In 2004, a French law went into effect banning girls in state sponsored schools from wearing the hijab, a Muslim head covering. While the law also banned the Jewish kippa and large cross necklaces from being worn in public schools, the hijab took center stage in what became a worldwide media frenzy. The ban of the hijab as well as more recent laws that banned full face veils in all public spaces and a ban on Muslim prayer being performed in the street show a growing divide in the French populace. This thesis argues that these recent laws, as well as the rise in popularity of the far rightwing political party the National Front are evidence that France is moving away from its civic nationalist traditions and adopting a more ethnic based nationalism.

My thesis, then, proposes to examine an often-overlooked field in which tensions relating to immigration also occurs: health care. It aims to better understand how Germany’s health care system, particularly its emergency facilities, have responded to the increasing ethnic and cultural diversity of patients as a result of these demographic shifts, and what still must be done to provide equal and satisfactory health care for all patients.

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This study intends to discuss the problematical relation between Europe and Muslim immigrants in the light of the issues of secularism, religion and racism. Over the three decades, there has been a large body of literature in both theoretical and empirical fields about the peculiar European identity, the implications of secularism for European society and its distance from religion particularly in public sphere. Besides, 1980 onwards, the focus of the theories of racism shifted from biological explanations to culturally designated accounts. European manner of production of knowledge about race has started to concentrate on the incompatible cultural character of Muslim immigrants. Simultaneously, multicultural discourse has been put forward as an evidence for anti-racist and tolerant approach towards these guest citizens. By taking into consideration these theoretical analyses about Europe, the main goal of this study is to point out how specific discursive sphere is produced-reproduced and the representations of Muslim immigrants are shaped by certain Eurocentric definitions and recurrent notions. This attempt contains two interrelated theoretical layers. On the one hand, it is aimed to uncover the stereotyped and racist representations of Muslim immigrants in both public and political discussions. On the other hand, the inherent contradictions of Europe as both sovereign political subjectivity and hegemonic discursive sphere are highlighted.

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This study explores some major themes in relation to marriage among contemporary Western Muslims. These themes include gendered ideals and expectations of the potential spouse, generational differences, inter-religious marriages for Muslim women, and individual choice and parental authority in mate selection. It re-evaluates the Islamic notion of marital compatibility (kafa’a) and shows how this notion is understood and can be applied to contemporary Western Muslims. Due to little academic research on the problem particularly of unavailable spouses, the study relies primarily on blogs, online discussions of marriage among Muslims, and internet articles on Western Muslim marriages. The dilemma faced by Western Muslims, particularly females, is that there is a lack of compatible available husbands for them. The study finds that, according to marriage-minded women, this unavailability is largely due to traditional expectations of gender roles from potential husbands contrasted against the women’s unconventionally older ages, focus on education and career, and overall understanding of power dynamics in marriage. The study also explores changing methods of mate selection among Western Muslims, which include services offered by Islamic centers, Internet matchmaking, and marriage events—where the average male participant is younger than the average female participant. As the age of marriage-minded females increases, their individual choice is more recognized in their marriage while their options of suitable men decreases significantly. Many of them therefore turn to interfaith marriages, which are not recognized by Islamic law, although some religious authorities across the West them on the basis of necessity. Western Muslim women are in a unique but complicated space where they are struggling to maintain their personal ideals of education and careers and are seeking partners who share these ideals; yet, with the tension between men’s expectations of women and women’s of men during courtship, and the role of family in mate selection, the problem of marriage becomes more complex with the various axes contributing to it. / text

現今科技的進步和全球化，人們能更容易且迅速地遷移到不同的地方。移民遷移國外不難，但要適應居住國不同的文化、種族、宗教、歷史背景和社會融合就因人而異。身分認同是社會融合中重要的因素，而社會融合的困難與挑戰則可以從歐洲公民的態度、穆斯林移民的自我身分認同、對於移民的觀感和刻板印象中觀察出。 論文藉由和西班牙穆斯林移民的實地訪談，試圖了解這些移民在社會融合的過程以及挑戰。許多學者認為穆斯林移民在社會的代表性較差，以及其認同常常遭受許多歧視和誤解。其他學者並不認為西班牙移民威脅到國家認同，因為移民在社會中缺乏能見度。 然而，近年來歐洲經濟危機和恐怖攻擊事件導致當地公民對於穆斯林移民的態度有所改變。當穆斯林移民面臨在異鄉的適應和社會融合的困難中，他們或許會選擇從當地社會中分離並組成自我的社會群體，或選擇融入當地社會而失去自己的身分認同。如果穆斯林移民能夠被當地社群和政府接受，或許會更容易融入社會。 關鍵字: 身分認同、社會融合、建構主義、穆斯林移民、社會觀感。 / It is easier and faster for people to move to different places nowadays with the advanced development of technology and globalization. Although it is easy to move to foreign countries, it is difficult for immigrants to adapt and integrate into a society with distinct cultures, ethnicities, religious and historical background. Identity can be seen as an important factor during the process of integration. From the attitudes of European citizens, self-identification of Muslim immigrants, perceptions and stereotypes imposed toward the immigrants, the difficulties and challenges of integration into the society can easily be observed. The researcher propose to conduct interviews with Muslim immigrants living in Spain to see their perspectives of the process of integration and the challenges they faced. Many scholars believed that the Muslim immigrants were not represented in the society and often face many discriminations and misunderstandings due to their identity. For other scholars, immigration in Spain is not perceived to be a threat to national identity because of the lack of visibility of immigrants. However, with recent event of terrorist attacks and the economic crisis, the attitudes of local citizens are becoming less tolerant toward Muslim immigrants. When Muslim immigrants face difficulties of adaptation and integration into the foreign society, they would become segregated and form their own social group; or they would assimilate into the foreign country and lose their identity. If Muslim immigrants are accepted and welcomed by local communities and the government, they would be able to create a new identity and integrate into the society better. Key words: Identity, integration, constructivism, Muslim immigrants, perception

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