Ralph Grillo

An excess of alterity? Debating difference in a multicultural society

Abstract Debates about the incompatibility of different ways of living are occurring in the UK as in most multicultural societies. These debates, which include diverse voices among both majority and minority ethnic populations, may be observed in public policies, the speeches of politicians and religious leaders, printed media, radio, television, the Internet, in novels, plays and films, and ethnographically in everyday conversations. One point of view, now widely expressed in Europe, is that multicultural countries have become ‘too diverse’, and the presence of communities adhering to values at odds with those of ‘Western’ secular society threaten cohesion. Focusing on the UK, the article examines what has been called a ‘cultural-diversity skeptical turn’ or ‘backlash against difference’, emphasizes the ‘fuzziness’ of the concepts involved, and proposes that the backlash should be understood inter alia in terms of the problems of the governability of what are, in a neo-liberal, transnationalized ecumene, increasingly fragmented societies.

Transnational Households and Ritual: An Overview

In this article we introduce five papers, all by social anthropologists, all concerned with transnational households and ritual. Despite wide–ranging research on transnational migration and diasporas, many aspects have been accorded less consideration than they deserve. The transnational practices of migrant families, other than remittances and other economic activity, remain under–investigated. Some thought has been given to the transnational dimension of religious belief systems, notably Islam, but the micro–politics of religion has been largely ignored, and there has been little discussion of transnational religious practices (rituals) at the level of households and families, especially those performed by migrants back in their countries of origin. Household–level analyses of the performances of and meanings attributed to life–crisis rituals and consideration of what Salih has called the ‘transnational division of ritual space’ offer a valuable route to understanding relations between place, culture, ethnicity and gender among migrants in a transnational world, and illuminate contemporary processes of globalization.

Islam and Transnationalism

This paper forms the introduction to a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies on ‘Islam, Transnationalism, and the Public Sphere in Western Europe’. Taking as its starting point the seminal volume edited by Gerholm and Lithman—The New Islamic Presence in Western Europe (1988)—the paper reviews continuities and changes in European Muslim communities and their relationship with others. Drawing extensively on case studies based on anthropological research in four European countries (Britain, France, Germany and Italy), the paper first examines the problematic character of the category ‘Muslim’, and identifies ways in which Islam in a European context can be considered transnational. It then explores how the question of living as a Muslim in Europe is being addressed in the context of transnationalism, considers whether there is an emergent ‘European Islam’ or ‘European Muslim’ identity, and ends with consideration of the problems and prospects for Islam in European public spheres.

Africa Europe: A double engagement

This introduction to the special issue entitled ‘Africa<>Europe: Transnational Linkages, Multi-Sited Lives’ outlines the history of the African migrant presence in Europe, gives an account of the contexts which shape contemporary migration, and surveys the approaches to international migration from Africa which have influenced researchers since the 1960s. Linking the contributions to the special issue is the theme of migrants’ transnational ‘double engagement’ with both Africa and Europe. The paper examines this theme across three domains of the lived experience of African migrants and refugees in Europe: ‘Livelihoods’, ‘Families’, and ‘Identities’. We conclude with an assessment of what can be learned (theoretically and methodologically) from the study of African transmigration, and suggest future lines of research.

'Saltdean can't Cope': Protests against asylum-seekers in an English seaside suburb

During 2002–3, the British Government, responding to popular moral panic about asylum-seekers, sought drastically to reduce the numbers trying to enter the country. Long-term policy aimed to process all asylum applications overseas, but meantime this had to be undertaken in dispersed “induction centres” in Britain itself. Proposals to create such centres invariably met with opposition from local residents. The article documents one such protest, in a suburb along the South Coast of England, demonstrates the “localist” and “cosmopolitan” discourses employed by anti- and pro-asylum-seeker groups, and considers the extent to which the former overlapped with that of the extreme right British National Party. By examining how those opposed to the centre framed their opposition and how they sought to distance themselves from charges of racism, the study explores the significance of such protests for our understanding of xenophobia in contemporary middle-class Britain and asks how their denials of racism might be interpreted.

Regulation of Speech in Multicultural Societies: Introduction

What to do about speech which vilifies or defames members of minorities on the grounds of their ethnic or religious identity or their sexuality? How to respond to such speech, which may directly or indirectly cause harm, while taking into account the principle of free speech, has been much debated in contemporary Europe, not least with respect to speech about, or by, Muslims. This introduction to the Special Issue on the ‘Regulation of Speech in Multicultural Societies’ argues that a sociopolitical approach, and sensitivity to power configurations, is necessary to complement the legal-normative perspective which predominates the ‘hate speech’ literature. Such an approach takes into account the national and international sociopolitical contexts which interactively shape and are shaped by debates about hate speech and its regulation. The politics and politicisation of speech and its regulation (both within and aside from state law) may thus offer a way of understanding specific forms of contestation and provide a framework for comparative analysis.

Licence to Offend? The Behzti Affair

Parekh and Touraine have stressed the importance of intercultural dialogue in the construction of multicultural societies. When, in 2004, the Repertory Theatre in Birmingham, UK, produced Behzti (‘Dishonour’ in Punjabi), by a British-born Sikh playwright, local Sikhs entered into a dialogue with the theatre management and tried unsuccessfully to change aspects of the play they believed offensive to their faith. A demonstration outside the theatre turned violent and the production was halted, with an international outcry against this affront to artistic licence. Although frequently represented as a Manichaean conflict between proponents of free speech and those who sought to protect religious sensibilities, the affair may not have been about, or not mainly about, the clash between religious and secular values at all. It was much more complex, with a diversity of voices and arguments that slithered between principles of liberal and religious faith, culture, gender, and ‘race’.

Comment on the Report of the Siddiqui Review Panel, 2018

Controversies over the possible application of Islamic law and practice (Shari’a) in the UK have been gathering pace since the mid-2000s. In 2016 two official inquiries were set in train, one of which, chaired by Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, Edinburgh University, reported in February 2018. The Siddiqui Panel focused on two principal issues: the civil registration of Islamic marriages ( nikah ), and the role of Shari’a councils in the issuing of a religious (not civil) divorce. The paper sets out the background to the Shari’a debate in the UK, reviews the Panel’s recommendations on the two issues, and assesses their implications.

Africa in Europe: Studies in Transnational Practice in the Long Twentieth Century

abroad. Despite this, we still know very little about three central issues: why states grant voting rights to citizens abroad; what role emigrants play in this; and how external voting affects home and host societies. Lafleur’s work aims to answer these questions. Based on the results of an extensive literature review and primary research of three case studies – Mexico, Bolivia and Italy – the book combines theoretical insights with empirical results in a stimulating and readable manner. The first two chapters explore the meaning of key concepts such as external citizenship and the external vote, and offer an account of how external voting rights have developed throughout the world. Here, the author links several strands of the literature, including work on migrant transnational political practices and on home-state policies towards citizens abroad, picking up those issues that have not as yet been studied in detail. These chapters also present a historical account of the development of external citizenship rights and practices, and an analysis of legal, normative and sociopolitical approaches to the phenomenon of external voting. After this contextualisation, the author goes on to discuss, first, why states decide to enfranchise their citizens abroad. Based on an analysis of the Mexican case, he focuses mainly on the relevance of political changes in the home country (e.g. democratic transitions) and the role played by home political parties and emigrant associations. One of the most important questions to consider here is how political parties believe that external voting is going to affect their electoral results. These issues are further explored in Chapter 4, this time based on the Italian case, where the relevance of the specific features of the external voting system adopted by each country is also stressed. The rules and processes governing external voting have a key impact on voter turnout abroad and the significance of external voting, as Chapter 5 discusses in depth. In the final two chapters, Lafleur looks at the voting behaviour of migrants abroad and the role of migrant elites in the formation of political opinions in the diaspora, this time comparing the data collected in the Bolivian and Italian studies. In addition, the impact of the external vote both in home and host societies is analysed in the final chapter. The book finishes with some conclusions and an appendix on the methodology used. Lafleur’s contribution to the study of migrant political participation in home countries, and of the emergence and consolidation of external citizenship rights and external voting practices more specifically, is very broad and valuable. Despite the fact that external voting legislation and procedures have been adopted by a growing number of countries, especially in the last decade, there is still both a lack of detailed knowledge and a great deal of controversy surrounding this phenomenon. As such, this volume not only represents a worthwhile academic contribution, but also offers a wealth of rigorous information for policy-makers and citizens interested in understanding how external voting works. Although the author recognises the many difficulties still affecting the practice of the external vote, he concludes by affirming that external voting creates opportunities for improved dialogue and cooperation between diasporas, home countries and receiving societies. Thus, this is a book that will appeal to a wide readership, including not only researchers of transnational migrant political practices, but also migration experts and political scientists in general, as well as the non-academic public.

Review by Grillo

workplace identities of British migrants in other global cities. It is a little disappointing that, in spite of its focus, actual workplaces rarely feature in the text of Working Whiteness. While the text makes up for any such weakness through its original contribution to debates on whiteness, work and migration, the specificities of the Hong Kong context are also conveyed somewhat obliquely and the city features in a relatively abstract manner. In contrast, the highlight of Knowles and Harper’s Hong Kong, as the title suggests, is their close attention to the city. They lead us through distinctive neighbourhoods of the city; from the desirable residential neighbourhood of ‘The Peak’ to the night-time excursions of the Wanchai district, from a shopping trip to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone to ‘poolside’ at the United Services Recreation Club, we follow participants in their routine cartographies through which Britishness is enacted. As almost archetypal expatriate figures, Knowles and Harper’s participants are often instantly recognisable to anyone who has spent time in such a society, yet it is the subtlety of the careful and evocative descriptions resulting from Knowles’ close observation that brings them to life. The ‘classic’ expatriate family is in evidence, their household division of labour distinctly gendered, such that ‘corporate wives’ remain figures of ambivalent critique as they lunch at the club, hike and shop together. The racialisation of identities is exposed more straightforwardly through other characters: Hamish, for example, is a ‘Wanchai Warrior’, with a starring role in a chapter called ‘Boys night out’ which depicts the typical encounters between (some) British men and migrant sex workers from the Philippines and Thailand. Shadowing her participants around Hong Kong, Knowles portrays the richness of the rhythms of British migrants’ lives, but I felt that the perspectives and experiences of migrants of other nationalities were relatively marginalised, in spite of the promise of the introductory chapters. Harper’s photographs, too, while sometimes highly evocative of the processes being discussed, are seemingly randomly placed within the text and for the most part left unexamined. All these books make an original contribution to emerging debates on British migration. Further critical engagement with the diversity of ‘Britishness’ would have been useful across all three in order to enable readers to think through how other national identifications, ethnicities and racialised identities play out in relation to the constitution of Britishness in migration contexts. The additional diasporic identifications of those with Scottish, British-Indian or Afro-Caribbean heritage, for example, could usefully have been explored. Nevertheless, together these texts seem to mark the emerging acceptability of talking about British mobilities and settlement as though they actually matter, and show just how much they do: Global Brits demonstrates the huge scale and geographical extent of contemporary British emigration, while the monographs each contribute to our understanding of Britishness in the postcolonial city. As such, I hope that they will reach a wide audience of scholars interested in contemporary processes and practices of international migration.