The irony of disciplinary inclusion is the extent to which it turns phobic and philic sentiments into the very architecture of identity formation. It constructs Muslim enemies even as (or precisely because) it stipulates the qualities of Muslim friends. Disciplinary inclusion encourages the Muslim friend to control and marginalize the Muslim enemy, a contest that unfolds in the Self, the family, the community, the nation-state, and the transregional diaspora. This work is delicate, relentless, and it has given rise to its own class of specialists. Greater Detroit now has a professional class of “go-to” Muslims who can be relied upon to build interfaith alliances, meet with visiting government officials and candidates for public office, lead the mosque tours, talk to reporters and scholars, and, of course, to rebuff Islamophobes.

Builds on: "Disciplinary inclusion both supports minority communities and controls them"

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 709