Muslim and Catholic Experiences of National Belonging in France

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Through a comparative ethnographic analysis of divergent French Muslim and Catholic experiences of (non)belonging and civic engagement, this book offers new insights into the consequences of majoritarian national identity upon the lives of variously positioned pious citizens. Drawing upon 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Paris, Lille, and Lyon, France within spaces of religious education and interfaith dialogue, the book illustrates the constraints that Muslims face as compared to their more privileged Catholic co-citizens. The book demonstrates how the boundaries of French belonging are policed by francité. This is a tacit, majoritarian national imaginary ideal that draws upon complex narratives of colonialism, including conflations and deep-rooted stereotypes surrounding race, ethnicity, and religion, and normative shared cultural markers. The book reveals how some of the most prevalent political justifications for Muslim exclusion, especially those grounded in (non)adherence to French Republican principles like laïcité, become blurry, if not misleading when mapped onto Catholic inclusion. This reveals new insights for plural democracies everywhere regarding the importance of decoupling abstract notions of secular citizen making from the more practical limitations of majoritarian ideals within the national imaginary in policy making and civic engagement initiatives alike.