This book argues that multiculturalism remains a relevant and vital framework through which to understand and construct inclusive forms of citizenship. Responding to contemporary ethnic and religious diversity in European states and the position of religious minorities, debates in multiculturalism have revitalized discussion of the public role of religion, yet multiculturalism has been increasingly challenged in both political as well as academic circles.
With a focus on Britain and through a study of the narratives of British converts to Islam, this book engages in debates centered around multiculturalism, particularly on the issues of identity, recognition, and difference. Yet, it also identifies and interrogates multiculturalism’s shortcomings in relation to specifically religious identities and belonging.
In a unique and innovative analysis, this book combines a discussion of multiculturalism in Britain with insights from political theology. It juxtaposes multiculturalism’s concepts of ethno-religious identity and recognition with the notions of religiosity and hospitality to offer a new perspective on religious identity and the implications of this for thinking with and about multiculturalism and multicultural social and political relations.
Author(s): Thomas Sealy
Series: Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 242
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
1 Introduction: Multiculturalism and Religion
Secular Britain
Christian Britain
Plural Britain
Multiculturalism and Religion
Multiculturalism and Secular Sociology
Methodology
Methodology and Identity
The Study
Reflexivity
References
2 Converts in Multicultural Context
Converts to Islam in Britain: Historical Overview
The Contemporary Picture
Born Muslims in Multifaith Britain
Born Muslims and Converts in Contemporary Britain
References
3 Multiculturalism and the Multi-Religious Challenge
Multiculturalism’s Challenge: Difference and Recognition
Multiculturalism Challenged
‘Everyday’ Multicultural Identities
Multiculturalism as a Theological Principle
Difference: Substantive and Liberative
Hospitality
Hospitality in Islam
Hospitality and Recognition: Common and Uncommon Ground
References
4 Resituating Religiosity
Theological Reflections
Religiosity and Religion
The Heart of the Matter
A Fusion Between Horizons of Past and Present
Of Eggs and Atheism
Religiosity Past and Future: Being and Becoming
Ontological Responsibility
References
5 Religion, Culture and the Stranger
The Religion-Culture Divide: Deculturation: A Problematic
Reculturaltion: Assimilation and Exclusion
Euro-Islam, European Islam
The Stranger
The Stranger (Re)considered
Simmel’s Stranger
References
6 Being Made Strange: Dislocated, Functionalised and Refused
On Estrangement
A Continuum of Estrangement
Estrangement and Islamophobia
The ‘Immigrant’ Experience
From Stranger Functionalised to Stranger Refused
References
7 Unusual Multicultural Subjects: On Being British, on Being Muslim
The Religiosity of the Stranger
Religiosity and Belonging in Britain
Religiosity and Born Muslims
Religion: Elastic and Tactical
References
8 Islamophobia and Religiosity: Religion, ‘Race’ and Ethnicity
Islamophobia and Convert Identities
Decategorisation in Relation to Non-Muslims
Decategorisation in Relation to Muslims
Five tests for Islamophobia
References
9 Hospitable Multiculturalism
When is Recognition not Recognition?
Whither Multiculturalism?
Hospitality and Recognition: Judgement
Hospitality and Recognition: Dialogue
Secularity and Pluralism
Dialogue and the Challenges of Translation
References
10 Conclusion
References
Index
