Where Are You Really From? Understanding Misrecognition From the Experiences of French and Dutch Muslim Women Students

Authors

  • Caroline da Silva
    Psychologie : Interactions, Temps, Émotions, Cognition (PSITEC), Université de Lille, Lille, France; Laboratoire Parisien de Psychologie Sociale, Université Paris Nanterre, Nanterre, France
  • Judith de Jong
    Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Allard R. Feddes
    Department of Social Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Bertjan Doosje
    Department of Social Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Andreea Gruev-Vintila
    Laboratoire Parisien de Psychologie Sociale, Université Paris Nanterre, Nanterre, France

Abstract

We investigate experiences of misrecognition through comparative focus groups with headscarf-wearing Muslim women students in France (N = 46) and in the Netherlands (N = 32). In both countries, women reported experiencing misrecognition across four interrelated dimensions: (1) totalising misrecognition, having their Muslim identity highlighted at the expense of other group affiliations; (2) membership misrecognition, having their national belonging denied; (3) content misrecognition, having negative characteristics associated with their religious identity, and (4) invisibility, having their voices unheard in society and/or their identities excluded from (public) professions. Participants conceptualised misrecognition as a product of deficient intergroup (Muslims vs. non-Muslims) contact and as being worse in France. French women felt relatively more invisible in the public sphere than their Dutch counterparts and perceived politicians across the political spectrum as an important source of misrecognition. These findings suggest that misrecognition is present in Europe, and potentially worse in France, raising the question about what measures might be taken to counter this form of group-based exclusion.