Researcher ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8270-3647
Graduation Year
2021
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Politics and International Relations
Reader 1
Thomas Kim
Reader 2
Vanessa Tyson
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
Sofia Ahmed
Abstract
U.S. state surveillance has historically targeted minority communities. Muslim Americans are a community that has been disproportionately surveilled by the U.S. government in recent years. I conducted in-depth interviews with fifteen Muslim American community leaders and students to analyze if Muslim Americans’ level of awareness of state-sponsored surveillance affects their willingness to express political opinions. My findings show that awareness of surveillance had a wide range of effects on Muslim Americans. For some individuals, knowledge of state surveillance made them more politically active and vocal about issues that affected their communities. For others, it deterred them from being politically vocal. Overall, my interview participants expressed that surveillance harmed political expression, community building, and organizing spaces for Muslim Americans.
Recommended Citation
Ahmed, Sofia, "The Effects of State Sponsored Surveillance on Muslim American Political Expression" (2021). Scripps Senior Theses. 1705.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1705
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
