Backlash 9/11

For most Americans, September 11, 2001, symbolized the moment when their security was altered. For Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans, 9/11 also ushered in a backlash in the form of hate crimes, discrimination, and a string of devastating government initiatives. This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the post-9/11 events on Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans as well as their organized response. Through fieldwork and interviews with community leaders, Anny Bakalian and Mehdi Bozorgmehr show how ethnic organizations mobilized to demonstrate their commitment to the United States while defending their rights and distancing themselves from the terrorists. In its timely account of Middle Eastern and Muslim American experience,Backlash 9/11develops a new theoretical model of backlash and mobilization during times of crisis.

Anny Bakalian is Associate Director of the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Photo by Paola Bakalian Mehdi Bozorgmehr is both Codirector of the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, CUNY, and Associate Professor of Sociology at City College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Photo by Margaret K. Tsai