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Citizenship and Belonging in France and North America pp 199–215Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

On the Islamophobic Mind and Its Agenda in France

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Abstract

Islamophobia is not a mere neologism understood simply as “fear of Islam”; rather, it is a concept that allows us to link and analyze attitudes rooted in historical and cultural realities. Instead of focusing exclusively on how Islam and Muslims are portrayed, this study gives priority to the analysis of the way the Islamophobic mind works. The chapter starts with a study of phobia seen as a set of feelings and continues with an analysis of what fueled these feelings in the French context. The rise of Islamophobic feelings that can be regarded as an epistemological paralysis allows Beggar to study Islamophobia as a Trojan horse for those who want to change the narrative about colonialism, racism and power relations in the French context.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Au regard des remplacistes à la Trudeau, Macron ou suédois, Hitler ne paraîtra pas moins criminel mais peut-être plus franc, plus net.” @Renaud Camus , Oct 21st, 2017. All translations in the text are mine unless otherwise indicated.

  2. 2.

    Quoted by Rokhaya Diallo in an article in the Washington Post, “French Islamophobia goes global.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/18/french-islamophobia-goes-global/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4725761170ae

  3. 3.

    “Désormais, tous ceux qui s’opposent en quelque point du globe à la déchéance de leur peuple, à la décadence de la race et à l’asservissement sont accusés de racisme et de fascisme.”

  4. 4.

    Lumpenproletariat is a concept coined by Karl Marx that refers to unorganized masses. As opposed to the Proletariat, it is seen as deprived of a sense of class conscience. Often, it is considered as the equivalent of malevolent elements in society as in this definition by Anton Allahar: “The lumpenproletariat is not merely a class of unemployed women and men; its ranks are made up of unemployable drunks, drug addicts, ruthless pimps, diseased prostitutes, violent murderers and the like, whose passions revolve around their vices” (51).

  5. 5.

    “Les islamistes détestent la nation . Le concept même, watan en arabe, est considéré comme occidental et antimusulman.”

  6. 6.

    “Le joug, pourtant bénin, de l’autorité française.”

  7. 7.

    Mediology is a philosophy dedicated to the transmission of culture and meaning through technology. It can be viewed as a cousin of transhumanism (a philosophy around the idea of how new technologies can improve dramatically human life and even insure immortality).

  8. 8.

    “Il faut faire face aux périls géopolitiques qui existent en France et chercher à y localizer les musulmans, à tort ou à raison, et à titre de précautions”.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Religion and Culture, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Abderrahman Beggar

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  1. Abderrahman Beggar
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Correspondence to Abderrahman Beggar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Modern Languages Department, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, USA

    Ramona Mielusel

  2. Department of Languages and Literatures, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Simona Emilia Pruteanu

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Beggar, A. (2020). On the Islamophobic Mind and Its Agenda in France. In: Mielusel, R., Pruteanu, S. (eds) Citizenship and Belonging in France and North America. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30158-3_11

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