Religious diversity and the problem of systemic racism in the context of global migration
A case study of Tunisia's treatment of sub-Saharan black Christians
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2024.456Keywords:
black Christians, religious diversity, sub-Saharan Africans, religion, surplus populations, systemic racism, migration, the Tunisian caseAbstract
The article is based on several months of research into the process of racialisation of sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia. The starting point of our research is the speech of Tunisian President Kais Saied in February 2023. In light of the new negotiations with the EU on support for migration management in the Mediterranean, the president emphasised how important it is for Tunisia to be and remain Arab and Muslim. The sub-Saharan migrants who come to Tunisia are black, many of them are also Christians. The Tunisian case of racialisation of migrants is similar to the dynamics of systemic racism in EU. Our thesis is that racialisation is part of a more complex dynamic determined by the capitalist mode of production, which, due to its internal contradictions, simultaneously demands and excludes human labor power. We argue that the permanently excluded represent a surplus population that, because it is not disciplined by capitalist markets, is considered dangerous and thus falls under the jurisdiction of the police. This process of policing surplus populations represents contemporary systemic racism, with »race« being the result of said process and not determined by its biological, religious, ethnic, or cultural characteristics. We support our thesis with a field study. It consists of qualitative interviews with Tunisian experts and three personal narrative interviews with sub-Saharan migrants from Cameroon.
References
Badalič, Vasja. “Tunisia’s Role in the EU External Migration Policy: Crimmigration Law, Illegal Practices, and Their Impact on Human Rights.” Journal of International Migration & Integration 20 (2019): 85–100.
Balibar, Etienne. “Ali obstaja ‘neorasizem’?” Časopis za kritiko znanosti 32, št. 217/218 (2004): 115–125.
Brass, Tom. “Capitalist Unfree Labour.” Critical Sociology 35, št. 6 (2009): 743–765. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920509343059.
Buckel, Sonja, in Jens Wissel. “State Project Europe.” International Political Sociology 4, št. 1 (2010): 33–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-5687.2009.00089.x.
Chen, Chris. “The Limit Point of Capitalist Equality.” Endnotes 3, 2013. https://endnotes.org.uk/articles/the-limit-point-of-capitalist-equality.
Davis, Mike. Planet slumov. Ljubljana: */cf., 2009.
D’Oléon, Alice, in Charlotte Gambert. “Is Tunisia really a country of religious coexistence?” La Croix International, 22. 5. 2023. https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/is-tunisia-really-a-country-of-religious-coexistence/17847.
Endnotes. “Misery and Debt,” Endnotes 2, 2010. https://endnotes.org.uk/articles/misery-and-debt.
Fanon, Franz. Črna koža, bele maske. Ljubljana: Studia Humanitatis, 2016.
Feyerabend, Paul. Proti metodi. Ljubljana: Studia Humanitatis, 1999.
Foucault, Michel. “Družbo je treba braniti.” Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis, 2015.
Gerstenberger, Heide. Market and Violence. Leiden: Brill, 2022.
Goldner, Loren. “Race and Enlightenment I.” Libcom, 11. 1. 2010. https://libcom.org/article/race-and-enlightenment-part-i-anti-semitism-white-supremacy-1492-1676.
Goldner, Loren. “Race and Enlightenment II.” Libcom, 12. 1. 2010. https://libcom.org/article/race-and-enlightenment-part-ii-anglo-french-enlightenment-and-beyond.
Harcourt, Bernard. The Illusion of Free Markets. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
Hartman, Saidya. Scenes of Subjection. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Heinrich, Michael. Kritika politične ekonomije. Ljubljana: Sophia, 2013.
Jalušič, Vlasta. “Rasizem, ideologija in sovraštvo: Poskus razumevanja sodobnega rasizma in EU antirasističnih politik v luči teze o rasizmu brez rase.” Časopis za kritiko znanosti 43, št. 260 (2015): 28-43.
Jurekovič, Igor. “Islamophobia beyond explicit hate speech: analyzing the coverage of muslims in Slovenia’s public broadcasting.” Religions 15, št. 6 (2024): 1–23.
Khalifa, Ben, in Mehdi Mabrouk. “Discours sur l’immigration subsaharienne en Tunisie: le grand malentendu!” Confluences Méditerranée 2023/2 (no 125) : Tunisie : arrêt sur la transition. https://doi.org/10.58079/t9kn.
Mau, Søren. Mute Compulsion. London: Verso, 2023.
Nelson, Bruce. Irish Nationalists and the Making of the Irish Race. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012.
Parikh, Shreya. “Making Tunisia non-African again - Saied’s anti-Black campaign.” Review of African Political Economy, 1. 3. 2023. Dostop 27. 7. 2023. https://roape.net/2023/03/01/making-tunisia-non-african-again-saieds-anti-black-campaign/.
Pew Research Center. “Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2050.” Dostop 15. 7. 2024. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/feature/religious-composition-by-country-2010-2050/.
U.S. Department of State. “2022 Report on International Religious Freedom: Tunisia.” Dostop 15. 7. 2024. https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/tunisia.
Robinson, Cedric. Black Marxism. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2021.
Said, W. Edward. “The Clash of Definitions?” V The New Crusades; Constructing the Muslim Enemy, uredila E. Qureshi in M. A. Sells, 68–88. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
Surplus Club. “Trapped at a Party Where No One Likes You.” SIC 3 (2015). https://www.sicjournal.org/trapped-at-a-party-where-no-one-likes-you/index.html.
Tamas, Gaspar Miklos. Komunizem po letu 1989. Ljubljana: Sophia, 2016.
Tamma, Paola. “Europe’s ‘template’ for migration: Tunisian strongman’s racist clampdown.” Politico, 28. 8. 2023. https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-tunisia-strongman-kais-saied-curb-migration/.
Wacquant, Loic. Zapori revščine. Ljubljana: */cf., 2008.
Wilderson, Frank. “Gramsci’s Black Marx.” Social Identities 9, št. 2 (2003): 225–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350463032000101579.
Zalta, Anja. “Challenges facing Muslims in Europe: From secularization to the idea of ‘Euro-Islam’.” Annales: Anali za istrske in mediteranske študije. Series Historia et Sociologia 28, št. 1 (2018): 41–50. https://doi.org/10.19233/ASHS.2018.04.
Zalta, Anja. “The problem of islamophobia and its consequences as obstacles to peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Annales: Anali za istrske in mediteranske študije. Series Historia et Sociologia 30, št. 3 (2020): 355–66. https://doi.org/10.19233/ASHS.2020.22.
Zorn, Jelka. “Od izjeme do norme.” Časopis za kritiko znanosti 34, št. 226 (2006): 54–73.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Primoz Krasovec, Anja Zalta
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Open Access Policy and Copyright
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors grant the publisher commercial rights to produce hardcopy volumes of the journal for sale to libraries and individuals.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
