Polite responses to stigmatization: ethics of exemplarity among French Muslim elites

Margot Dazey ()
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Margot Dazey: IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, CERAPS - Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Administratives, Politiques et Sociales - UMR 8026 - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Anti-Muslim hostility in Europe operates in a variety of forms and settings. While a rich body of work has highlighted the multifaceted stigmatization of Islam in European societies, little is known on how Muslims respond to it. Based on an ethnographic case study of a group of French Muslim activists, this article describes how they explain, rebut and cope with anti-Muslim hostility. Drawing on sociological research on antiracist practices, the article expands understandings of non-confrontational strategies designed to dispel prejudices gradually and educate racist people tactfully. More precisely, the French Muslim activists I interviewed urge their coreligionists to display good manners and exemplary behaviour in response to stigmatization, mobilizing a middle-class set of values encompassing politeness, discretion, socio-economic uplift and self-discipline. In doing so, these activists offer oppositional space to anti-Muslim hostility but also reinforce some of the hegemonic values of colour-blind French republicanism.

Keywords: Antiracism; destigmatization; Islam; respectability politics; middle class; French republicanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-11
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04067043v1
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Published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2023, vol. 46 (n° 4), pp.686-706. ⟨10.1080/01419870.2021.1998569⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04067043

DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2021.1998569

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