The challenging significance of the category “Muslim” in France: A socio-historic overview from the national press (1980-2020)

Abstract

This article aims to examine the narrative of the presence of Muslim populations in France over the last four decades (1980-2020) through the use of the category “Muslim” in two national newspapers. On the basis of selected events that have marked this period, this work intends to highlight several regimes of visibility or “topos” that challenge both the interpretations of the French Republican Principles and representations of the diversity of Muslims and of the French population as a whole. Over the period studied, the so-called “Muslim populations” gained a degree of exclusivity in the conception of otherness in France that carry several proxies along creating a rigidified (inextricable) intertwining of social, ethnic and religious dimensions.