Deepa Kumar

Scholar. Author. Social Justice Activist.

Latest Book

Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire

A critically acclaimed analysis of anti-Muslim racism from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries, in a fully revised and expanded second edition.

BOOK LAUNCH: Click here to watch "20 Years After 9/11," the book launch with Naomi Klein, Keeanga Yamhatta-Taylor, Noura Erakat and Jasbir Puar.

"If you read one book to mark the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, the second edition of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire must be that book. Kumar’s analysis is the most remarkable and comprehensive contribution to date regarding the study of Islamophobia since 2001."

Stephen Sheehi

Sultan Qaboos Professor of Middle East Studies, William and Mary, author of Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign against Muslims.

“Two decades ago, as the imperial politics of Islamophobia went on a rampage first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, Deepa Kumar mapped out in precise theoretical detail the where, when, what and why of its operations. The first edition of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire was a pathbreaking contribution to our understanding of the relationship between anti-Muslim racism and empire. This revised and fully updated edition is even more powerful, comprehensive and erudite.”

Hamid Dabashi

Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies, Columbia University, author of Brown Skin, White Masks.

“This capacious, ambitious tour de force of history and cultural analysis explores the winding path of ideas about Islam from early modern Europe to the contemporary US. It examines the politics of religion, the construction of race, and the work of empire in intertwining the two... A timely, necessary book, richly interdisciplinary, that contributes to American Studies, International Relations, Race and Ethnic studies, Religion, History, Anthropology, Middle East Studies, Legal Studies, Cultural Studies and related fields.”

Melani McAlister

Professor of American Studies, George Washington University, author of Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945

“If you want to know how knowledge can effectively push back against racism, this is the book you need to read now. Ambitious in its historical sweep, incisive in its analysis of the ideological and institutional matrix of Islamophobia that has unfolded in the US over the past two decades, remarkable for its mobilization of eye-opening evidence and the best critical thinking about the racialization and securitization of Muslims, Kumar’s book is not just bold but lucid and accessible.”

Lila Abu-Lughod

Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science, Columbia University and author of Do Muslim Women Need Saving?

“Writing with forceful clarity, Deepa Kumar excavates the deep roots of orientalist colonial discourses and demonstrates how the project of empire has been shared across the political spectrum—from conservatives to liberals ... a major contribution both to critical cultural studies as well as a host of related fields.”