Introduction

The complexity of the task of teaching about Islam in Poland is exacerbated by the Polish socio-political context that comprises an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, a right-wing government since 2015, the growing influence of far-right movements and the unmitigated dominance of the Roman Catholic Church (henceforth RCC) in the public sphere. All these factors not only create an environment in which Islamophobia thrives; they actively fuel it. For the purpose of this chapter, we ask: how can teaching against Islamophobia (involving transformation of attitudes and fact-checking) be delivered hand in hand with teaching about Islam in Polish educational contexts?

Given the lack of any religious education beyond Catholic instruction in 95 per cent of Polish schools (Balsamska et al. 2012), any sporadic references to Islam are made in the course of general education where it is framed in terms of conflict rather than dialogue between faiths (Górak-Sosnowska 2006). Post-secondary education is the first opportunity for Polish students to receive more detailed and systematic education about Islam and Muslims. Despite the hostile climate for Muslims (both indigenous and immigrant) and refugees, in Poland there is a marked interest in university humanities and social science courses and programmes that may have a partial focus on Islam, such as political science, sociology, anthropology and security studies. However, these disciplines (as taught in Poland) do not traditionally have a focus on the MENA region or south Asia (which might facilitate some familiarity with Islam as a cognate topic). In addition, post-colonial, ethnic, critical race or indigenous studies are fairly marginal in Poland in terms of theoretical influence. This set of intersecting issues may prevent advisers from being able to successfully teach against Islamophobia in the classroom while advising on Islam-related projects.

While we recognise that ‘Islamophobia’ is a highly contested term (Cesari 2011), it is, nevertheless, useful in providing a coherent descriptor for ‘experiences of discrimination, dehumanization, and misrepresentation of Muslims, those of Muslim heritage, and a systemic miseducation about Islam itself’ (Kincheloe et al. 2010: x, emphasis added). There is a growing body of literature pertaining to Islamophobia recently exploring, notably, the process of racialisation of Islam as a part of the Islamophobic logic (Selod and Embrick 2013; Garner and Selod 2015; Selod 2015; Husain 2019).