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This article aims to theorize how islamophobic microaggressions occur and their social implications.

March 2, 2026Open Access

Islamophobia as a Racial Microaggression

Key Points

This article aims to theorize how islamophobic microaggressions occur and their social implications.
Theoretical analysis based on the work of Mary Douglas' Theory of Dirt.
Review of existing studies on islamophobic microaggressions.
Discussion of how social order is disrupted by the presence of Muslimness.
Islamophobic microaggressions perpetuate when Muslimness disrupts established social norms.
These microaggressions highlight the 'out-of-place-ness' of Muslim individuals.
The study suggests that such microaggressions serve to reinforce social order by targeting perceived transgressions.

Abstract

The article will offer a theoretical explanation vis-à-vis how and why Islamophobic microaggressions occur. There are a number of studies that have offered insightful empirical accounts with regard to the manifestation of Islamophobic microaggressions, although lesser attention has been paid towards robustly theorising the phenomenon. In this article, I shall draw upon Mary Douglas’ (1966) Theory of Dirt to argue that Islamophobic microaggressions are perpetuated when the social order is contravened by the presence of Muslimness. When Muslimness occupies a space or place where it is constructed as being antithetical to the set of ordered relations, then it is sanctioned (by microaggressions). Islamophobic microaggressions, thereby, I argue, function to highlight the “out-of-place-ness” of Muslimness and endeavour to “fix” transgressions.

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