Les conditions de production locale d’un islam respectable

Abstract

Cet article étudie la façon dont les acteurs associatifs musulmans s’emploient à être reconnus comme des interlocuteurs respectables par les autorités publiques locales. À partir d’une enquête ethnographique auprès de la Fédération musulmane de la Gironde, il s’agit de reconstituer les conditions de production d’une intermédiation communautaire, dans le cadre de fortes injonctions publiques à un islam civil. Un tel travail de conformation à une religion jugée acceptable nécessite de mobiliser diverses ressources socioculturelles, inégalement distribuées parmi les populations musulmanes.

Rethinking respectability politics

“…González (2018) has similarly explored the ways in which middle-class transborder Mexicans advocated for the transformation of race relations through a strategy of respectability in early 20th-century Texas. My own research on Muslim activists in contemporary France substantiates this class dimension, with respectability politics attracting the upper strata of French Muslim communities (engineers, doctors, teachers, and so on; Dazey, 2018Dazey, , 2019. As such, respectability politics can be best understood as the compliance with dominant norms by privileged members of marginalized groups to advance their group's condition.…”

French Muslims: A Silent Community?

“…The reaction to the attacks of representatives of institutional Islam were largely framed by their close relations with local and national public authorities, by routine cooperation with security authorities (the Ministry of the Interior and the prefectures) and by regular dialogues with French opinion leaders and intellectuals and with the dignitaries of other religions. In the circumstances, their main concern was to consolidate the image of a 'respectable Islam' (Dazey, 2019) consistent with secular and republican values. Beyond responses guided by their position within the institutional framework, their initiatives also aimed at developing a Muslim counter-narrative to the religious rhetoric of terrorist organizations.…”

The ‘Islamo-gauchiste threat’ as political nudge

“…In the same way as ‘islamo-gauchigsme’ or ‘wokeism’, it is also hard to conclude its existence. Sociological research points on the contrary to ‘integrationist trends’ within French society (Dazey, 2019). If there is any ‘separatism’ in France, it is imagined and imposed from the top-down by political elites and the media (Geisser, 2021).…”