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Brown Bodies And Xenophobic Bullying In Us Schools: Critical Analysis And Strategies For Action, Monisha Bajaj, Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, Karishma Desai

School of Education Faculty Research

This essay addresses an evidence-based action project that sought to interrupt and transform bullying behaviors directed at South Asian American youth in schools in the United States (U.S.). In the context of this essay and project, the authors argue that larger macro-level forces that promote misinformation about youth who inhabit brown bodies (in the U.S. and abroad) have given rise to behaviors identified as bullying, and in some cases, harassment and hate crimes in schools. Conventional literature on bullying offers inadequate frames for how the forces of Islamophobia—that affect all those perceived to be Muslim—and bullying come together to shape …