The Rhea Seminar Series 2023 continues! Bring your lunch and join us on the 27th of February, 12:30, PL.5.2.03 .
Our next presenter is Elias Woodbridge, with a presentation titled:
'Mapping racializing and securitizing political discourses of Muslim masculinities in Belgium: A politics of fear?'
Abstract
Attacks on European soil carried out in the name of Islam, such as Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016), have elevated public and political suspicion to unprecedented heights, increasing fear and anxieties towards the Muslim population. Discourses of fear have become more common, with debates surrounding state security almost solely focussing on Islam. Political discourses in Europe frame acts of terrorism, radicalisation and patriarchy as inherent to the Islamic tradition, creating Manichean dichotomies between ‘Us’ and the Muslim ‘Other’ that threatens the democratic and secular nature of Western-European culture. While such narratives are mainly adopted by populist right-wing political parties, research shows that both on the right and left side of the political spectrum, politicians’ messages surrounding Islam have become less differentiable from one another. This research conducts a Critical Political Discourse Analysis of debates held in the Chamber of First Representatives in Belgium over a 22 year span, starting from 2000. It focusses on how political language creates a politics of fear surrounding Islam and how this influences securitization and surveillance policies pointed at the Muslim population living in Belgium. An intersectional framework is used in order to map how gender plays a significant part in the perception and framing of Muslims.
Elias is a PhD researcher at the departments of Political Sciences and Criminology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research, which is funded by FWO, analyses how political debates construct Muslims in both the broader society as in prisons, how prison officers experience Islam within the prison walls and how Muslim prisoners experience their own Islamic beliefs.
Building up to this doctoral study, Elias researched the racialisation of Muslim men living in Flanders during his master in Gender and Diversity. Prior to this, he acquired a professional bachelor in orthopedagogy. The educational background in different fields and the interests in religion, diversity and masculinities coincide with the doctoral study that Elias is conducting under the guidance and supervision of Prof. Dr. Iman Lechkar (promotor) and Prof. Dr. An-Sofie Vanhouche (co-promotor).