The Danish Institute for International Studies, DIIS, and the Research Priority Area: Religion in the 21st Century at the University of Copenhagen, have the pleasure of inviting you to a conference on Islam in France Wednesday, 13 April 2005, 13.00-16.30 Danish Institute for International Studies Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, Ground Floor, 1401 Copenhagen K Background In France, the issues of Islam, the veiling of women, national identity and citizenship have long been major themes in the political debate. Even though this debate to some extent has echoed in Denmark, our knowledge of the wide array of French research within the field is highly limited. By inviting two French researchers who work in this field, we wish to improve the knowledge of the symbolic and political placement of Islam in France. In her presentation, Françoise Lorcerie will focus on the relationship between Islam and ethnicity in the public space in France, basing the analysis on the debate about headscarves in French public schools. Vincent Geisser will give a presentation of the main Muslim actors in France, and discuss their room for manoeuvre and strategies on the political stage, touching on the issue of Islamophobia. Programme 13.00-13.05: Introductory Remarks Katrine Romhild Benkaaba, PhD Candidate, Institut d'Etudes Politiques d'Aix-en-Provence 13.05-13.15: Welcome Régis de Belenet, Ambassador, Embassy of France in Denmark 13.15-14.15: Islam and Ethnicity in the Public Space: the Headscarf Debate in the French School Françoise Lorcerie, CNRS Researcher, IREMAM, Aix-en-Provence 14.15-15.15: Space for Political Manoeuvring of Muslims in France: Between Institutionalisation and Islamophobia Vincent Geisser, CNRS Researcher, IREMAM, Aix-en-Provence 15.15-15.30: Coffee break 15.30-16.30: Questions from the Audience and Discussion with the Panelists Chair: Katrine Romhild Benkaaba, PhD Candidate, Institut d'Etudes Politiques d'Aix-en-Provence 16.30-16.35: Closing Remarks Ulla Holm, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies The Speakers Both of the speakers are researchers of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and affiliated with the Institute for Studies on the Muslim and Arab World (IREMAM) at Aix-en-Provence. Moreover, they are both teaching at l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques d’Aix-en-Provence. Françoise Lorcerie is working on issues of ethnicity, immigration and integration in a European context, paying special attention to the area of education. Her latest projects concern the relationship between modernisation and the politicisation of Islam in the French public, as well as the connection between the French policies of education and of urbanisation. In her book L’Ecole et le defi ethique (ed. INRP & ESF, Paris, 2003, with coll.) – “The School and its Ethical Challenge” - Françoise Lorcerie integrates a theoretical discussion of ethnicity with a sociological and normative discussion of the French school. Vincent Geisser has primarily been working with the question of “republican ethnicity” from a French perspective, conducting analyses of the political elite of North African descend. In 2003, he published the book La Nouvelle Islamophobie (La Découverte, Paris) – “The New Islamophobia” – which sparked a tremendous debate in France. The book depicts the development of the anti-Muslim discourses in the media as well as in the intellectual debate, and shows how this new Islamophobia draws on previously existing xenophobic and anti-religious discourses. Practical Information The seminar will be held in English. Please note that registration is no longer possible |
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