Muslims in Western Societies

Abstract

“There is no ‘Islam’ and there is no ‘West’,” boldly proclaimed the program of the Trudeau Foundation’s conference held in Vancouver, BC, Canada on 16-18 November 2006. Rather, the premise was that there are numerous Islams (religious, political, and geographical) and many Wests. Given this context, some 160 scholars, activists, and policymakers came together under the more general heading of “Muslims in Western Societies” to discuss, debate, and make sense of the complex interactions among and manifestations of these many Islams and many Wests. The event was organized around five themes: “Religious Belief, Secularism, and the State”; “Immigrant Societies, Cultural Memory, and Cultural Change”; “The Multicultural Challenge”; “Muslim Women in Western Societies”; and “Muslims, Political Violence, and the Security Establishment.” Plenary sessions were held on each theme. In addition, because it was a working conference, attendees participated in discussion groups organized around these same themes and presented summary accounts of their two-day deliberations in a closing plenary. Perhaps because of the Canadian setting, multiculturalism was one of the concepts that received much attention and served as a touchstone during many of the weekend’s discussions. During the panel on the challenge of multiculturalism, Will Kymlicka (Queen’s University) outlined the history of multiculturalism in Canada and argued that in order to accommodate the current concerns of Muslims and other religious minorities, Canada must update its multiculturalism policy. In the early 1970s, Canada officially became “multicultural” at the behest of Ukrainian Canadians who wanted to protect their language and culture within the framework of official biculturalism and bilingualism policies. In the 1980s, the logic of anti-racism entered multicultural debates, and now, Kymlicka insisted, religion has arisen as a cultural element in need of protection. He urged that we update, rather than abandon, Canada’s multicultural policy. In “Muslims, Political Violence, and the Security Establishment” (and in the working group on the same topic, in which I participated), Rex Brynen ...