Blurb:

This chapter introduces the general issues surrounding the fabrication of difference through a selective emphasis on particular differences and similarities, such as the difference between Muslim and non-Muslim, terrorism and legitimate violence, scholarship and public discourse, among other notions of difference that ignore other differences and similarities. This essay also briefly reviews the events that the two main essays in the volume (by Fernando and Hughes) highlight, specifically the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris and the general rise of ISIS in 2015. This essay also introduces the plan of the volume and the various responses to those two central essays.