Abstract
study conducted among non-religious middle school Jewish Israeli students used the current Islamophobia scales to explore anti-Muslim prejudice, its challenges to educators, and how they cope with it. Another issue explored was the effect of learning the history of Jewish-Muslim relations on Islamophobia.Approximately one third of the participants reported holding Islamophobic views (stereotypes, sense of threat, social distance) associated with political affiliation, religious conservatism, social class, and negative perceptions of Muslim history. Teachers who taught the history of Islam reported antagonism related to Islamophobic prejudice and current interreligious violence. To cope with these challenges they implemented practices such as rational engagement with the cultural and scientific achievements of Islam, exploration of similarities and shared identity, affirmation of cooperation between Jews and Muslims, and Jewish achievements under Muslim rule. Learning the history of Jewish-Muslim relations and framing them in a historical context of conflict vs. collaboration favorably affected the perception of historical Islam. Structural equation modelling showed that historical perceptions influenced stereotypes and indirectly also sensations of threat, social distance, and closedness.Political affiliation moderated the effect of history of Islam teaching in an unforeseen direction as the sensations of threat and social distance decreased among sympathizers of the political right wing, but increased them in students with center-left political sympathies.
Translated title of the contribution | Does the study of Islam Reduce Islamophobia? |
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Original language | Hebrew |
Pages (from-to) | 109-143 |
Number of pages | 35 |
Journal | גילוי דעת |
Volume | 18 |
State | Published - 2021 |
IHP Publications
- ihp
- Attitude (Psychology)
- Group identity
- History -- Study and teaching
- Islam -- Relations -- Judaism
- Islam -- Study and teaching
- Islamophobia
- Judaism -- Relations -- Islam
- Prejudices
- School children
- Stereotypes (Social psychology)
- Teachers
- Xenophobia