Islamophobia in Belgium

Abstract

This article represents one part of a vast research project undertaken between 2013 and 2015 on the reciprocal views Muslims and non-Muslims in Belgium, and particularly in Brussels, have of one another, and the relationships they maintain. It is above all a question of understanding how reciprocal tensions and adjustments are constructed. The various treatments the topic of Islamophobia receives represent one of them. Hence this article tries to evaluate the attitudes on each side with respect to this societal phenomenal and this concept. In addition to year-long observations carried out in Brussels, it is based on three evenings during which ten privileged interlocutors discussed this topic in-depth. Carried out before the Brussels attacks of March 22nd, 2016, this study provides a better grasp of how anxieties, or even a spiral of reciprocal accusations, are able to develop, and questions the uses of the category Islamophobia and its counterproductive character.

Believing and belonging in multicultureel Europa: een minderheidsperspectief

“…Het vroege onderzoekswerk over moslims in Europa was aanvankelijk gericht op religieuze instituties en wettelijke regelingen. Onderzoekers vroegen zich af welke soorten islamitische organisaties aanwezig waren in specifieke bestemmingslanden, welke activiteiten zij organiseerden, hoe ze zich verhielden tot elkaar en tot de staat in het herkomstland en hoe hun activiteiten werden geaccommodeerd door de ontvangende samenleving (Allievi en Nielsen, 2003;Maréchal et al, 2003;Nonneman et al, 1996;Rath et al, 1996Rath et al, , 2001Shadid en Van Koningsveld, 2002;Sunier, 1996;Vertovec en Peach, 1997). Deze studies lieten de grote diversiteit binnen islamitische gemeenschappen in Europa zien die voortkomt uit de verschillen in de migratiestromen naar specifieke bestemmingslanden en de verschillende manieren waarop religie wordt beoefend en georganiseerd is in de herkomstlanden van islamitische migranten.…”

Trends in Research: A Literature Review

“…Research on Islam and Muslim immigrants in Europe dominated academic work on religion and migration during this period, and included areas from the decade before, such as leadership (e.g., Kroissenbrunner, 2001;Schiffauer, 2000), integration (e.g., Martín Muñoz et al, 2003;Maréchal et al, 2003), youth and the second generation (e.g., Jacobsen, 2006;Tietze, 2001) and law (e.g., Cesari, 2010, Roald, 2009. We can also observe the growth of research conscious of gender theory (e.g., Farahani, 2007;Keaton, 2006) and the development of new Islamic ideas (e.g., Otterbeck, 2000;Nielsen, 1999).…”