Rethinking respectability politics

Respectability politics—that is, the process by which privileged members of marginalized groups comply with dominant social norms to advance their group's condition—is the object of a growing body of literature in the fields of race and ethnic studies, social movements, and critical theory. Yet this body of literature remains theoretically unintegrated. This article offers a clarification of the concept by specifying who can resort to this type of politics and by characterizing respectability politics as an inherently ambivalent political strategy, one that stands at the crossroads of forms of resistance and accommodation of oppressive structures. The article also demonstrates the concept's potential to move beyond its current application in African American studies, as respectability politics holds promise in providing insights on the oppositional politics of other marginalized groups' members (such as Muslims in Europe or Latino/as in the United States). Lastly, the article sketches four research directions in the study of respectability politics, with important implications for understanding the workings of social conformance under domination

Polite responses to stigmatization: ethics of exemplarity among French Muslim elites

Anti-Muslim hostility in Europe operates in a variety of forms and settings. While a rich body of work has highlighted the multifaceted stigmatization of Islam in European societies, little is known on how Muslims respond to it. Based on an ethnographic case study of a group of French Muslim activists, this article describes how they explain, rebut and cope with anti-Muslim hostility. Drawing on sociological research on antiracist practices, the article expands understandings of non-confrontational strategies designed to dispel prejudices gradually and educate racist people tactfully. More precisely, the French Muslim activists I interviewed urge their coreligionists to display good manners and exemplary behaviour in response to stigmatization, mobilizing a middle-class set of values encompassing politeness, discretion, socio-economic uplift and self-discipline. In doing so, these activists offer oppositional space to anti-Muslim hostility but also reinforce some of the hegemonic values of colour-blind French republicanism

In Search of Respectability. The Politics of the Union des organisations islamiques de France

The spokespersons of Western Europe’s Muslim communities face the imperative to garner legitimacy among distinct, power-asymmetric audiences. They need to gain approval from the general public, whose opinions are ruled by secular liberal principles, and they need the support of their pious Muslim constituents, who uphold norms of Islamic authenticity. This thesis aims to situate the responses of Muslim political actors to these competing normative prescriptions. To do this, it disentangles the subtle trade-offs they need to negotiate between political pressures for a civil Islam and intra-community expectations of religious authenticity. This double-bind situation is unpacked through the case study of the Union des organisations islamiques de France (UOIF), arguably the most prominent organisation on the French Islamic landscape. Founded in 1983 by religiously observant students close to the Muslim Brotherhood, the UOIF rapidly evolved into an influential Muslim interest group looking for policy-makers’ recognition. Building on three years of ethnographic fieldwork as well as untapped material drawn from interviews, governmental archives and media analysis, my study argues that UOIF leaders progressively embraced a quest for political respectability. To this end, they sought to assuage suspicions about their Islamist filiation and subscribe to dominant secular- republican scripts about how ‘good Muslims’ should appear and behave. This strategy encompassed an array of ideological, organisational and tactical adaptations designed to establish the organisation’s credibility—from the construction of a respectable façade to the sanction of unruly members, and from cooperation with public authorities to theological reformulations. Aligning with dominant norms, however, was a costly process, and UOIF leaders consequently alienated factions within their Muslim followers, often finding themselves accused of compromising doctrinal principles and ‘selling out’ Islam. To capture this ambivalent strategy, I transpose the notion of the Politics of Respectability from predominantly North-American case studies on black elites to European Islamic contexts. Such a conceptual reformulation allows me to document Muslims’ political agency in hostile environments and clarify the inclusion dilemmas they face. In writing the first in-depth historical and ethnographic study of the UOIF, my ambition is twofold: to contribute to a substantial understanding of Muslim politics in minority contexts and to draw a more general framework accounting for the respectability politics of marginalised groups.Knox studentship (Trinity College) and Fox fellowship (Yale University

(Re)Négocier la citoyenneté. Islam, immigration, mobilisations pour l'égalité

Comment comprendre les luttes pour l’égalité engagées au sein de organisations mobilisées pour défendre la cause des immigrés et des musulmans ? Après plus d’un demi-siècle d’immigration « postcoloniale », et l’association problématique entre immigré, musulman et tentation au « séparatisme » ou au « communautarisme », ces mobilisations peuvent emprunter des voies plurielles. Elles peuvent, d’une part, s’inscrire dans des stratégies de conformation au modèle républicain de citoyenneté, ou se définir en rupture avec lui ; elles peuvent, d’autre part, se réaliser à partir de répertoires d’action classiques des sociétés industrielles, où sur la base d’une contre-expertise. Le croisement de ces deux variables permet de dessiner un espace de ces « mobilisations pour l’égalité », à partir de plusieurs cas empiriques. How can we understand struggles for equality within organizations mobilized to defend immigrants and Muslims? After more than half a century of "postcolonial" immigration, and the problematic association between immigrants, Muslims and temptations towards "separatism" or "communitarianism", these mobilizations can take many different paths. They can, on the one hand, be part of strategies of conformation to the republican model of citizenship, or be defined in rupture with it; they can, on the other hand, be carried out on the basis of classic repertoires of action of industrial societies, or on the basis of counter-expertise. The intersection of these two variables makes it possible to draw a space for these "mobilizations for equality", based on several empirical cases