Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the relationship between Islamophobia and whiteness, showing how the latter plays a central role in the process of racialisation and governmentality of Muslims in Portugal.

Paper long abstract:

The so-called "Reconquista" has been taking as the event that created Portuguese nationhood and identity. Historically, this narrative has shaped Portuguese institutions, political horizon and social imagination, and has contributed to portrait the Muslims as "invader", "foreign", "enemies", and in the last years, as "terrorists". Alongside, this national narrative naturalized, projected and perpetuated Portuguese identity as white and Christian. Based on my ethnographic data and academic literature, in this paper I explore the relationship between Islamophobia and whiteness in contemporary Portugal, showing how the latter played a central role in the process of racialisation and hierarchization of populations in colonial and post-colonial period, and how whiteness operates in public policy of surveillance and governmentality of Muslims. In a nutshell, how whiteness operates in the institutionalised practices and policies of Islamophobia and, consequently, in the Muslims' everyday in Portugal.