Varieties of Misrecognition: Connecting Bourdieu and Fanon toward an Analysis of Racialized Islamic Fields

Abstract

This article explains variations in misrecognition of domination among the racialized subaltern. I draw on a comparative analysis of the fields of Islam in France and India, informed by the work of Bourdieu and Fanon. I first argue that Bourdieu’s concept of the religious field provides a crucial reframing of the Islamic field whereby religious judgments represent classification struggles over legitimate Islam. Second, I approach misrecognition in the field by distinguishing the field’s discourse from its doxa. I argue that misrecognition varies according to the degree of (1) subaltern minority integration into educational institutions and (2) proximity of the subaltern to the dominant classes. I bring in the work of Fanon, whose writings on the psychological effects of racial domination are a crucial complement to a Bourdieusian analysis. Together, they provide a more refined understanding of misrecognition in racialized religious fields and, in turn, potential for political resistance.

Bourdieu's habitus clivé in voicing, feeling, being Aboriginal

“…Their project considers shifting tastes for Indigenous culture and art forms; developing political capital supporting anti-colonial strategies; and chronicling social class differences among Aboriginal Australians themselves in valuing Aboriginal culture. In the nature of things this is a mix of societal misrecognition, accommodation to deprivation, and a growing approximation of non-Indigenous belonging and understanding (Parvez, 2022). Our focus here is maintaining, within these cultural shifts, the importance of Aboriginal voice and art that is both generative and of this place, even with the splitting effects of colonisation on Indigenous habitus.…”