Islam and Muslims as Elephants in the Interfaith Room: 'Frame governance of dialogue and de-radicalisation'

Abstract

Bringing together theories of media and policy frames of Norwegian Muslims as governance instruments, this article performs a microanalysis of the Norwegian 2015 de-radicalisation seminar 'Together against Radicalisation and Extremism' as an instance of governance of religious diversity. The seminar was organised by an interfaith forum based in the conservatively Christian ‘Bible Belt’ of southern Norway and directed at local high school students who attended the seminar as part of their compulsory curricula. Analysing how Islam came to constitute a focal point to which the public presenters frequently related, this study explores how media and policy frames impact cultural encounters at the civic society level and points to how the seminar’s subtle workings reproduce significant religious, ethnic and cultural demarcations that stand in opposition to the seminar’s minority-inclusive objectives.

Keywords

• framing muslims
• norway
• de-radicalisation
• interreligious dialogue
• governance of diversity