Burkas and Baguettes: Secularism, Nation, and Islam in Contemporary France

With the project I aim to enquire into recent changes in French secularist (la laïcité) and republican-liberal discourse by analyzing the ostentatious intersections between the political mainstream ́s and the far-right ́s discourse(s) on secularism and other liberal values such as tolerance, equality, and freedom of expression.

The project is of great importance since it will highlight and problematize intersections between mainstream political speech and the far-right in France and how liberal discourse is used for illiberal purposes. Analyzing these developments are crucial for understanding future developments of European identity politics.

Throughout the time of the project I will be stationed at the CHERPA institute at Sciences Po in Aix-en-Provence in France where some of France ́s leading critical scholars on secularism are working.

Participating researcher: Per-Erik Nilsson