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The modulus of elasticity: Islam, art and populism in postcolonial securitized Europe

Scott-Baumann, Alison

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Abstract

Current public and political interactions are becoming increasingly populist, illustrating the great success of an approach that creates the belief that majority populations in Europe and USA are in fact beleaguered, as if they are a minority threatened by those considered allochthonous. People’s democratic agency is thereby silenced and weakened. The Institut des cultures d’Islam (ICI) deflates populism’s boast by bringing individuals, ideas and artefacts together in a local setting to deconstruct these generalities by being together. The methodology of this paper is to use philosophy, literary analysis, social theory and physics to analyse the ICI as the same breathed space in which many interpersonal ruptures can be made possible, recognized as such and then averted. There are ambiguities of difference and of the positive tensions that can be created by bring ‘culte’ (worship) and ‘culture’ (art) together. This article proposes that the modulus, the measure of (human) rigidity (and flexibility), can be used to analyse what happens at the ICI and to consider how outsider ‘experts’ can both approach this space and accept that their grasp of what is at stake within it will remain partial.

Citation

Scott-Baumann, A. (2018). The modulus of elasticity: Islam, art and populism in postcolonial securitized Europe. Francosphères, 7(2), 147-162. https://doi.org/10.3828/franc.2018.11

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 25, 2018
Publication Date Dec 1, 2018
Deposit Date Oct 25, 2018
Publicly Available Date Oct 25, 2018
Journal Francosphères
Print ISSN 2046-3820
Electronic ISSN 2046-3839
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Issue 2
Pages 147-162
DOI https://doi.org/10.3828/franc.2018.11
Keywords Populism, interpersonal rupture, racism, positive tension, worship, art
Related Public URLs https://online.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/loi/franc

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