WEEK FOURTEEN Post #12
- a) What are the four levels of integration of Muslims in the Scandinavian countries discussed by the authors?
The four levels of integration discussed by the authors:
– General integration: It would be if Muslims would be totally assimilated and integrated in the normal life in Scandinavian countries. It would mean that even if they wish to stay close to their community, they would still have access to education, to jobs for men and women (a law for women to be able to wear headscarf maybe?) and to fully feel at home and wanted. However, in Scandinavian countries like in many countries, many Muslims are put aside and are not fully integrated and it is hard for them to get a house or a job.
– Political: not a lot of Muslims are present in the political system which may make it hard for them to be heard and therefore be represented. We have seen that a good step toward integration is to be part also of the political life.
– Religious rituals: They are not permitted according to the Scandinavian countries law.
– Ideological: It is good since the Muslims in Sweden especially are willing to promote a Euro-Islam to be able to be more integrated. Both sides Muslims and non-Muslims want to live together which is good for multiculturalism.
- b) Why is there not a greater impact of Islam in modern-day Spanish society given the history of Islam in Spain? Discuss different degrees of Muslim integration within the Spanish society.
There is less Muslims in Spain than there is in other European countries such as France and Germany, however as the book says and they have been present since a while. Since there isn’t a lot of Muslims, their influence is lessened. A reason why there isn’t a lot of Muslims may be explained by the fact that Spain doesn’t have any colonies in countries where the majority of the population is Muslims. Today, there are mainly two types of Muslims living in Spain:
– Spanish who converted to Islam and naturalized Muslims
– Immigrants who moved to Spain. However, they are less integrated since they are not very integrated into the Spanish everyday life (like in many European countries).
- c) Concluding remarks and thoughts – what stands out? What is your take on the remarks?
To conclude this chapter and semester, we can say that the process of integration in European countries is almost the same everywhere. We can find two types of countries, the ones that are willing to work on integrating the Muslims to assimilate them like France or Germany but are failing in doing so because of laws that are too specific or restrictive. And there are countries that accepts the Muslims but don’t do anything to integrate them at all which creates a real divide between minorities. Now, one of the challenge of our century is to find a way, without war to all live together. To grant freedom to all and to accept each other differences.
Multicultural World Case Studies 