This self-definition will be outlined after two questions have been asked.
The first question can be applied to the entire programme, and deals with knowing how to define the way in which individuals manage the tension which defines their belonging, the tension between subjectivity and the social totality. The second question will be used to try to define another tension - knowing, on the one hand, the multiple ways individuals have of settling in locally (in the multiple facets which the term local can have and which are to be specified), and on other hand the multiple forms of globalisation which can exist across networks, media etc.
This relationship between local and global is even more important in the case of a 'peripheral' Islam like the European one which is in the process of anchoring itself, and establishing its connection with other Islamic territories.
This may appear to be a common characteristic, but the implementation of concrete Muslim practices is multiple. There are a number of different actors on the stage of the Muslim religion, and they position themselves either within this religion, in relation to it, or in relation to the West. These actors have different qualities and different degrees of knowledge and power, they use different methods of religious action, they show different degrees of belonging, or they are converts.
These actors can also be differentiated according to their social position. This may be their social, socio-legal status (nationality) or their age or sex. And finally, these actors vary according to the social definition given to them by the environment, according to the typification which they are subjected to by the environment and, in particular, by the media.
The analysis of Muslim individuals in Europe who are in tension with their subjectivity and social structures, and with the local, the particularity of their belonging and the trans-local and global links, should be attentive to this differentiation in terms of concrete actors, making the hypothesis at the start, to be confirmed throughout the analysis, that each of these actors builds a special way of describing himself as a Muslim individual in European territory.
The following are examples of this conceptual work:
- The individual and society - how to understand the concept of the individual; how to differentiate it from the concept of subjectivation and the concept of intimacy. What is/are the 'legitimate' representations of the individual, or the collective?
Moreover, what does the term society signify, in a society which is said to be post-modern or, is, for others, "hypermodern'? And who, brings the new 'community' forms to light? How does the social link change and how does the individual think in this new "society". In the same vein it means trying to conceptualise the "Muslim society" which has been transplanted/implanted in Europe. Can these concepts, like those of organisations, associations and networks, adequately enable us to understand the reality which they denote? If they can, how do they produce transformations in the individual's ways of inserting themselves socially.
Within society, normative aspects occupy an important place in the creation of social order. Here again, according to certain people, we would find ourselves in the West, having to face "de-formalisation of the norm" processes, which lead to the creation of transactional norms. This would leave greater room for manoeuvre for the individual's negotiations. This is a hypothesis which must be discussed, but which could be confronted with the appearance of demands for the normativeness of European Islam, whether this be the institutionalisation of Islam or of Muslim family law.
- Local/global: contemporary theories try to define the concepts of globalisation, internationalisation etc. and the processes which construct societies such as 'partially' globalised societies. This leads to the question of the originality, or not, of the current internationalisation process, in particular in relation to the logic of actions presented in large 'universal' religions.
- The activation of 'religious' or 'cultural' references to Islam in the European context by social actors who explain their references, leads to the question of understanding the signification of religious referents in a secularised society ... or, certain postsecularised societies. We are confronted with the question of the transformation of 'religious' belonging in contemporary society, and even with the multiplication of the subjective meanings given to the concept and therefore to a change in the representation of the religious man and woman. Muslims are, moreover, confronted with the question of being a statistical minority within a pluralist society. All the more so if one considers the current transformation of identities which seem to be changing into variable forms of identification and into multiple links with the umma.
- We are finding ourselves faced with a phenomenon of 'conversions', in the sense of radical or trajectory changes, of views of life. This may concern Muslims who come back to Islam or non-Muslims who join Islam. The concept of conversion is apparently self-evident because it is seen in the concrete practices of the converted. A biographical and psychological analysis, however, shows how difficult it is to understand the reality.
In extreme cases, what is the meaning of an individual sacrifice undertaken for the sake of communal salvation?
This discourse could, of course, be present in different forms: written, video, audio, telematic.
Multiple actors could be at the origin of this discourse - from specialists in religion to new leaders. They all have something in common, in that they produce a discourse using religious referents and they have a certain capacity to circulate their product,
We will, first of all, analyse European productions and then analyse new discourse in the Muslim world (in particular the Mediterranean Muslim world), in particular with reference to the discourse which circulates equally in the European or Western region; or, vice versa, the Islamic Discourse produced in Europe which circulates in Muslim areas.
While analysing such productions it will also be important to analyse that which has been lived and experienced by populations.
The following is a list of some of these practices which is by no means comprehensive:
- traditional ritual practices, making up, or not making up, part of the canonical and 'reinterpreted' obligations (Prayer, 'aïd, Ramadan, Pilgrimage etc.)
- organised assembly of Muslim life (associations, networks etc.)
- socialisation practices (family, Koranic school, "Muslim" sports clubs, "Muslim" scouts etc.)
As in the previous point it would be interesting to end with a comparative analysis of areas in the Mediterranean Muslim world.
Responsible for this Web page is Knut S. Vikør. Last updated 24.1.97