Concertation et négociation à l'échelle politique locale. Le cas de la gestion locale de l'islam à Bruxelles

Griera

2020

Social Compass

Throughout Europe we observe a significant trend of increasing state intervention in the governance of religious practices and expressions. A growing number of policies and procedures seek to define and regulate how religion can, and cannot, be expressed in the public domain. In this article we explore how ideas of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ religion are translated into policies in urban contexts. We disentangle the social imaginaries that underlie the symbolic boundaries that distinguish between ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ expressions of religiosity, and the repertoires of justification used to enforce them. Drawing on empirical research in cities in France and Spain, we argue that public expressions of religion are more likely to be deemed ‘acceptable’ in public as long as they meet a series of criteria, namely being perceived as: a) aesthetic and festive, rather than outrageous, b) discrete/decent/decorous rather than interpellating and, more importantly, c) exceptional rather than ordinary, d) freely chosen rather than imposed, e) cultural rather than pious, f) being legible with existing reference frameworks and categories rather than unintelligible. In other words, religious expressions are accepted, and considered to be acceptable, if they ‘fit’ or can be made ‘fit’ certain social expectations.

Section: Le Rôle Central Des Villes Dans La Gouvernance De La Religionunclassified

Adapter la religion : négocier les limites de la religion minoritaire dans les espaces urbains

Griera

2020

Social Compass

“…De Galembert (2006a) sees the institutionalisation of relations with local Islamic figures as a way of instrumentalising Islam as a government tool and of creating public authorities as bodies for the regulation of religion. In their accounts of the cases of Brussels and Créteil respectively, Torrekens (2012) and Fourot (2015) similarly show that public consultation is used as a policy tool for the municipal regulation of Islam beyond the explicit objectives of the concrete consultation process. As such, the use of public consultation has implications not only for the democratisation of urban policy-making around mosque building but also for the instrumentalisation of certain processes for political purposes, such as gaining political legitimacy to achieve policy implementation, or the representation of a particular definition of Islam.…”

Section: The Regulatory Role Of Cities In the Context Of Migration-lementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among these, the provision of public land for places of worship, the arrangement of confessional plots in municipal cemeteries, indirect funding via cultural projects and the renting of municipal premises for religious purposes are the most evident. The fourth set of interventions includes policy tools designed to enhance the political participation of religious organisations, such as the consultative bodies in Rennes and Toulouse and the processes of participation studied by Torrekens (2012) and Fourot (2015). Despite most European states being legally separate from religious organisations, the latter are increasingly present in governance structures (Dinham and Lowndes, 2008; Lamine, 2005) in order to inform urban policy-making.…”

Section: Conceptualising the Role Of Cities In The Governance Of Relimentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualising the role of cities in the governance of religious diversity in Europe

2017

Current Sociology

The sociological literature has devoted less attention to cities than to nation-states as contexts for the regulation of religion and religious diversity in Europe. Drawing on ideas from the literature on migration, urban studies, geography and the sociology of religion, as well as empirical material from fieldwork conducted in three medium-size cities in France, the author conceptualises the governance of religious diversity in cities as complex assemblages where (1) the political interests and claims of various unequally socially positioned actors over (2) a number of domains and objects of the public expression of religiosity are (3) subjected to a variety of municipal interventions, which are (4) shaped by the interplay of supranational legal frameworks, national legislation, policies, institutional arrangements and local contextual factors. The result of these regulation processes are particular (and often contested) normative definitions of ‘accepted’ or ‘legitimate’ public expressions of religiosity, subsequently enacted by a variety of local actors through both formal procedures and informal practices.

“…Thus far, research has identified the widespread adoption of public consultation as a policy tool in the governance of religion, and in the governance of Islam in particular (Fourot 2015;Torrekens 2012). These studies have paid attention to the composition of such local consultative bodies, highlighting the contested nature of the selection of religious representatives, in particular Muslim ones, the exclusion of certain actors, and the power imbalances between state and religious representatives (Duthu 2009;Fournier 2009;Lamine 2004a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike previous studies, whichwith a few notable exceptions (Duthu 2009;Körs and Nagel 2018;Lamine 2004a)have mostly analysed a single municipal body (Torrekens 2012) or compared bodies across countries (Griera, Giorda, and Fabretti 2018), I compare three such bodies within one national context. In doing so I briefly examine how local factorsincluding the history of relations between local political and religious authorities, the political culture of the city, the political affiliation of the ruling party, and local violent eventsinfluence the ways these bodies work, their implications for policymaking, and the normative definitions of acceptable religious expressions derived from the discussions in such bodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing Islam in French cities: defining ‘acceptable’ public religiosity through municipal consultative bodies

Religion, State and Society

2019

In recent years, European states have institutionalised relations with Islamic groups in the form of national Islam councils. Similarly, municipalities have set up more or less comparable bodies to address issues related to urban religious diversity. However, rather than being restricted to Muslim representatives, municipal consultative bodies usually incorporate a variety of religious actors. This contribution analyses three such bodies in the French cities of Rennes, Bordeaux, and Toulouse. Adopting a governance perspective and drawing on qualitative fieldwork, I argue that by providing concrete advice on how to address religious issues, these bodies define what are considered 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' public religious expressions, ultimately influencing normative ideas about laïcité. Moreover, I argue that the history of relationships between religious and municipal authorities and the political culture of the cities, among other factors, shape these local processes, thereby emphasising the distinct role of cities and urban actors in governing religion.