Taking into consideration the current political climate, the UCSB MultiCultural Center will host a panel discussion with three UCSB faculty members to discuss Imaginaries About Muslims: Before and After Trump. The free event will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 13, in the MCC Theater.

Donald Trump’s first month in office has seen continued and escalating anti-Muslim rhetoric and policy. The community is invited to join the inter-disciplinary discussion of the history, factors, and strategies for resistance against Islamophobia.

Sherene Seikaly (UCSB history) will reflect on the history of the Muslim as public enemy and the convergences of Islamophobia, homophobia, anti-blackness and anti-Semitism in the United States today, provoking the question: Are we not all Muslims?

Juan Campo (UCSB religious studies) will discuss factors leading to the rise of Islamophobia, including the roles played by agencies of local and national government in objectifying Muslims.

Laila Sakr (UCSB film & media studies) will examine the formation of a virtual body politic on social media platforms to reflect on the myth of the Muslim nation as played out between Arab Data Bodies and Real Bodies.

In 1987, the MultiCultural Center was born out of student mobilization around the need for spaces for students of color on campus to voice their concerns, combat racism, sexism and heterosexism.

The MCC strives to support student activism and maintain a mutually supportive relationship with its student users as they work together in pursuit of a more just society. For more information, visit www.mcc.ucsb.edu.

— Carol Dinh for UCSB MultiCultural Center.