Humanising Arabs And Muslims

Joanne Lockwood is joined by professor and author Evelyn Alsultany to examine why “humanising” Arabs and Muslims is still necessary, and how dehumanising portrayals in media have shaped public attitudes and political decisions for decades.

Evelyn shares research on the long history of Hollywood and news narratives that conflate Arab and Muslim identities and repeatedly frame them through threat and terrorism. They discuss how these portrayals can create collective blame, reinforce bias, and help legitimise discriminatory practices and policies, from surveillance and profiling through to the broader “national security” framing.

The conversation also looks at what progress can look like: a wider range of stories, more nuanced representation created by people telling their own stories, and the limits of “feel good” diversity efforts that become performative or detached from restorative justice. Together, they reflect on crisis-driven cycles of attention, the backlash to inclusion work, and the long-term cultural shift needed to make inclusion stick across institutions, media, and everyday life.