“Europe’s Muslim Question?”

October 13th, 2017
9 am - 5 pm
4130 Posvar Hall

In this one-day symposium, invited scholars will discuss the “Muslim Question” in contemporary Europe. Since 9/11, European public debates have increasingly casted local Muslim populations not only as a security threat, but also in opposition to the secular and liberal values considered foundational for a European identity.

The symposium will investigate how successive public debates and the policies they have enabled have deployed specific languages of liberalism and secularism as well as European Muslim responses to these debates. Do they defend their presence by employing some of the liberal languages Europe champions as its own or do they seek to employ alternative languages that refuse the discursive framework in which Islam has been placed? And in these different responses, what roles do creative forms of expression, such as cinema, music, or literature play?

Attendance is free and open to the public, though advanced registration is required.  Remote participation in all sessions is also possible using videoconferencing technology.* Register at the link below.  

For more information, contact adelnore@pitt.edu.

REGISTER AT escsymposium2018.eventbrite.com

Special thanks to our co-sponsor, the Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS)

*Note: remote participation is possible with your personal computer, smart phone, or tablet. Some hardware and software requirements do exist.  We use a service called BlueJeans (www.bluejeans.com) to facilitate the connections.  If you wish to participate remotely, register early for information on how to connect and plan on testing your connection in advance of the event.

Schedule  (Abstracts available here)

9:00 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:30 a.m. Welcoming Remarks

9:45-12:00 Panel 1: Islamophobia and Affective Demands of Belonging

Chair and Discussant:  Felix Germain, Africana Studies

Paul Silverstein, Anthropology Department, Reed College, "National Affect in Crisis: Islamophobia and Islamic Love in Belgium and France"

Mikaela Rogozen-Soltar, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Reno, "Historical Anxiety and the Politics of Muslim Inclusion in Spain"

Jean Beaman, Department of Sociology, Purdue University, "Je suis Charlie’ vs. ‘Je suis Ahmed’: The Relationship between Race and Islamophobia in France in the wake of Charlie Hebdo"

12:00-1:30 – Break for lunch

1:30-3:00 Panel: Gender and Sexuality in European Islam Debates

Chair and Discussant: Heath Cabot, Department of Anthropology

Beverly Weber, Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures, University of Colorado Boulder, "Islam, Gender, and the Pedagogy of Europeanness in Contemporary Germany"

Mehammed Mack, Department of French Studies, Smith College, "Sexagon: Muslims, France, and the Sexualization of National Culture"

3:00-3:15 – Coffee Break

3:15-4:45 p.m. Panel 3: Muslim Youth Cultures and National Belonging

Chair and Discussant: Randall Halle, Department of German

Mame-Fatou Niang, Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon University, "Cool Islam and the Republic: Engaging Afro-Frenchness Through Religion"

Jeanette S. Jouili, Department of Religious Studies, University of Pittsburgh, "‘Culture is the Battlefield’ –British Muslim Culture and the Politics of Belonging" 

4:45-5:15 – Final Discussion

Moderated by Mohammed Bamyeh, Department of Sociology

5:15-6:30 – Reception