Invisible Violence Against Hypervisible Women: Understanding Islamophobic Violence in the Greater Toronto Area Through Qualitative Interviews and Arts-Based Inquiry

Islamophobic violence against Muslim women is an understudied issue in Canada, even as it is increasing. Using an anti-colonial Muslim feminist theoretical framework and praxis, I conducted 21 interviews of Muslim women survivors of Islamophobic violence in the GTA, and analyzed these interviews to characterize the discourses that sanction Islamophobic violence; the different forms of Islamophobic violence and its impacts, including its relation to trauma; challenges for bystander intervention; and Muslim women’s strength and agency. Notably, several participants employed faith-based methods of understanding and responding to Islamophobic violence. Poetry by six Muslim women survivors of Islamophobic violence supplemented these findings by enriching them with emotional depth; this poetry will be included in a community toolkit on Islamophobic violence that will emerge from this study. Future research should continue to centre diverse Muslim women’s voices and focus on anti-colonial methods of challenging Islamophobia that focus on building relationships with Indigenous peoples.M.A