Jorgen S. Nielsen
Publications
Abstracts of recent publications
Books
Muslims in the enlarged Europe: Religion and society, ed. with B.Maréchal, S.Allievi and F.Dassetto (Leiden: Brill, 2003)
The major study (600 pages) is the result of a project conducted for the Presidency of the European Commission. Countries included are all member countries of the European Union plus Romania and Bulgaria. The study covers, education, mosques and organisations, political participation, legal status and family law as well as the developing role played by Muslims in the public space, as in the media, interreligious relations, the economy and international dimension. The concluding chapter reflects on the impact on Europe, on Muslims, and on academic approaches to the subject. The volume includes sixty pages of bibliography.
Muslim Networks and Transnational Communities in and across Europe, ed. with Stefano Allievi (Leiden: Brill, 2003)
The topic of this collection of twelve articles is the increasingly transnational nature of Islam in Europe as well as the mechanisms by which the transnationalism is activated, especially the media. The papers integrate specific case studies with more general and thematic considerations, including the impact of the continuing migration processes and the adaptation of networks and intellectual and religious links by the 'European' generations of Muslims. This involves both the preservation and mobilisation of family and ethnic networks as well as the establishment of new personal and intellectual networks of shared interest which cross over the lines of the traditional or break out of them. These studies also show how European Muslims are increasingly locating themselves within global Islam.
Summary report on
Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001, jointly with C. Allen (Vienna: EUMC, 2002).
This document synthesises the detailed reports to come from each of the fifteen European Union member countries, requested by the EUMC to assess reactions to Muslims and Muslim institutions after the 11 September 2001 attacks. The report surveys physical and verbal attacks, media comments, measures taken by local and national authorities, statements by politicians and other opinion formers, and examples of good practice in the period till the end of December 2001.
Ethnology of Sufi
orders: theory and practice, joint ed. A. Zheliazkova (Sofia: IMIR, 2001)
A collection of papers in English and Bulgarian presdented at a conference held in Sofia in May 2000. A total of fiteen articles consider theoretical and methodological issues connected with studying Sufism and report extensively on fieldwork conducted by Bulgarian anthropologists in various parts of the country looking at the extensive resurgence of beliefs and practices which had gone underground during the Communist period.
Towards a European Islam?, London: Macmillan, 1999. 156 pp.
This is a collection of papers which have previously appeared in various publications, mostly with limited circulation. The papers have been revised so that they form a coherent sequence and have been up-dated where necessary. They cover the history of arrival and settlement, the response especially in Britain to issues raised by the new Muslim presence, the developing relations between Muslims and the European public environment and conclude with consideration of factors which are likely to influence future progress.
Articles
“The impact of Islam on contemporary Western Europe”, in N.M.Mustafa (ed.), Masarat wa-khabarat fi hiwar al-hadarat, Cairo: Cairo University, 2004, pp.205-220 (in Arabic).
Considers mainly the impact which Muslim communities have had on contemporary Europe. This is not just a question of the social and physical geography of Europe's cities. It also has to do with the responses of European society, economy and government structures to the Muslim presence. In responding to the new situation, Europe is changing in ways which affect everyone. The paper points at ways in which Muslims in some places are integrating into local communities and suggests that the encounters between traditional European cultures and religious and ethnic minorities may very well be a source of significant cultural innovation.
“Religious dialogue and the academy: a contradiction?”, in K.Hock (ed.), The interface between research and dialogue: Christian-Muslim relations in Africa, Münster: LIT-Verlag, 2004, pp.165-176.
This short paper considers possible the tension between academic research and writing and a commitment to improving relations between religions. It concludes essentially that if scholars in favour of dialogue do not commit publicly, then the field will be left open to those who are pushing for conflict.
“New centres and peripheries in European Islam?”, in B. Roberson (ed.), Shaping the current Islamic reformation, London: Frank Cass, 2003, pp.64-81.
For the immigrant generations of Muslims, the point of reference for religious authority was usually to be found in the countries of origin. As Muslim belonging has become more important, so interest in developments in the wider Muslim world grew. Events in Bosnia, Palestine and Chechnya mobilised younger Muslims during the 1990s , and they started looking to sources of teaching authority outside their own regional traditions. As they have done so, small but growing numbers are making up their own minds based on active and critical study of the source texts. The geographical image of centre-periphery is being replaced by a personal religious autonomy, in which the scripture is reasserted as centre.
“Contemporary discussions on religious minorities in Islam”, Brigham Young University Law Review, vol.2002, no.2, pp.353-369; reprint in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol.14, no.3 (July 2003), pp.325-335.
A number of prominent Islamic scholars working in Arabic have in the last two decades engaged in a growing process of revising classical approaches to the status of non-Muslim minorities in the Muslim world. Some have adapted traditional concepts to become more inclusive, especially claiming that the Prophet's 'Constitution of Medina' included Jews as well as Muslims. Others have argued that the nature of the modern nation state means that old categories such as dhimmah are no longer relevant and have been superseded by equal citizenship.
“Transnational Islam and the integration of Islam in Europe”, in S.Allievi and J.S.Nielsen, Muslim networks and transnational communities in and across Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp.28-51.
Muslim networks in Europe are an essential dimension of the process of integration. The article looks at examples of 'traditional' networks, those which existed before the settlement of Muslims in the 20th century and those which have appeared in non-traditional formats in the context of diaspora. Among the latter are, on the one hand, organisations which have taken on European structures and continued to develop their activities in response to new Muslim generations and, on the other hand, certain Sufi organisations which have come to resemble new religious movements.
“Orientalism and anti-Orientalism: is there a middle way?”, in A. Zhelyazkova and J. Nielsen (eds.), Ethnology of Sufi orders: theory and practice (Sofia: IMIR, 2001), pp. 337-351.
The article takes up the question of Orientalism and suggests that both sides of the argument about Orientalism have their own points but go too far. Many orientalists have, on the whole, learned the lessons of past approaches and take a much more differentiated attitude. On the other hand, many critics of Orientalism can hemselves be accused of conducting their critique in a manner similar to that of the orientalists themselves.
“Muslims,
the state and the public domain in Britain”, in R.Bonney, F.Bosbach and T.Brockmann
(eds.), Religion and politics in Britain and Germany, Munich: K.G.Saur, 2001,
pp.145-154.
This study considers relations between Muslims and the public domain in the last decade of the 20th century. It refers particularly to the impact of the Muslim Council of Britain, founded in 1997, growing concerns over the activities of Islamist exiles and the negotiations between indigenous Muslims and the authorities in this regard, and the impact of young politically active Muslims. The paper concludes that Muslim organisations and the government have found ways of maintaining relationships to the benefit of both.
"Fluid identities: Muslims and Western Europe’s nation states", Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 13,2 (spring/summer 2000), pp.212-227.
After briefly referring to the process of immigration and settlement, the article concentrates on the processes by which a new, European-born generation of Muslims is inserting itself into the social and increasingly political life of the various European countries. It argues that the Muslim community is laying the foundations of an integrated European future and is in the process of exploring ways of being European and at the same time authentically Muslim
"Muslims in Britain: ethnic minority, community or Ummah?", in H.Coward et al (eds), The South Asian Diaspora in Britain, Canada, and the United States, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000, pp.109-125.
The Muslim community in Britain started off as an immigrant community defined primarily by its nationalities of origin. While this perception still persists, the events of 1989 and 1990 raise the Islamic profile of the various ethnic groups and the sense of a common Muslim-ness grew. One consequence of this has been a variety of trends to review and revive relationships with the wider Muslim world, a process which is strengthening an identification with the universal Muslim community.