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Jasmin Zine is a Professor of Sociology and Religion & Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University. In 2026 she received the honour of being named Laurier’s University Research Professor, an award for the recognition of continuous outstanding scholarship.
Her recent publications include Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation (McGill-Queens University Press, 2022) which provides an ethnographic study of the experiences of Muslim youth navigating heightened Islamophobia and the global war on terror. Under Siege was named on the Hill Times list of best books in Canada in 2022.
She is also author of The Canadian Islamophobia Industry: Mapping Islamophobia’s Ecosystem in the Great White North (Islamophobia Studies Center/Islamophobia Research and Development Project, University of California, Berkeley, 2022) that examines the networks of hate and bigotry that purvey and monetize Islamophobia.
Other edited publications include Islam in the Hinterlands: Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada (University of British Columbia, 2012) and Muslim Women Transnational Feminism and the Ethics of Pedagogy: Contested Imaginaries in Post 9/11 Cultural Practice (Routledge, 2014, with L. K Taylor). She also edited a special issue of the Islamophobia Studies Journal on Islamophobia in Canada (2022).
She is currently leading a study on “Examining the Heightened Impact of Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian Racism on Canadian Muslims since Oct. 7.”
Dr. Zine has worked as a consultant with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Council of Europe (COE), and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (ODHIR/OSCE) on developing guidelines for educators and policymakers on combating Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism.
She has been an invited speaker at numerous international academic conferences and political forums in France, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Pakistan, as well as in the United States and Canada.
Dr. Zine is co-founder and Vice President of the International Islamophobia Studies Research Association (IISRA). She is an editorial board member for the journals Re-Orient: The Journal of Critical Muslim Studies and the Islamophobia Studies Journal.
As a public intellectual, she served as the co-chair of the Islamophobia sub-committee of the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate and has testified at the 2017 Canadian Heritage Parliamentary sub-committee meetings on Motion 103 addressing Islamophobia, systemic racism, and religious discrimination as well as the 2019 Parliamentary Hearings on On-Line Hate and in the 2022-23 Canadian Senate Committee on Human Rights Hearings on Islamophobia. In 2020, Dr. Zine presented to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief about Islamophobia in Canada. In 2021, she was an invited speaker at Canada’s National Summit on Islamophobia that took place in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in London Ontario.
Dr. Zine is a sought-after media commentator and has provided interviews and commentary about Islamophobia for the CBC, CTV, Global News, Chatelaine, National Post, Toronto Star, the Conversation Canada, Waterloo Record, London Free Press, BBC, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Al Anadolu, The New Arab, Middle East Eye, Daily Sabah, Vox, among others.
Degrees
- BA (with Distinction) Sociology (Specialist) Anthropology (Major) University of Toronto.
- MA Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT).
- PhD (Anti-racism and Anti-colonial Education) Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT).
My research interests are within the field of Islamophobia studies with a focus on Canada as well as in an international context. I am currently leading a 5-year research project on “Examining the Heightened Impact of Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian Racism on Canadian Muslims since Oct. 7.” After spending several years of mapping the ‘Islamophobia Industry’ in Canada, I am now tracing the genealogy of Islamophobic archetypes, tropes, and conspiracy theories globally.
2006-2027- Laurier University Research Professor awarded in recognition of continuous outstanding scholarship.
2026-2031- Principal Investigator Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant Examining the Impact of Heightened Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian Racism on Canadian Muslims after Oct. 7, 2023.
2018-2022- Principal Investigator: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Engage Grant (PEG): Mapping the Canadian Islamophobia Industry (in partnership with the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) & Islamophobia Studies Center (ISC) University of California, Berkeley).
2009-2016- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant: Canadian Muslim Youth: An Examination of Identity, Citizenship and Belonging Post 9/11.
2025 Erasmus Visiting Professor, Gaziantep University, Turkey.
2023 Everding Distinguished Lecturer, Iliff School of Theology, Denver Colorado.
2025 WLU Merit Award (Service)
2022 WLU Merit Award (Research)
2015 WLU Merit Award (Research)
2009 WLU Merit Award (Research)
2021-Present Co-Founder and Vice President of the International Islamophobia Studies Research Association (IISRA) https://www.iisra.net/
My areas of interest are within the field of Islamophobia Studies. I am currently supervising RAs for 5-year study and have limited capacity to take on graduate students for thesis supervisions.
Books
2022 Jasmin Zine. Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation. (McGill-Queens University Press).
2014 Muslim Women Transnational Feminist Reading Practices, Pedagogy and Ethical Concerns: Contested Imaginaries in Post 9/11 Cultural Practice. Lisa K. Taylor & Jasmin Zine (eds) Routledge.
2012 Islam in the Hinterlands: Exploring Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada. J. Zine (ed). University of British Columbia Press.
2008 Jasmin Zine. Canadian Islamic Schools: Unravelling the Politics of Faith, Gender, Knowledge and Identity. University of Toronto Press.
Book Chapters
2024 “Islamophobia in Canada: The Security Industrial Complex.” In A. Ahmad (ed) Securing Canada’s Future: Vital Insights from Women Experts. University of Toronto Press.
2021 “On Critical Muslim Studies and Islamophobia: An Interview with Jasmin Zine.” (interview by Mehmet Ali Basak), In Jennifer Selby, Amelie Barras & Melanie Adrian (eds) Producing Islams. University of Toronto Press.
2019 “Faith and Activism: Muslim Student Associations and Campus-based Social Movements” (with Asma Bala). In T. Abbas & S. Hamid (eds) Political Muslims. NY: Syracuse University Press.
2014 “Introduction: The Contested Imaginaries of Reading Muslim Women and Muslim Women Reading Back” (with Lisa, K. Taylor) in Lisa K. Taylor & Jasmin Zine (eds). Muslim Women Transnational Feminist Reading Practices, Pedagogy and Ethical Concerns: Contested Imaginaries in Post 9/11 Cultural Practice. NYC: Routledge (1-24).
2014 “Cartographies of Difference and Pedagogies of Peril: Muslim Girls and Women in Western Young Adult Fiction Novels” in Lisa K. Taylor & Jasmin Zine (eds). Muslim Women Transnational Feminist Reading Practices, Pedagogy and Ethical Concerns: Contested Imaginaries in Post 9/11 Cultural Practice. NYC: Routledge (175-197).
Reports
2022 The Canadian Islamophobia Industry: Mapping Islamophobia’s Ecosystem in the Great White North. Islamophobia Studies Research Center & Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, University of California Berkeley. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). https://www.iphobiacenter.org/content/canadian-islamophobia-industry
2022 Religious Inclusion in Research Tool Kit. (with Zabedia Nazim) Royal Roads University.
Journal Articles
2022 “The Canadian Islamophobia Industry: Islamophobia’s Ecosystem in the Great White North.” Islamophobia Studies Journal, 7 (2): 232-249.
2022 “Islamophobia in Canada, eh? An Overview.” Islamophobia Studies Journal (Special Issue Editorial) 7(2): 166-181.
2020 “Pandemic Imaginaries and the Racial Politics of Masking.” Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies.
2018 “The Alt-right and the Weaponization of Free Speech on Campus.” Academic Matters. Fall Issue: https://academicmatters.ca/the-alt-right-and-the-weaponization-of-free-speech-on-campus/.
2009 “Unsettling the Nation: Gender, Race and Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada.” (Special Feature Article) Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 9 (1): 146-163.
2008 “Honour and Identity: An Ethnographic Account of Muslim Girls in a Canadian Islamic School.” Topia (Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies) 19 (39): 39-67.
2008 “Lost in Translation: Reading Back from the Margins” Roundtable Response to Miriam Cooke’s “The Muslimwoman.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 24 (1): 110-116.
Featured Media Articles
2024 “Anti-Palestinian Racism Needs to be Included in Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy.” The Conversation Canada. May 21, 2024. (6,243 reads).
2024 “Attempts to Undermine Research on the Violent Effects of Islamophobia do a Disservice to All.” The National Post (Opinion). January 6, 2024.
2023 “How Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian Racism are Manufactured Through Disinformation.” The Conversation Canada. October 23, 2023. (17,500 reads).
2023 “Como a Islamofobia e o Racismo Antipalestini sao fabricados por meio da desinformacao. “The Conversation Brazil. October 24, 2023. (314 reads).
2021 “Muslim Family Killed in Terror Attack in London, Ontario: Islamophobic Violence Surfaces Once Again in Canada. The Conversation Canada. June 8, 2021. (59, 465 reads).
2021 “Remembering the Quebec City Mosque Attack: Islamophobia and Canada’s National Amnesia.” The Conversation Canada. January 30, 2021. (14, 014 reads)
2021 “Critiquer Israel ne Releve pas de L’antisemitisme, mais de la Liberte Acacademique.” The Conversation (French). January 11, 2021. (4,368 reads).
2020 “Criticizing Israel is not Antisemitic-It’s Academic Freedom.” (with Greg Bird & Sara Matthews). The Conversation Canada. April 19, 2020. (23,896 reads).
2020 “Unmasking the Racial Politics of the Coronavirus Pandemic” The Conversation Canada. June 3, 2020. (16,671 reads).
2019 “I had a Front Row Seat to Hate and was Physically Assaulted: The Liberal Washing of White Nationalism. The Conversation Canada. April 01, 2019. (28,200 reads).
2019 “Islamophobia and Hate Crimes Continue to Rise in Canada.” January 28, 2019. (30,213 reads).
- “A National Day of Remembrance: Lessons from the Quebec Massacre.” The Conversation Canada. January 25, 2018. (6,010 reads).
2017 “Let’s worry more about violent Islamophobes—and less about writers who fear being called ‘Islamophobic.’” National Post Op Ed. May 9, 2017.
2017 “Transphobia, Islamophobia and the Free-Speech Alibi.” The Conversation Canada. December 4, 2017. (7,855 reads).
Social Justice Education
Social Inequality
Dynamics of Islamophobia
Marginality and Resistance
Academic Advisory Boards
-Council of American -Islamic Relations (CAIR)
-Bridge Initiative on Islamophobia Georgetown University
-Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights
-Re-Orient: Journal of Critical Muslim Studies
Public Policy Consultation
2024 Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Islamophobia Hearings. June 6, 2024.
2023 Canadian Senate Human Rights Committee Islamophobia Study (second invitation from Senate to testify). February 6, 2023.
2022 Canadian Senate Human Rights Committee Islamophobia Study. Monday June 20, 2022.
2022 Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate Islamophobia Consultation. October 11, 2022.
2021 National Islamophobia Summit, July 22, 2021.
2021 UN Islamophobia Special Envoy Meeting. January 21, 2021.
2019 On-Line Hate Parliamentary Hearings. May 9, 2019.
2017 Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights /Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OHDIR/OSCE) Diplomatic Conference, Combatting Intolerance, Discrimination and Hatred Against Muslims: Towards a Comprehensive Response in the OSCE Region. Hofburg Conference Centre, Vienna, Austria. October 18, 2017.
2017 M-103 Parliamentary Hearings. October 4, 2017.
2017-18 Co-Chair, Islamophobia Sub-Committee, Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate.
2010 Expert Islamophobia Consultant: United Nations, Economic and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Council of Europe (COE), Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights /Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OHDIR/OSCE). UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, July 20-23, 2010.Contact Info:
E: jzine@wlu.ca