In 2006 against the background of the increasing problematization of Muslims and Islam in German public debate, the German government established the German Islam Conference. In a post 9/11 world, this was a time period shaped by the global war on terror, changes in the German naturalization law, the proliferation of racism targeting Muslims, and the expansion of security apparatuses. In
Governing Muslims and Islam in Contemporary Germany Luis Manuel Hernández Aguilar critically analyzes the institutionalization of the Conference and the different projects this institution has set in motion to govern Islam and Muslims against the looming presence of racial representations of Muslims. The analysis begins with the foundation of the Conference until the end of its second phase in 2014.
Luis Manuel Hernández Aguilar is a Research Officer in the project “Countering Islamophobia Through the Development of Best Practice in the Use of Counter-Narratives in EU Member States”, funded by the Directorate-General Justice of the European Commission. He received a PhD in Sociology from the Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Acknowledgments List of Figures List of Abbreviations Introduction Race, Religion, and the State
The German Islam Conference
Part 1: Figuring the Past—on the Muslim Question
Introduction to Part 1 1
Who are these Muslims? About the Past and the New Orient 1.1 About the New Orient
1.2 Canvassing Muslim Life in Germany
1.3 Can Anyone Wave a German Flag? Youth, Race, Gender, and Nationalism
2
Becoming a Problem 2.1 Problematic Ontologies
2.2 The Narration of a Problem
2.3 Gender Justice in the Swimming Pool
Part 2: Reconfiguring the Present—Integration as the Answer
Introduction to Part 2 3
Integration 3.1 Integration as Assimilation
3.2 Structural and Cognitive Integration
3.3 Emotional Integration
3.4 Social Integration or How to Re-socialize Muslims
4
Integration, Security, and Prevention 4.1 Defending German Society
4.2 Trust and Transparency
4.3 Responsibility and Togetherness
4.4 Suffering Incorporation
5
The Glossary of the Conflictive Present 5.1 The Social Polarization of Germany
5.2 A Polarized Society: “Muslim anti-Semitism”, “Islamism”, and “Hostility against Muslims”
Part 3: Projecting Germanness into the Future—Tolerance and Imams
Introduction to Part 3 6
The Tolerant Future 6.1 The Tolerant Germans
6.2 Ten Muslims teaching tolerance to the Muslim community
7
Secular Imams and Secular Muslims for a Secular Future 7.1 The Muslim Subjects of the Future
7.2 Imams
7.3 Secular Muslims
Epilogue: The Time of Race, Racial Times Bibliography
Academic specialists and students working in the field of Muslims and Islam in Germany/Europe, racism and anti-Muslim Racism, Islamophobia, German migration and integration politics, representations of Muslims and Islam in the media and the state.