The accommodation of recently settled Muslim communities in European countries raises significant political questions and has the potential to create enduring divisions within society. This issue highlights the complexities of integrating diverse religious groups into the European landscape, emphasizing the need for dialogue and understanding to address these challenges.
The late 1980s and early 1990s saw dramatic shifts in race relations in Britain. It was the time of the fracturing of a political "black" identity; of ethnic minority assertions to be British and about remaking what it is to be British; of the manifestation of the social mobility of Indians and, above all, the emergence of Muslim identity politics in the Rushdie Affair. These issues were the subject of Tariq Modood 's "Not Easy Being British." One of the first books to note these developments and analyze their implications, "Not Easy" became an underground classic.In this new collection, Modood returns to some of these topics, considering especially the growth of Muslim political assertiveness and the reactions to it in the context of rethinking multiculturalism and Britishness. Modood 's reflections and bold interventions in controversies which characterize his work and have made him a renowned intellectual commentator on Muslim politics and multiculturalism could not be more relevant to our fraught and fearful times.This is an invaluable book for students of culture, society and politics in higher and further education and at A-level, and for everyone whose professional work is affected by issues of pluralism and the place of religion in society. It will also interest the general reader.
Religious diversity is a key feature of countries across the world today, but it also presents governments with very real challenges. Controversies around religious free speech, symbols, social values and morals, and the role of faith leaders as critical voices, are just a few of the issues that have given rise to fierce social, political and scholarly debate. So how do states include and accommodate religious diversity and should this change? What are the key difficulties facing states when it comes to governing religious diversity? Understanding this complex phenomenon means thinking through secularism, liberalism, multiculturalism and nationalism in theory and practice. In this new book, Tariq Modood and Thomas Sealy draw on original research to present new ways of analysing the governance of religious diversity in different regions of the world. Identifying the key challenges at stake, they also argue for a new statement of multiculturalism in relation to the governance of religious diversity, that of ‘multiculturalised secularism’, which represents a constructive and productive response to the reality of religiously plural societies.
At a time when many public commentators are turning against multiculturalism in response to fears about militant Islam, immigration or social cohesion, Tariq Modood, one of the world's leading authorities on multiculturalism, provides a distinctive contribution to these debates.
The book examines the evolving dynamics of religious identity in the context of multiculturalism, particularly focusing on the experiences of Muslims in Britain. It highlights the shift from a black-white racial divide to the complexities of cultural racism and Islamophobia, especially post-9/11. Tariq Modood analyzes the tensions within multicultural advocacy as Muslims strive for equality while challenging secular and liberal norms. He argues that Britain’s history of ethnic pluralism offers valuable insights for navigating the potential Islam-West divide in contemporary society.
This collection explores multiculturalism and immigration in Europe, highlighting the differences from the American liberalism model. It features national case studies from leading scholars, examining the varying responses to multiculturalism across Europe. Essential for those studying immigration, multiculturalism, and European integration.