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The Way They Treat their Daughters and Wives: Racialisation of Muslims in Norway
Abstract
“What do you think might be the reasons for existing negative attitudes toward Muslims?” This was one of the open-ended questions asked in a broad quantitative survey on attitudes toward minorities in Norway. The responses make up the theme of this article. Through a qualitative analysis of the respondents' own assessments of the reasons for negative attitudes toward Muslims, this article presents the most common stereotypes of, and prejudices toward, Islam and Muslims in Norwegian society. Although several researchers have pointed to conspiracy myths and terrorism as the core reasons for prejudice against Muslims, this material shows that references to cultural and religious values dominate as the reasons for the prejudice, especially depictions of how Muslims treat women. The ‘Muslim way’ contrasts with a central claim in a national narrative depicting Norway as a liberal, gender-egalitarian and peace-loving society. This article argues that most of the responses not only are prejudicial in the matter of constructing an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’ but that they also constitute examples of racialisation of Muslims. The fact that the data comes from a representative population survey, and not from established arenas for anti-Muslim discourse, provides a unique insight into how Islamophobic and racist ideas about Muslims are disguised behind references to hegemonic values in discussions on gender issues.
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Endnotes
Antisemitism in Norway? Attitudes towards Jews and other minorities in the Norwegian population (HL center 2012, ed. Vibeke Moe). The central theme of the survey was attitudes to Jews. However, surveys from other European countries have shown that a negative view of Jews often coincides with negative attitudes to other groups; the survey therefore included questions about other minorities. The study was the first population study on this subject to be implemented in Norway. A total of 3,160 people received the survey invitation, and 1,522 answered the questionnaire. The results can be considered representative of the Norwegian population in terms of age, gender, education and geographical distribution.
IMDi 2014 Integreringsbarometeret 2014 Holdninger til innvandring, integrering og mangfold .
The understanding of racism as three cognitive processes resembles – and the formulation is inspired by – the description by Taguieff 2008, p. 261.