Sociologies (May 2019)
« Des emplois pour les Musulmans ! ». Les péripéties clientélistes d’une politique locale de promotion de la diversité à Melilla
Abstract
"Melilla, the city of four cultures" – this is the municipal slogan, known to all its inhabitants since the enclave's public authorities decided some twenty years ago to make cultural plurality an asset for promotion and economic development. However, this recent public momentum of recognition of diversity has been accompanied, from the outset, by increased demands from the so-called Muslim community for a more sustained presence in the administration and local power, for social and economic equality. Based on an ethnographic investigation, the article proposes to trace the tensions and contradictions between the municipal policy of “patrimonialisation of diversity” and the demands emanating from the Muslim community for greater equality. In particular, we observe how, as a result of these normative tensions, a clientelist system of private and “hierarchical recognition” is being set up, through local employment policies.
