The 9/11 attacks in the United States, the subsequent global “war on terror,” and the proliferation of domestic security policies in Western nations have had a profound impact on the lives of young Muslims, whose identities and experiences have been shaped within and against these conditions. The millennial generation of Muslim youth has come of age in these turbulent times, dealing with the aftermath and backlash associated with these events.

Under Siege explores the lives of Canadian Muslim youth belonging to the 9/11 generation as they navigate these fraught times of global war and terror. While many studies address contemporary manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism, few have focused on the toll this takes on Muslim communities, especially among younger generations. Based on in-depth interviews with more than 130 young people, youth workers, and community leaders, Jasmin Zine’s ethnographic study unpacks the dynamics of Islamophobia as a system of oppression and examines its impact on Canadian Muslim youth. Covering topics such as citizenship, identity and belonging, securitization, radicalization, campus culture in an age of empire, and subaltern Muslim counterpublics and resistance, Under Siege provides a unique and comprehensive examination of the complex realities of Muslim youth in a post-9/11 world.

Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, Zine reveals how the global war on terror and heightened anti-Muslim racism have affected a generation of Canadians who were socialized into a world where their faith and identity are under siege.

Jasmin Zine is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, OISE/University of Toronto.

Jasmin Zine's profile page

“Under Siege is an exceptionally poignant, meticulously researched, and profoundly detailed account of Islamophobia in Canada that will stir the soul and fire the intellect. It is the definitive contribution to the study of Islamophobia and questions relating to the representation of Islam and Muslims in Canadian society to date.” Tahir Abbas, Leiden University and author of Countering Violent Extremism: The International Deradicalization Agenda

“Trapped between two extremes – the radical and the abject – Muslim youth bear the burden of representation and collective guilt because of their shared religious identity with the 9/11 terrorists. Through richly textured and nuanced interpretative analysis, Zine’s capaciously detailed account traces the sharp and visceral reverberations of Islamophobia in the lives of the post-9/11 generation of Canadian Muslim youth.” Yasmin Jiwani, Concordia University

“By centering the voices of Muslim youth in Canada from the 9/11 generation, [Zine] captures the complex nexus of oppressions experienced by Black and racialized Muslims as they navigate government policies of securitization, university campus culture, news media, and popular culture.” New Books Network