Re-thinking how we study Muslim minorities in Europe—A call for de-Muslimification

<p dir="ltr">Today, we live in an era of superdiversity and ethnoracial heterogeneity. Walk the streets of any European city and bear witness to diversity brought by people with immigrant family backgrounds. Visually it is striking: from hipsters to hijabs and baseball caps to sharp suits. This transition towards diversity is importantly driven by demographic transformations and new immigration that over time has resulted in increased ethnic, racial and religious mixing and blurring of group boundaries (Alba & Foner, 2015; Statham & Foner, 2024). But listen to dominant political debates or mainstream news about integration problems in European countries and the story is completely different: It depicts societies pulling themselves apart conflictually along cultural dividing lines. While race is the main fault line in the USA, the politicized public debates in Europe focus primarily on Muslims and Islam. This is the popularized version of the influential “clash of civilizations” thesis (Huntington, 2002): that European societies are basically cleaved into two conflicting camps, with “White Christian” majorities pitched against the alien culture and values of Islam imported by people who are Muslim of immigrant origin.</p>