Islamofobia
Countering Islamophobia Through the Development of Best Practice in the use of Counter-Narratives in EU Member States

Period
January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018
Duration
24 months
Abstract

The overall aim of the Action is to produce a toolkit of counter-narratives to Islamophobia, building on an assessment of the range and content of counter-narratives to Muslim hatred and hostility in 8 national case study contexts and their application, operation and impact on prevailing narratives of hate and hostility. This project will:

  1. Categorise prevailing current narratives of Muslim hatred, identify their key elements and interlocking contextual environments employing the Domination Hate Model of Intercultural Relations (Islamic Human Rights Commission 2016),
  2. Categorise current counter-narratives to Muslim hatred and assess their changing dynamics and context,
  3. Examine the application and operation of identified counter-narratives in a selected range of discursive environments and their impact and influence on public opinion and specific audiences,
  4. Produce 1 transferable EU toolkit of best practice in the use of counter-narratives to Muslim hatred and specific key messages for 8 member states,
  5. Disseminate the key messages, findings and toolkits to policy makers, professionals and practitioners both across the EU and to member/regional audiences using a range of mediums and activities,
  6. Facilitate a process of knowledge exchange and a pathway to impact for toolkit utilisation

The Action comprises 5 workstreams:

Workstream 0 Project Management and Coordination encompasses cross-cutting activities essential to the project’s objectives including financial management, partner coordination, ethics management and digital communications.

Workstream 1 Categorising Prevailing Narratives of Muslim Hatred will describe and explain the discursive content and forms that Muslim hatred takes through a review of the literature and available data relating to Muslim hatred and identification of prevailing narratives in political and media discourse, and more widely in social media contexts to produce a research report on each national case study.

Workstream 2 Categorising and Evaluating Counter-Narratives to Muslim Hatred will produce a categorical account of counter-narratives to Muslim hatred deployed in political and media discourse, and more widely in social media contexts, together with other official and non-official sources for each national case study.

Workstream 3 Developing an EU Counter-Narrative Toolkit Cross-national learning will inform the development of a toolkit of counter-narratives for use across EU member states, and elsewhere, and additionally, a summary of Key Action Messages and National Messages will be produced.

Workstream 4 PR, Dissemination, Knowledge Exchange and Impact. The Toolkit, Key messages and associated outputs will be disseminated to policy makers, professionals and practitioners both across the EU and to member/regional audiences using a range of mediums and activities.

Outcomes

Type and number of persons benefiting from the project

Approx 500 people (2 conferences, 6 regional workshops) including representatives from EU institutions, national and local government, news media, NGOs and researchers.

Expected results

An EU Toolkit, Key Action and Workstream messages, reports and digital outputs will provide an important resource for the development of best practice in countering Muslim hatred for policy makers, professionals and practitioners both across the EU and amongst member state/regional audiences. Systematically identifying, categorising and assessing the range of such narratives and their impact and influence will provide a robust comprehensive evidence base to inform action and intervention.

Type and number of outputs to be produced

8 research reports on narratives of Muslim hate, 8 research reports on counter-narratives, 8 Key National Messages reports, 1 EU report, 1 EU toolkit of counter-narratives, 2 Key Workstream Messages reports, 1 Key Action Messages report, 6 academic/practitioner journal articles, 1 research monograph, 1 website, 1 Blog and 1 Twitter feed.

Partners

University of Leeds - Coordinators

University of Liege

Islamic Human Rights Commission

Charles University

Central European University

ALBA Graduate Business School

Researchers
Funding Entity
European Commission