Islamophobia, racialisation and the ‘Muslim problem’ in France

Abstract

This article introduces the special issue on ‘Islamophobia, Racialisation and the “Muslim Problem” in France’. Islamophobia is here understood as (anti-Muslim) racism, with structural and historical dimensions beyond those of individual acts of discrimination or prejudice, and whereby those perceived to be Muslim are systematically racialised as if they are ‘a race’ and as a ‘problem’ to be debated (primarily by the White non-Muslim majority). The issue brings together researchers from France and beyond, in French and in English, and from several disciplines, to demonstrate the diversity of international academic research on the topic as well as the relative consensus among specialist scholars on how to theorise and critique such phenomena.