Islam in Europe: Public Spaces and Civic Networks(Islam and Nationalism)

Islam in Europe delves into the daily routines of European Muslim communities in order to provide a better understanding of what it means to be a European Muslim today. Instead of positing particular definitions of being Muslim, this volume invites and encourages a diverse body of 735 informants from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK to reflect on who they are and on the meaning and place Islam has in such considerations. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork and suggesting novel ways of seeing the phenomenon of European Islam and the continent's Muslim communities, Islam in Europe examines how through their practices, discourses, face to face and mediated interaction, European Muslims construct notions or identity, agency, solidarity and belonging, or how they negotiate and redefine religion, tradition, authority and cultural authenticity. Theoretically and methodologically innovative, Islam in Europe makes a significant contribution to better understanding European Islam and Europe's Muslims.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Muslims in Europe: Balancing Between Belonging and Exclusion 2. Islam in Europe: A Genealogy 3. Who are the European Muslims? 4. Space, Place and Social Action: European Muslim Geographies 5. The Politics of Contestation and the Construction of Injustice Frames 6. Spaces of Agency and Identity and the Reconfiguration of Islam 7. Is There a Space for European Muslims? Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Spyros A. Sofos is Research Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Sweden. His publications include Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe and Tormented by History: Nationalism in Greece and Turkey. He is co-editor with Umut Ozkiriml of the Islam and Nationalism series published with Palgrave. Roza Tsagarousianou is Reader in Mass Media and Communication at the University of Westminster, UK. She is convenor of the Diaspora and the Media working group of the International Association for Media and Communication Research. She has co-edited Cyberdemocracy: Technology, Cities and Civic Networks and authored Diasporic Cultures and Globalization.

Review :
In this volume the authors take us beyond analysis of society and politics. Their focus is the complex and tense field of the conceptual: in what ways are Muslims in Europe European Muslims; what do events and related discourses do to affect the formation of European Muslim identities? A valuable pointer to future lines of research. Jorgen S. Nielsen, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark