Lessons from France: popularist anxiety and veiled fears of Islam

Islam has become the second religion in a profoundly de-Christianized Europe that has seen its understanding of modern secularity harden. European countries have difficulties coming to terms with the presence of the large Muslim minorities who settled following post-war industrialization. France is...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:  
Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Doyle, Natalie J. (Auteur)
Type de support: Numérique/imprimé Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
En cours de chargement...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: Routledge [2011]
Dans: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Année: 2011, Volume: 22, Numéro: 4, Pages: 475-489
Sujets non-standardisés:B Modernization
B burqa
B Immigration
B Neo-fundamentalism
B France
Accès en ligne: Volltext (doi)
Description
Résumé:Islam has become the second religion in a profoundly de-Christianized Europe that has seen its understanding of modern secularity harden. European countries have difficulties coming to terms with the presence of the large Muslim minorities who settled following post-war industrialization. France is a particularly instructive case, as highlighted by the legislative ban it introduced in 2010 on the wearing of full Islamic veils in public spaces. A close study of the rejection by the highest administrative court of an application for French citizenship on the basis of the applicant's ‘radical' practice of Islam reveals a profound incomprehension of the significance of the Muslim faith for new generations (and, more broadly, of the phenomenon of Islamic neo-fundamentalism worldwide). Radicalized expressions of faith have been interpreted as being by definition synonymous with hostility to liberal modernity and thus directly linked with Islamist terrorism. Yet Islam has in fact given a sector of society marginalized for primarily socioeconomic reasons a positive identity facilitating social integration. Islamophobia, fostered by incomprehension of the subjective meaning of contemporary Islamic faith, has gained ground in French political discourse, a phenomenon mirrored in other European societies.
ISSN:0959-6410
Contient:Enthalten in: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09596410.2011.606194