Islam and Citizenship: Intersecting Experiences among Migrants and Their Descendants in Europe

Dear Colleauges,

Sociological studies, as we know, are subject to constant advancement and reshaping that accompanies, and sometimes anticipates, the ever-changing societies we observe. This is also evident for the two disciplinary fields that this Special Issue seeks to bring into dialogue: studies on European Islam and those on citizenship.

The first field of study began to form in the 1970s, especially in the countries of central and northern Europe with the oldest immigration, and initially focused on the relationship between Islam and public institutions (Dassetto, 1994). Gradually, studies on Islam in Europe, or rather on European Islam, expanded both in terms of topics and countries studied, including the Mediterranean countries (Allievi, 2002). Currently, the study of European Islam is a broad and stratified field within which some prevailing trends can be observed. Undoubtedly, the long-standing thread related to the transmission of Islamic belonging to new generations and its identity implications (Bastenier, Dassetto, 1981; Priori, 2021) dialogues with studies on the symbolic connotation of Islam in Europe and persistent Islamophobia (Larsson, Sander, 2015). The negative prejudice weighing on the Islamic religion has also a series of impacts in institutional terms, starting from conflicts around the construction of places of worship (Allievi, 2009) or that concerning dress practices (Croucher, 2008), recently reactivated by the French decisions on the abaya. Despite their thematic complexification and continuous updating, studies on European Islam continue to develop around two poles in constant dialogue: that of structural dynamics of integration and– (often) discrimination, and that of subjective experiences of identification and practice.

As regards citizenship studies, the formal paradigm long dominant in this field (Marshall, 1950) and centred solely on the institutional element has gradually lost its centrality. Over the years, substantive readings of citizenship have emerged that study it in its rootedness in social, political, cultural and symbolic practices (Isin, Nielsen, 2008), giving greater prominence to the experience of individuals (Staeheli et al., 2012) and questioning nationally limited conceptions of citizenship (Hörschelmann, El Refaie, 2013). This trend has led to the establishment of a new perspective for the study of citizenship, that of lived citizenship. This perspective aims to explore citizenship from the everyday experiences of being a citizen (Laksana, Wood, 2018), investigating it at the intersection of spatial, relational, performative and affective dimensions (Kallio et al., 2020). Citizenship studies, both international and European, have thus also experienced a complexification of themes and approaches, based primarily on the development of substantive and lived interpretations, that nevertheless necessarily remain in dialogue with the structural and institutional conditions in which such experiences take shape (Müller, 2022).

Both the study of European Islam and the study of citizenship have found in migrants and migrants' descendants central subjects of study. In the case of European Islam, a veritable overlap between the figure of the immigrant and that of the Muslim has been observed (Allievi, 2005), an overlap that seems to act in the direction of a cumulation of social and symbolic exclusions that are perpetuated from generation to generation in the name of a constructed 'otherness'. With regard to citizenship studies, on the other hand, the presence of 'non-nationals' within the State brings to light its political assumptions (Sayad, 1999), based on the sought congruence between territory, population and organisation (Brubaker, 2010). Congruence is called into question by the enduring presences of immigrants who, in addition to complexifying 'civic stratification' (Morris, 2003), show the desynchronisation between formal and substantial or lived citizenship. If, therefore, the figure of the migrant and, a fortiori, Muslim faith can be used to understand the mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion from citizenship, at the same time, participation in Islam often sustains a dynamic of citizenisation, linked as much to civic mobilisation in favour of more open conceptions of citizenship (Acocella, Pepicelli, 2018) as to individual and collective experiences of lived religious citizenship (Nyhagen, 2015; Turner, 2008).

This Special Issue aims to investigate the link between Islamic faith and practice and the experience of citizenship among migrants and descendants of migrants in Europe. This overarching objective is articulated around several research themes such as the role of Islamic faith in the experience of (lived) citizenship; associative and activist practices bridging religion and civic engagement; and the persistent dynamics of discrimination hindering access to and experience of citizenship for migrants and descendants of the Muslim faith in Europe.

Contributions that interweave the study of citizenship with that of Islam through the prism of the experience of migrants and descendants in the European context are, therefore, welcome. In disciplinary terms, this Special Issue is mainly addressed to scholars active in the fields of sociology of religions, sociology of migration and sociology of law, although contributions from related disciplinary fields will also be considered. Both theoretical contributions and proposals based on empirical studies (qualitative, quantitative or mixed) are accepted.

Research areas

• Islamic associations and activism: relations with institutions and citizenship practices.
• Being Muslim, feeling citizens in Europe: migrants' and descendants' identity representations.
• Living citizenship religiously: practices and experiences of citizenship in the name of Islam.
• Communities of believers and communities of citizens: between multilevel belonging and segmentation.
• Islam as a vector of social and symbolic discrimination and exclusion from citizenship.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors, or to the Assistant Editor of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References:

Acocella, I., & Pepicelli, R. (2018). Transnazionalismo cittadinanza pensiero islamico. Forme di attivismo dei giovani musulmani in Italia. Bologna: Il Mulino.

Allievi, S. (2002). Musulmani d'Occidente. Tendenze nell'Islam europeo. Roma: Carocci.

Allievi, S. (2005). How the Immigrant has Become Muslim. Public Debates on Islam in Europe. Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales , Vol. 21, N. 2, 135-163.

Allievi, S. (2009). Conflicts over Mosques in Europe. Policy issues and trends. London: Alliance Publishing Trust.

Bastenier, A., & Dassetto, F. (1981). La deuxième génération d'immigrés en Belgique. Courrier hebdomadaire du CRISP, vol. 907-908, no. 2-3, 1-46.

Brubaker, R. (2010). Migration, Membership, and the Modern Nation-State: Internal and External Dimensions of the Politics of Belonging. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 41, N. 1, 61-78.

Croucher, S. M. (2008). French-Muslims and the Hijab: An Analysis of Identity and the Islamic Veil in France. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, vol 37, n. 3, 199-213.

Dassetto, F. (1994). L'Islam transplanté : bilan des recherches européennes. Revue européenne des migrations internationales, vol. 10, n°2, 201-211.

Hörschelmann, K., & El Refaie, E. (2013). Transnational citizenship, dissent and the political geographies of youth. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 39, 444-456.

Isin, E. F., & Nielsen, G. M. (2008). Acts of citizenship. London - New York: Zed Books.

Kallio, K. P., Wood, E. B., & Häkli, J. (2020). Lived citizenship: conceptualising an emerging field. Citizenship Studies, Vol. 24, N. 6, 713-729.

Laksana, B. K., & Wood, B. E. (2018). Navigating religious diversity: Exploring young people’s lived religious citizenship in Indonesia. Journal of Youth Studies, Vol. 22, N. 6, 807-823.

Larsson, G., & Sander, Å. (2015). An Urgent Need to Consider How to Define Islamophobia. Bullettin for the study of religion, vol. 44, n. 1, 13-17.

Marshall, T. H. (1950). Citizenship and Social Class and other essays . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Morris, L. (2003). Managing Contradiction: Civic Stratification and Migrants' Rights. The International Migration Review, Vol. 37, N. 1, 74-100.

Müller, T. R. (2022a). Labour market integration and transnational lived citizenship: Aspirations and belonging among refugees in Germany. Global Networks, Vol. 22, N. 1, 5-19.

Nyhagen, L. (2015). Conceptualizing Lived Religious Citizenship: A Case-Study of Christian and Muslim Women in Norway and the United Kingdom. Citizenship Studies, Vol. 19, N. 6-7.

Priori, A. (2021). Young people first! The multiple inscriptions of a generational discourse of Muslimness among Italian-Bangladeshi youths. Migration Letters, Vol. 18, N. 1, 97-108.

Sayad, A. (1999). Immigration et "pensée d'État". Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales. Vol. 129, 5-14.

Staeheli, L. A., Ehrkamp, P., Leitner, H., & Nagel, C. R. (2012). Dreaming the ordinary: Daily life and the complex geographies of citizenship. Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 36, N. 5, 628-644.

Turner, B. (2008). Acts of Piety: The Political and the Religious, or a Tale of Two Cities . In E. F. Isin, & G. M. Nielsen, Acts of Citizenship (p. 121-136). London: Zed Books.

Prof. Dr. Stefano Allievi
Dr. Andrea Calabretta
Guest Editors

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• Islam
• lived citizenship
• migrants’ descendants
• Europe
• Muslim activism
• citizenry
• faith