Exploring Muslim Diaspora Communities in Europe through a Social Movement Lens: Some Initial Thoughts

摘要

Social movements can be described as individuals, groups, and organizations connected via internal and external networks that challenge the system in which they are situated. Similarly, diaspora communities are sometimes described as individuals, groups, and organizations linked through tightly or loosely coupled networks and bonded via language, shared history, ritual, collective norms, and similar cultural artifacts. Thus, social movements can be described as system-challenging networks, and diasporas can be described as networks that, among a host of other activities, sometimes execute system-challenging behavior. Leveraging social movement theory (SMT) to explore the phenomenon of diasporic collective contentious action, then, seems to make intuitive sense. Specifically, synthesizing SMT with emerging research on Muslim diaspora communities in Europe is interesting due to growing evidence that European communities have been unable (or perhaps unwilling) to sufficiently respond to expectations of its Muslim citizens and immigrants, specifically as related to widespread acceptance of Islamic societal institutions. This paper makes two claims. First, it suggests that through such a synthesis, studying system-challenging behavior by Muslim diaspora communities within Europe reveals that five other types of collective actions are often coincident with system-challenging actions: (1) disassociation, (2) withdrawal, (3) linkage, (4) co-option, and (5) creation of parallel structures, which can be interpreted as a hybridization of the other actions. Second, the paper suggests that such displays of collective contentious behavior may, under certain conditions, indicate the emergence of a pan-ethnic Islamic identity. In turn, this pan-ethnic Islamic identity affects how Muslim diaspora communities in Europe interact with host institutions, changing the scope, focus, and expected outcomes of this interaction.