TY - JOUR

T1 - Producing ‘internal suspect bodies’

T2 - divisive effects of UK counter-terrorism measures on Muslim communities in Leeds and Bradford

AU - Abbas, Madeline Sophie

PY - 2019/1/31

Y1 - 2019/1/31

N2 - Research on UK government counter-terrorism measures has claimed that Muslims are treated as a ‘suspect community’. However, there is limited research exploring the divisive effects that membership of a ‘suspect community’ has on relations within Muslim communities. Drawing from interviews with British Muslims living in Leeds or Bradford, I address this gap by explicating how co-option of Muslim community members to counter extremism fractures relations within Muslim communities. I reveal how community members internalize fears of state targeting which precipitates internal disciplinary measures. I contribute the category of ‘internal suspect body’ which is materialized through two intersecting conditions within preventative counter-terrorism: the suspected extremist for Muslims to look out for and suspected informer who might report fellow Muslims. I argue that the suspect community operates through a network of relations by which terrors of counter-terrorism are reproduced within Muslim communities with divisive effects.

AB - Research on UK government counter-terrorism measures has claimed that Muslims are treated as a ‘suspect community’. However, there is limited research exploring the divisive effects that membership of a ‘suspect community’ has on relations within Muslim communities. Drawing from interviews with British Muslims living in Leeds or Bradford, I address this gap by explicating how co-option of Muslim community members to counter extremism fractures relations within Muslim communities. I reveal how community members internalize fears of state targeting which precipitates internal disciplinary measures. I contribute the category of ‘internal suspect body’ which is materialized through two intersecting conditions within preventative counter-terrorism: the suspected extremist for Muslims to look out for and suspected informer who might report fellow Muslims. I argue that the suspect community operates through a network of relations by which terrors of counter-terrorism are reproduced within Muslim communities with divisive effects.

KW - Counter-terrorism

KW - extremism

KW - Muslim

KW - Prevent

KW - suspect body

KW - suspect community

U2 - 10.1111/1468-4446.12366

DO - 10.1111/1468-4446.12366

M3 - Journal article

VL - 70

SP - 261

EP - 282

JO - British Journal of Sociology

JF - British Journal of Sociology

SN - 0007-1315

IS - 1

ER -