Islamophobia in France: The Construction of the "Muslim Problem"

306 Pages·2023·3.598 MB·English

by  Abdellali Hajjat, Marwan Mohammed

Islamophobia in France
Series Editors
David L. Brunsma
David G. Embrick
Series Advisory Board
Margaret Abraham
Elijah Anderson
Eduardo Bonila- Silva
Philomena Essed
James Fenelon
Evelyn Nakano Glenn
Tanya Golash-B oza
David Th eo Goldberg
Patricia Hill Collins
José Itzigsohn
Amanda Lewis
Michael Omi
Victor Rios
Mary Romero
Islamophobia
in France
The Construction of
the “Muslim Problem”
Abdellali Hajjat and
Marwan Mohammed
Translated by Steve Garner
Th e University of Georgia Press
Athens
Sociology of Race and English translation © 2023 by the University of Georgia Press
Ethnicity web page Athens, Georgia 30602
www .ugapress .org
All rights reserved
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Hajjat, Abdellali, author. | Mohammed, Marwan, author. |
Garner, Steve, translator.
Title: Islamophobia in France : the construction of the “Muslim
problem” / Abdellali Hajjat and Marwan Mohammed ;
translated by Steve Garner.
Other titles: Islamophobie, comment les é lites franç aises fabriquent
le problè me musulman. English
Description: Athens : Th e University of Georgia Press, 2023. |
Series: Sociology of race and ethnicity | Includes bibliographical
references.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2022034821 | ISBN 9780820363240 (hardback)
| ISBN 9780820363257 (paperback) | ISBN 9780820363264
(ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Islamophobia—France—History. | Islam—
Study and teaching—France. | Islam and politics—France. |
Muslims—France—Social conditions. | France—Ethnic
relations.
Classifi cation: LCC DC34.5.M87 H34613 2023 |
DDC 305.6/970944—dc23/eng/20220728
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022034821
Originally published in French as Islamophobie: Comment les élites
fr ançaises fabriquent le «problème musulman».
© Editions La Découverte, Paris, 2013, 2016
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS VII
INTRODUCTION 1
Part I. Realities of Islamophobia
CHAPTER 1. Islamophobia as a Social Ordeal 23
CHAPTER 2. Measuring Islamophobia 31
CHAPTER 3. From Negative Opinions to
Discriminatory Acts 41
Part II. A History of the Concept of Islamophobia
CHAPTER 4. From Anti- Orientalism to the
Runnymede Trust 57
CHAPTER 5. Academic Research 67
Part III. The Construction of the “Muslim Problem”
CHAPTER 6. Th e Postcolonial Immigration “Problem” 81
CHAPTER 7. (Lack of) Knowledge about Islam 91
CHAPTER 8. Th e Islamophobic Political Cause 101
CHAPTER 9. Legal Discrimination by a Capillary-
Like Process 110
CHAPTER 10. Th e Depoliticization of Violence and the
Politics of Compensation 124
Part IV. Compiling an “Anti- Muslim Archive”
CHAPTER 11. Construction and Circulations of European
Representations of Islam and Muslims 137
CHAPTER 12. Anti- Semitism and Islamophobia 148
Part V. Islamophobia: Denial versus Recognition
CHAPTER 13. Th e Denial of Islamophobia 165
CHAPTER 14. Th e Struggle for the Recognition
of Islamophobia 198
CHAPTER 15. Lawyers in the Fight against Islamophobia 221
CONCLUSION. Against Islamophobic Hegemony 231
NOTES 243
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank Valérie Amiraux, Th omas Deltombe, and AbdoolKarim
Vakil for their careful proofreading of all or part of the manuscript and the rel-
evance of their comments, as well as Steve Garner who made this translation
into English possible. We are also indebted to Zahra Ali, Marielle Debos, Imen
El Bakkali, Nawal El Yadari, Alain Gresh, Mohamed Kaf, Paul Pasquali, Patrick
Simon, and Dominique Vidal, who provided comments on individual chapters.
We are grateful to the speakers and participants of the Islamophobia seminar at
the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (2011–2014), in which we pre-
sented and discussed our hypotheses. Finally, we thank Robin Virgin, Adam and
Sheïma Merbouche, Sarah and Abdallah Hacène, Naëla Likovic and the families
Aitouchen, Bella, Chakir, El Bakkali, El Bastaki, Mohammed, and Hajjat.
Th is book is dedicated to the memory of Ali Hajjat (1938–2021).
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Islamophobia in France