Join us for the Islamophobia Beyond Borders Workshop, in The Sir Duncan Rice Library, to discuss the international context, repercussions, and consequences of modern Islamophobia. Hosted by Professor Nadia Kiwan of the University of Aberdeen and Dr Jim Wolfreys of King's College London, inviting a host of prominent academics and civil society stakeholders to discuss and share.
‘Leaving France to flee islamophobia? How French Muslims avoid stigmatization once abroad’
What can the exile of French Muslims tell us about global Islamophobia? Based on our quantitative and qualitative survey of upper-class French Muslims who have moved abroad, I try to explore the transnational experience of islamophobia. While our interviewees left France mostly to flee the direct and indirect experience of islamophobia, they express a relative immunity to the various forms of discrimination and stigmatization once abroad. It is in particular the case for those who landed in the UK, while we know islamophobia is a global phenomenon, also affecting England or Scotland for instance. I’ll show that is due to both class and race factors. On the one hand, expatriation often leads to upward class mobility, that leads to minimize the confrontation to and the opinion on the spread of islamophobia abroad. On the other, the texture of islamophobia is linked to the specific national colonial and postcolonial histories. As a consequence, French Muslims are not necessarily targeted by islamophobia abroad, being more external to the specific historical nexus that shapes racialization processes. Put it simply, French Muslims are not associated to the main target of islamophobia in the UK that are mostly from the Indian peninsula, leading them to want to settle abroad and to minimize the diffusion of islamophobia. This research is based on the analysis of a questionnaire (n=1070) and semi-structured interviews (n=139) with French Muslims living abroad, and in particular the sub-sample of those who landed in the UK.
- Venue
- The Sir Duncan Rice Library, Meeting Room 224
- Contact
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- Booking
- Online booking available