Egalite ou Realite: Where Do Muslims Truly Reside in Today's France?
Abstract
In this study, the author focuses on France, exclusively, to illuminate the potential causes for material and/or ideological support to terrorism in that society, and further indicates how these trends may be evident throughout Western societies. As in recent years, the word "Muslim" has become synonymous with terrorism in the daily lexica of France and other Western societies, this thesis demonstrates that terrorism is not a spontaneous or stand-alone problem. Terrorism and other forms of extremism in France -- whether imminent or imagined -- mark an end form of the true issue: social exclusion, or alienation, or isolation of French Muslims. French society's Republican values of liberty, equality, and fraternity make no distinction for such identity factors as ethnicity and religion. This thesis focuses on the French head scarf ban, with its goal of promoting integration. The thesis demonstrates that the wearing of head scarves by Muslim girls in French society was manifested as a challenge to French identity and the tradition of secularism. These ideas, and others central to Frenchness, are seen in the French polity as threatening as well as a visual representation to the threat posed by the influx of Muslim immigrants and their failure to assimilate. The thesis concludes by demonstrating that issues such as racism, Islamaphobia, and social alienation or exclusion are the vehicles that radical Islamists prey upon to find potential jihadists. If the head scarf ban is politicized by the fundamentalist Muslim community, the ban ultimately might prove counterproductive, resulting in reduced integration in public schools, more segregation, and a radicalized Muslim community hostile to the Western traditions that France holds so dear.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA470060
Entities
People
- Michael A. Davis
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School