Muslims, Trust and Multiculturalism
Description
This book critically engages with the contemporary breakdown of trust between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in the West. It argues that a crisis of trust currently hampers intercultural relations and obstructs full participation in citizenship and civil society for those who fall prey to the suspicions of the state and their fellow citizens. This crisis of trust presents a challenge to the plurality of modern societies where religious identities have come to demand an equal recognition and political accommodation which is not consistently awarded across Europe, especially in nations which view themselves as secular, or where Islamic culture is seen as alien.
This volume of interdisciplinary essays by leading scholars explores the theme of trust and multiculturalism across a range of perspectives, employing insights from political science, sociology, literature, ethnography and cultural studies. It provides an urgent critical response to the challenging contexts of multiculturalism for Muslims in both Europe and the USA. Taken together, the contributions suggest that the institutionalisation of multiculturalism as a state-led vehicle for tolerance and integration requires a certain type of trustworthy 'performance' from minority groups, particularly Muslims. Even when this performance is forthcoming, existing discourses of integration and underlying patterns of mistrust can contribute to Muslim alienation on the one hand, and rising Islamophobia on the other.
Reviews / Votes
"With the contemporary world facing challenges that range from fake news to the erosion of public confidence in politicians and state institutions alike, this timely collection of papers provides a very welcome intervention in debates on the more specific breakdown in trust between Muslims and the wider western societies to which they belong; but as well as explaining the impact of this on intercultural relations, the collection - crucially - considers strategies for rebuilding it." (Humayun Ansari OBE, Professor of Islam and Cultural Diversity, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK and author of 'The Infidel Within': Muslims in Britain Since 1800)"Muslims, Multiculturalism and Trust is a vital evaluation of the practices and perspectives of our time that create and maintain stability through diversity. With terrorism and rising nationalism attempting to challenge the very idea of multicultural Britain and Europe, it is clearly time to refocus attention on whatenables trust between different communities. These essays present essential reading for those committed to a diverse society." (Joseph William Sterrett, Aarhus University, Denmark)
"At the face of increasing fear and rising anti-Muslim sentiment, this edited book offers a fresh insight into talking about and building trust in Europe. Contributors document the breakdown of trust between Muslim minorities and European societies using different case studies. But they also show a way to move forward and rebuild trust." (Dr. Esra Ozyurek, Associate Professor and Chair for Contemporary Turkish Studies at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)
"Trust forms the basis of all productive human engagement in our society; distrust gnaws at its foundation. The carefully curated essays collected in Muslims, Trust and Multiculturalism: New Directions forcefully demonstrate the inner dynamics of the ways in which trust and the destruction of trustoperate at the centre of contemporary social and political issues bearing on Muslims in British society today. This book not only articulates the problems, but more importantly thinks through new ways of going beyond them in order to build trust that is reciprocal, strong and secure. The future starts here." (Robert JC Young, Julius Silver Professor of English and Comparative Literature, New York University)
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Persons
Amina Yaqin is Senior Lecturer in Urdu and Postcolonial Studies at SOAS, University of London
Peter Morey is Professor of 20 th Century English Literature at the University of Birmingham
Asmaa Soliman is Teaching Fellow at the University College of London and Visiting Fellow at the LSE European Institute
Content
1. Introduction: Muslims, Trust and Multiculturalism; Peter Morey. - Section 1: Scrutinising and Securitising Muslims .- 2.The Trace of the Cryptic in Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism and Anti-Communism: A Genealogy of the Rhetoric on Hidden Enemies and Unseen Threats; Anshuman A. Mondal .- 3. Trust Within Reason: How to Trump the Hermeneutics of Suspicion on Campus; Alison Scott-Baumann .- 4. Constructing a New Imagery for the Muslim Woman: Symbol-Making and the Language of Racial Empowerment; Alaya Forte .- Section 2: Islamophobia and Racism .- 5. Misrecognising Muslim Consciousness in Europe; Nasar Meer .- 6. "Non, Je Ne Serai Jamais 'Charlie'": Anti-Muslim Racism, Transnational Translation and Left Anti-Racisms; Alana Lentin and Gavan Titley .- 7. Transparency, Trust and Multiculturalism in Cosy Copenhagen; Tabish Khair and Isabelle Petiot .- Section 3: Gender, Multiculturalism and the Limits of Trust .- 8. Multicultural Neoliberalism, Global Textiles, and the Making of theIndebted Female Entrepreneur in Monica Ali's Brick Lane , Stephen Morton .- 9. From Islamic Fundamentalism to a New Life in the West: Ali Eteraz and the Muslim Comedy Memoir; Amina Yaqin .- Secton 4: Muslim Minorities and the Discourse of Liberal Secularism .- 10. Powders Revisited: Queer Micropolitical Disorientation, Phenomenology and Multicultural Trust in Hanif Kureishi and Stephen Frears' My Beautiful Laundrette ; Alberto Fernández Carbajal .- 11. Multiculturalism and Muslims in Germany: An Unwelcomed Reality?; Asmaa Soliman .- 12. Living 'True' Islam in Multicultural Britain: An Ahmadi Case Study; Farrah Sheikh .- 13. Afterword: Multiculturalism Can Foster a New Kind of Post-Brexit Englishness; Tariq Modood