OGS Proposal

In the past two decades, Islamophobia has found its way into the public discourse of Europe through the visceral and hate-filled diatribes of Oriana Fallaci, Jean-Marie Le Pen and Geert Wilders.  Even North American authors such as Toronto-born Mark Steyn warn of a ‘Eurabia’ threat and the dangers of Muslim immigration.  It has become necessary to understand how this rhetoric has affected public policy and the people it targets.  I intend to investigate how European Muslims have organized themselves in opposition to this discrimination in order to create a legitimate discourse in the public sphere on issues such as immigration and religious accommodation.

In order to frame my investigation, I have decided to focus on post-Cold War France.  France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, estimated at roughly 4 million, which largely resides in high-density social housing (banlieues) on the outskirts of major cities. France is a fervent proponent of secularism (laïcité), and its policies often focus on the integration of immigrants into ‘French’ culture instead of their accommodation.  France also has an established extreme-right political party, the Front National, which has legitimized xenophobia as a political issue.  The past twenty years have seen some progress, exemplified in the institutionalization of Islam through the creation of the Conseil francais du Culte musulman (CFCM) in 2002, but it has largely been negated by setbacks such as the decade-long headscarf debate that led to the 2003 Stasi Commission, the Salman Rushdie Affair, tougher immigration laws in 1993, the 1995 bombings of Paris and Lyon and the riots in 2005.  A case study on France gives an extreme example of what is currently happening across Europe.

My study will look at the development of Muslim organizations within France, and how they have reacted to the county’s extreme secularism and the integration policies of the Chirac and Sarkozy governments.  In order to accomplish this I will investigate the policies, writings and media coverage of the CFCM, the conservative umbrella group Union des organizations islamiques de France (UOIF) and a sampling of grassroots programs from the banlieues.  My goal is to demonstrate how these groups have adapted to the increasingly hostile political environment in France, and to investigate whether these groups have become more conservative or extreme as a response to this conflict with society and secularism. (Berger 1969, 1979; Marty 1993; Taylor, 2007) I will also utilize recent ethnographical research in order to investigate how representative these groups are of the French Muslim community (Silverstein, 2004). 

During my two-year M.A program, I will be working under the guidance of Religion and Politics specialist Dr. Ruth Marshall.  My courses will include work in ethnography, religion and the public discourse, and religious conflict.    I am also required to learn a second language, and will take the opportunity to perfect my reading comprehension in French. During my undergraduate career I took courses on contemporary issues in Islam and the sociology of religion.  My undergraduate research paper was a case study on the impact of the Front National in legitimizing xenophobia and racism in France.  I also attended a specialized program on inter-religious dialogue at the Lessing Institute, at the Anglo-American College in Prague.