‘Is it a mosque?’ The Islamization of space explored through residents’ everyday ‘discursive assemblages’

ABSTRACT

This article examines the Islamization of suburban space in southeast England. Its microgeographies of racialization challenge binary either/or logic, favoured by ‘mosque conflict’ approaches and instead demonstrate how residents’ negotiations are channelled through everyday both/and logic rooted in multiplicity and indeterminacy. A key element in negotiations is the ‘sometimes quality’ of the ‘Islamic Centre’ that allows it to be both a ‘mosque’ and ‘not-a-mosque’. Moreover, each of the differently positioned residents shows uneven discursive capacities for identity, belonging and community in relation to the Islamization of suburban space, and each is afforded differential empowerment and capabilities under social discourses of ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘tolerance’. In examining these microgeographies of racialization, this paper also extends representational accounts of lived experiences surrounding the Islamization of space by attending to affect, emotion and materiality. To do so, the notion of ‘discursive assemblage’ is developed.

KEYWORDS:

• Islamization of space
• everyday mosque politics
• discursive assemblage
• multiplicity and indeterminacy
• everyday visibilities

Acknowledgements

I am very thankful to all the participants who shared their experiences with me. I would also like to thank Katie Walsh and Ben Rogaly, as well as both reviewers and Claire Alexander, for their productive insights on earlier versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This Masjid (‘mosque’) is not a ‘purpose-built mosque’ possessing visible signs such as a dome and/or minarets (Allievi 2009). Its signifiers are limited to its plaque.