S’inscrire dans l’espace public en tant que musulman en Suisse

Abstract

In Switzerland, as in many European countries, Muslims are required to be represented in the public sphere. The author clarifies the various institutional constraints that lead Muslims to present themselves differently in the public sphere. He identifies, on the one hand, a tendency for representatives to present themselves as part of a confessional structure embodying the communitas islamica. This structure consists of communities from the diaspora that have reached an agreement with the Swiss Confederation and communities that federate at the level of the canton to form a representative body in the eyes of the authorities responsible for religious regulation. There are, on the other hand, actors who manage to impose their will to create an idealized homo islamicus by becoming directly involved in the media, at the risk of damaging the hard-won ‘representation’ of the institutional actors.