Unveiling the French Republic: National Identity, Secularism, and Islam in Contemporary France

Nilsson, Per-Erik

doi:10.1163/9789004356030

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The secular settlement of 1905 retains a quasi‐sacred status in French national identity and public debates today, with laïcité serving as a main inspiration for recent legislation restricting religious signs such as the Muslim veil (Nilsson ). This article presented a historical narrative on the making of this momentous secular settlement at the turn of the 20th century, carried forward by the agency of Republican politicians of various colors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing the State Back in Secularization: The Development of Laïcité in the French Third Republic (1875–1905)

Peker

2019

Scientific Study of Religion

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The secularization literature increasingly recognizes the role of historical state-building processes and the manifest agency of sociopolitical actors in shaping public secularity. Based on archival data from the French Third Republic, this article offers three contributions to the historicizing agenda. First, to better capture the contingent and agencydriven nature of secularization, it reoperationalizes the concepts of separation and regulation as contentious strategies of state-building used toward religious authority. Second, it identifies and exemplifies four interrelated yet uneven spheres in which secularization is prompted through governmental action: politico-institutional, socio-pedagogical, symbolic-ideological, and property-distributional. Third, it suggests going beyond viewing secularizing agents as disconnected elites operating independently of grassroots movements. The French case shows that the Republicans' engagement with the pressures of various class forces had a significant impact on their secularizing policies. The analysis advances the study of the mechanisms whereby state-building engenders and mediates secularization as a nonlinear and heterogeneous process.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing the State Back in Secularization: The Development of Laïcité in the French Third Republic (1875–1905)

Peker

2019

Scientific Study of Religion

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“…Cultural divergence represented within the spectrum of independent schools, most notably in this moment by Muslim schools, sits most uncomfortably with the contemporary French "neo-republican consensus," which has united a variety of perspectives on the right and left around vaguely defined notions of what can and cannot count as French (Chabal, 2015). The decision to ban headscarves from public schools in 2004 is an example of this consensus at work (Nilsson, 2018). But the targeting of political Islam and Muslim schools has ushered in real changes to the possibilities for pluralism -whether agonistic or permissive-in independent schooling.…”

Section: A Policy Change Of Heart-reforming Independent Schoolingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breaking the Republican mold: French independent schools and agonistic pluralism amidst Franco-conformity

Ferrara

2023

French Cultural Studies

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The modern French school system was established in the late nineteenth century upon an acculturating, assimilationist, and secular ideology of making “French people French” and emphasizing unity over cultural diversity. Thus, most scholarship on the French education system aptly highlights the system's French Republican “mold” characteristics—hyper-centralization, Franco-conformity, and “Republican sanctuary”—even if adherence to the mold is not always achieved. However, French hors contrat or independent schools are afforded significant freedoms in terms of curriculum, pedagogy, admittance criteria, and the incorporation of religion. These independent schools represent a veritable rainbow of ethical and educational perspectives that break from the French Republican schooling mold. Drawing upon seven months of ethnographic research in a variety of French independent schools, I suggest that these schools’ existence illustrate flexibility and plasticity within the otherwise monolithic French education system, collectively pointing to a surprising form of agonistic pluralism on the margins of French Republicanism.

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“…Noteworthy information regarding this development is for instance provided by the books 'State, Religion and Muslims' (Saral and Baheçecik 2020, esp. chapter 2 by Brems that deals with anti-Muslim discrimination in Belgium (Brems 2020), 'Governing Muslims and Islam in Contemporary Germany' (Aguilar 2018) and 'Unveiling the French Republic: National Identity, Secularism and Islam in Contemporary France' (Nilsson 2018)). One of their common findings is the fact that Belgium, French and German Muslims are suffering from an alienation of both their religion and their belonging to Islam-that includes their individual right to religious belief and practice-to a certain extent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No Country for Muslims? The Invention of an Islam Républicain in France and Its Impact on French Muslims

Käsehage

2021

Religions

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Since the beheading of the French teacher Samuel Paty on 16 October 2020, the call for a fight against the so-called ‘Political Islam’ has been heard once again, not only in France, but all over Europe (EU). The politicization of Islam is held to be responsible for the increasing attacks by radical Islamic actors within European metropoles, and the EU states’ call for action and revenge in response to this ideology and its adherents, in order to guarantee public security and democratic values. Starting from the major terrorist attacks in France in the last few years, this paper seeks to compare the interlinking between domestic policy and religious radicalization and its impact on neighboring states. With regard to the attacks on 13 November 2015 in France, the attackers were traced back to radical networks in Belgium and Germany. Based on selected interviews that have been conducted by the author with female adherents of jihadist milieus within the years 2015 and 2016 in France and social media examples of Muslim reactions on the current French law enforcement, the tension between domestic policy and religious freedom related to Islam in France will be highlighted in this article. Among other reasons, the interview quotations and social media reactions can be seen as a result of a specific religious understanding and practice related to Islam by some actors. In addition, the ongoing othering of Muslims by France and other European societies can be seen to be in sum to be responsible for the increasing interest of young Muslims in radical Islamic thought that led to jihadist attacks within France in the not-so-distant past. With respect to the aforementioned development, this article will conceptualize the problematique of a (politically motivated) category formation related to one religion that is currently practiced in France, as seen from the perspective of a religious studies scholar.

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Unveiling the French Republic: National Identity, Secularism, and Islam in Contemporary France

Cited by 9 publications

References 49 publications

Bringing the State Back in Secularization: The Development of Laïcité in the French Third Republic (1875–1905)

Bringing the State Back in Secularization: The Development of Laïcité in the French Third Republic (1875–1905)

Breaking the Republican mold: French independent schools and agonistic pluralism amidst Franco-conformity

No Country for Muslims? The Invention of an Islam Républicain in France and Its Impact on French Muslims

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