CFCM A French Touch?

France is the second country in Western Europe, after Belgium in 1998 (see ISIM Newsletter 2, p. 26), to have elected a representative Muslim council. T h e formation of the Conseil Franais du Culte Musulman (CFCM) was carefully controlled by the Ministry of Interior and despite the substantial support it has received for its general purpose of consultation, many have questioned the degree to which the CFCM truly reflects the composition of the Muslim community

Is Islam Soluble into Germany? Sunni Muslims of Turkish Origin

Similar to the overall situation in Western Europe, the Muslim youth of Turkish background in Germany are quite different to the generation of their parents. Far from homogeneity, being a Muslim is nowadays made up of differentiation, cultural complexity, and mobility at an individual level even if communal features remain relevant. The following aims at briefly reviewing these trends while underlining the opportunities provided by the German context

Europe’s Muslim Communities

Questions about the impact of 9/11 on Muslim communities in the European Union in terms of social interaction and conceptualizations of Muslim identity led to the comparative project “Europe’s Muslim communities: Security and Integration post 9/11” from 2003 to 2007. The project was initiated by Ethnobarometer, the International Research Network on Interethnic Politics and Migration, and directed by Alessandro Silj. It involved national research teams in six EU countries (Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands)

Seasonal survey of the composition and degradation state of particulate organic matter in the Rhône River using lipid tracers

International audienceLipid tracers including fatty acids, hydroxyacids, n-alkanols, sterols and triterpenoids were used to determine the origin and fate of suspended particulate organic matter (POM) collected in the Rhône River (France). This seasonal survey (April 2011 to May 2013) revealed a year-round strong terrestrial higher-plant contribution to the particulate organic matter (POM), with significant algal inputs observed in March and attributed to phytoplanktonic blooms likely dominated by diatoms. Major terrigenous contributors to our samples are gymnosperms, and more precisely their roots and stems, as evidenced by the presence of high proportions of ω-hydroxydocosanoic acid (a suberin biomarker). The high amounts of coprostanol detected clearly show that the Rhône River is significantly affected by sewage waters. Specific sterol degradation products were quantified and used to assess the part of biotic and abiotic degradation of POM within the river. Higher-plant-derived organic matter appears to be mainly affected by photo-oxidation and au-toxidation (free radical oxidation), while organic matter of mammal or human origin, evidenced by the presence of co-prostanol, is clearly more prone to bacterial degradation. Despite the involvement of an intense autoxidation-inducing ho-molytic cleavage of peroxy bonds, a significant proportion of hydroperoxides is still intact in higher plant debris. These compounds could affect the degradation of terrestrial material by inducing an intense autoxidation upon its arrival at sea

Monitoring photo-oxidative and salinity-induced bacterial stress in the Canadian Arctic using specific lipid tracers

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The Choice of Ignorance: The Debate on Ethnic and Racial Statistics in France

A researcher or a journalist trying to compare the situation of ethnic and racial minorities in the United States and in France immediately confronts a crippling obstacle. The concept of ‘ethnic and racial minority’ as such is not used in France. This is not simply a matter of vocabulary –something the French typically like to argue about; the problem rather lies in the very incomparability of populations that one is talking about. Many of the categories that do exist in political discourse and public debate can of course be found in statistics. But there are no data describing the situation of minorities in France that could be compared with those produced in the United States. This state of affairs in French statistics – gathering has been the subject of major criticism for some 20 years now; it has gotten to the point that it has triggered a controversy of rare violence between those that would like to see statistics take into account the diversity of the population and those who denounce the danger that such statistics might pose of ethnicizing or racializing society. The media focus on the contentiousness of this debate has been such as to sometimes lose sight of the very existence of discrimination and the flaws of the Republican model that are at the root of the controversy in the first place