute to Islamophobia in American culture?

How do “New Atheist” figures like Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins contribute to the wider currents of Islamophobia in American culture?

Moustafa Bayoumi is an associate professor of English at Brooklyn College and the author of How Does it Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America. In this conversation, we talk about his graduate years working with Edward Said; his development as a scholar of postcolonial literature and theory; the use of American popular music in the torture of (mostly Arab) detainees; and the Arab-American experience after 9/11.