Stereotypes, Media, and Islamophobia

About This Mini-Lesson

This mini-lesson is designed to help students reflect on how stereotypes—specifically stereotypes about Muslims—can be reinforced through the media we consume and the negative impacts that these stereotypes can have on people’s lives.

What's Included

• 4 activities 
• Student-facing slides 
• Recommended resources for exploring this topic

Mini-Lesson Plan

Activity 1: How can people’s assumptions impact you?

Respond to the following questions in your journal:

1. Think of a time that someone made an unfair assumption about you. What was the assumption? How did it make you feel?
2. Was the assumption linked to any stereotypes about groups that you belong to? If so, how?

Activity 2: How are Muslims stereotyped in media?

Watch the Secret Life of Muslims video Ahmed Ahmed: An American-Muslim comedian on being typecast as a terrorist.

Reflect:

1. According to Ahmed Ahmed, how are Muslims and Arabs stereotyped in movies?
2. How do these negative stereotypes make Ahmed Ahmed feel? What impact did these stereotypes have on his career?
3. How do you think these stereotypes might affect the way people think about Muslims or Arabs?
4. How does Ahmed Ahmed use comedy to counteract these stereotypes?

Activity 3: What impact can stereotypes and discrimination have?

Watch the Secret Life of Muslims video Khalid Latif: Muslim NYPD chaplain: saluted in uniform, harassed as a civilian.

Reflect:

1. What assumptions do people make about Khalid Latif when he is in uniform? What assumptions do people make about him when he is not in uniform? What do you think explains the difference?
2. How have people—including people in authority—treated Khalid Latif because of assumptions about Muslims?
3. How is Khalid Latif impacted by the harassment and discrimination he experiences?

Activity 4: What are the stereotypes in the media you consume?

Pick a book you recently read or a show or movie you recently watched. Then, choose one character from the piece and create an identity chart for them. To create an identity chart, write the character’s name in the space provided below or on a piece of paper. Then, write the traits or characteristics of the character around their name, and connect each one to the character’s name with a line.