The “Muslim Question”

Abstract

The introduction to the special issue The “Muslim Question”: The Micropolitics of Normalizing Islam and Muslims outlines three dynamics at play in all four contributions: normalization, classification and micropolitics. Starting with Michel Foucault and his notion of normalization, I argue that Muslims are classified and problematized in specific ways depending on the particular socio-historical context. Every problem and every classification depends on an idea of the “normal” or on norms. These norms central to the dynamics of normalization are reproduced through practices in everyday life. From this perspective, norm-reproducing micropo- litics shapes the social fabric of interaction.