Call for Papers Paris, France International Islamophobia Conference
December 13-14, 2013

Theme: The Epistemic, Racial, Cultural and Stuctural Exclusionary Measures in France and Europe

The University of California, Berkeley IRDP (Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project) and CADIS (Centre d’Analyse et d’Intervention Sociologiques), Paris Invite Scholars and Researchers to Submit Paper Proposals December 13-14, 2013.

Islamophobia has become one of the most pervasive forms of racism and discrimination in the world today. It is used in the West to police communities of color, to invade countries, to construct the patriarchal racial inferiority of Muslim women, to discriminate against populations in the labor market or to simply make them the target of the “war against terrorism.” But the problem has broader dimensions when we consider issues such as political, cultural, religious and epistemic Islamophobia. In Western Europe, Islamophobia is on the rise. France is among the countries where Islamophobia acquires complex and multi-layered dimensions.

The obsession of the French state with French Muslims is expressed by continuous passing of laws to regulate the behavior and even the forms of dressing of Muslims, in particular, Muslim women. The latest in the list of legal measures directed at Muslims in France is the attempt of the François Hollande administration to extend the law against the use of the veil in public schools to workplaces, day care workers, etc. Even Muslim mothers using veils are forbidden from entering public schools where their children study. The time is right for an international conference in Paris, France to examine the problematic Islamophobic discourses in France and Western Europe and the curtailment of Muslim legal status as religious, ethnic and racial minorities. We are calling specialists, academics and activists to submit papers. Please send a title, a 300 word abstract and a short one paragraph biography by September 2nd, 2013, to hatemb@berkeley.edu.