Annual symposium Islam Studies Radboud University – Schirin Amir-Moazami: Politics of Knowledge Production on Muslims in Europe – A Critical Inventory

The Department of Islam Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen cordially invites you to its annual symposium
Date
Friday 11 June 2021: Add to my calendar

Time
13:30 to 16:00
Location
Online, Zoom
Organiser(s)
Department of Islam Studies< Programme

13.30: Opening by Karin van Nieuwkerk (chair of Islam Studies)

13.35 – 13.45: Presentation Martijn de Koning: Testing Muslims – COVID-19 and Islam in Europe

13.45 – 14.00: Q and A

14.00 – 14.45: Lecture Schirin Amir-Moazami: Politics of Knowledge Production on Muslims in Europe – A Critical Inventory

14.45 – 15.15: Paneldiscussion with Aleeha Ali, Rukayyah Reichling and Harald Viersen. Chair:  Lena Richter

15.15 – 15.45: Q and A with audience

15.45 – 16.00: Closing

On the speakers and lectures:

Prof. dr. Schirin Amir-Moazami is a professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin. In her work she focuses on Islamic movements in Europe, Secularism, political theories and gender issues. Schirin Amir-Moazami published a book on the headscarf controversies in France and Germany and numerous articles on political secularism, body politics and governmentality related to Muslims in Europe, in particular France and Germany. She recently published an edited volume on the politics of knowledge production on Muslims and Islam in Europe with the title “The Inspected Muslim” (Der inspizierte Muslim. Zur Politisierung der Islamforschung in Europa”).

Abstract

My lecture critically reflects on the conditions and functions of the current incitement to discourse on what has come to be called the “Muslim Question” in Europe (Sayyid 2014). More specifically, I look at the mechanisms through which the figure of the Muslim is produced as both an object of academic analysis and of political intervention. Doing so, I discuss specific formats, methodologies and disciplinary practices which have become hegemonic in this field. I ask how current politics of knowledge production on Muslims and Islam in Europe are predicated on historically constituted epistemologies of governing by quantifying people and how these practices of measuring populations are related to “race” and “religion” as categories of modern knowledge production. Centrally, I put forward the argument that the persistence of certain paradigms, methodologies and categories of knowledge need to be understood as “recursions” of “imperial formations” (Stoler 2016) and as reproductions of minoritized populations within the nation-state.

Martijn de Koning is associate professor at the Department of Islamstudies, Radboud University Nijmegen. He teaches on Islam in Europe. In his research he focuses on themes such as Islamophobia and racialization, counter-radicalization policies, (militant) activism and Salafism and religiosity. Together with Carmen Becker and Ineke Roex he published “Islamic Militant Activism in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany – “Islands in a Sea of Disbelief”” (Palgrave, 2020).

Abstract

The COVID-19 virus has spread to every corner of the world and targets all populations. This is no different for Muslims in Europe. In this paper I present a cursory overview, with a focus on the Netherlands, of how Muslims have responded to the risks of the virus but also to the measures taken by national and local authorities. My argument will be twofold. Firstly, I will argue that it is important to consider religious meaning making in policies against the spread of the virus. And secondly, I show that it in order to understand the dynamics within Muslim communities (and probably other religious communities as well) that we need to go beyond the question of whether or not religion is a factor that helps or harms the fight against the virus.

Register

Lectures will be held online. Registration is required. Please send an email to Martijn de Koning: m.dekoning@ftr.ru.nl