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To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2010.02075.x Byline: TARIQ MODOOD (1) Keywords: moderate secularism; establishment; Muslims; respect; religion Abstract: Political secularism takes many forms but a fundamental distinction is between radical and moderate kinds. The latter is a genuine secularism and not just a failure to take secularism to its logical conclusion. The failure to appreciate this obscures the secularism that exists in western Europe. Namely, an accommodation of organised religion which sees it as a potential public good or national resource (not just a private benefit), which the state can in some circumstances assist to realise-even through an 'established' church. I adumbrate five types of reasons the state might be interested in religion: truth, danger, utility, identity and respect. The challenge facing such secularism today is whether it can be pluralised or multiculturalised, in particular whether it can accommodate Muslims. A ground for optimism is the respect that some people, especially some Muslims, have for religions other than their own. Author Affiliation: (1)Director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship, University of Bristol.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2009.01877.x Byline: Nasar Meer (*), Claire Dwyer ([dagger]), Tariq Modood ([double dagger]) Abstract: Abstract This article reports on a study of mediatised public discourses on nationhood, citizenship, and gender in Britain, and analyses the ways in which these accounts may be utilised in the cultivation of particular kinds of social identities. We distinguish our approach at the outset from other lines of inquiry to report on a macro level exploration of an event in which these value discourses were operative, namely the national the press reaction to the former Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's 2006 comments on the Muslim face-veil or niqab. The article traces and analyses the interactions and intersections of completing but overlapping accounts of nationhood, citizenship, and characterisations of the role of Muslim women. It identifies interdependent clusters of responses that illustrate the ways in which the niqab is a 'contested signifier' in contemporary social and political life, and the ways in which nationhood, citizenship, and gender feature prominently in its signification. Author Affiliation: (*)University of Southampton ([dagger])University College London ([double dagger])University of Bristol Article History: Received 22 January 2009Finally accepted 27 October 2009

BEGINNING FROM WHERE I AM SITTING--NAMELY, ENGLAND--ONE of the main stories of the twentieth century had been that the future of Europe is America. Growing up and through my adult [...]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00745.x Byline: Nasar Meer (1), Tariq Modood (1) Abstract: British multiculturalism is alleged to have buckled under various Muslim-related pressures. Indeed, some intellectuals, commentators and politicians of different political persuasions have pointed to evidence of a 'retreat' to be found in an increased governmental emphasis upon 'integration' and 'social cohesion'. One response to these developments, from defenders of diversity-related politics, has comprised a discursive reorientation of British multiculturalism to focus upon an anti-essentialist 'multiculture' that can transcend the alleged hitherto reification of British multiculturalism. This article offers an alternative appraisal of British multiculturalism. We contest the idea that British multiculturalism is subject to a wholesale 'retreat' and suggest instead that it has been, and continues to be, subject to a productive critique that is resulting in something best characterised as a 'civic re-balancing'. Simultaneously, and rather than seeking comfort in a depoliticised 'multiculture' view, we defend the ideal of a dynamic political multiculturalism, comprised of a body of discourses and policies originating from a racial equality paradigm inaugurated by the first Race Relations Act (1965). It is argued that this tradition has successfully and legislatively embedded a recognition of 'difference'- with the goal of promoting equality of access and opportunity - into Britain's self-image which has led to some significant accommodations for certain groups. Muslim minorities are currently appealing to this tradition as one means of achieving greater civic inclusion. Author Affiliation: (1)University of Bristol Article History: (Accepted: 5 December 2007)

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2007.00180.x Byline: Tariq Modood (1) Author Affiliation: (1)Department of Sociology, University of Bristol Article History: (Date accepted: November 2007) Article note: email: t.modood@bristol.ac.uk

We are most grateful to Professors Kymlicka, Banton and Westin for their comments on our report. Although they all think well of the report, they also make critical comments to [...]

A notion of public ethnicity is emerging in Britain, one which challenges the public-private distinction by calling for public accommodation of ethnic differences. Racial issues in Britain have focused mainly on Muslims, and theories of racism that seek to generalize based on experiences of minorities in the US or Canada may not be readily transferable to the situation in Britain. Race discrimination is not a simple phenomenon, because different non-white groups are discriminated against in different ways and in varying degrees. Cultural racism, in which discrimination is based on culture rather than biology, is a significant factor in Britain.

In the 1980s a political concept of blackness was hegemonic, but is increasingly having to be defended, even within the sociology of race. This is to be welcomed and seven reasons are given why the concept harms British Asians. The use of 'black' encourages a 'doublespeak'. It falsely equates racial discrimination with colour-discrimination and thereby obscures the cultural antipathy to Asians and therefore of the character of the discrimination they suffer. 'Black' suggests also a false essentialism: that all non-white groups have something in common other than how others treat them. The fourth reason is that 'black', being evocative of people of African origins, understates the size, needs and distinctive concerns of Asian communities. Fifthly, while the former can use the concept for purposes of ethnic pride, for Asians it can be no more than 'a political colour', leading to a too politicised identity. Indeed, it cannot but smother Asian ethnic pride- the pride which is a precondition of group mobilisation and assertiveness. Finally, advocates of 'black' have tried to impose it on Asians rather than seek slower methods of persuasion, with the result that the majority of Asians continue to reject it. The new emphasis on multi-textured identities is therefore encouraging, as long as we are not simply exchanging a political for a cultural vanguardism., Introduction In 1982 Salman Rushdie wrote: 'Britain is now two entirely different worlds and the one you inherit is determined by the colour of your skin' (Rushdie 1982). He described [...]

Ethnic and religious minorities in the UK fear that the push of secularism is a greater threat to their role in British society than is the Church of England. The Church of England has long been the moral standard bearer for English society, but it has also shown an openness toward other faiths. Furthermore, its existence serves as a foundation for religion in general. Those practicing non-Christian faiths are supportive of the Church of England to the extent that they support the freedom of religion. Radical secularization of English society is less likely if the Church remains influential.

Prior to the 1980s universities were offering expensive education generally reserved for the middle classes of UK society. By the 1991 the emphasis had changed to cheaper high-volume education available to all sectors of society, but are school leavers receiving the same quality of education in the 1990s as they were in 1981. Information on education trends between 1981 and 1991 is included.

Issues behind UK Muslims' demand for improved race relations policy and legislation are examined. Muslim responses to the Commission for Racial Equality's (CRE) 'Second Review of the Race Relations Act 1976' are examined to help identify the new Muslim activists' views and the relationship between these views and traditional views on equality. Muslims are demanding protection from discrimination, blasphemy and incitement to hatred. Many feel that incitement to religious hatred and religious discrimination should be made unlawful. A settlement of race relations in the UK cannot be made without the Muslim communities.

Will Kymlicka's book 'Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights' provides a new perspective on the liberal theory of minority rights and emphasizes its relevance and application. Individual autonomy and freedom are the main thesis of minority rights. Vulnerable minority cultures need protection from the state, lest individuality and freedom to live conforming to minority beliefs may be undermined. Kymlicka distinguish between polyethnicity in a state that incorporates a part or whole of a nation, and that resulted from voluntary migration.

Twenty one Muslim intellectuals and those active in public or community debates were examined to find what Muslims think about multiculturalism and it was found that there is a variety of views. Some felt that the Quran, Islam and Muslim history are very important sources of multiculturalism and are a form superior to any that was developed anywhere in the contemporary West.

This book is a good example of how the study of race and migration is engaging with new theoretical perspectives. The specific focus of the book is political Islam and [...]