In-Between Spaces

The relationship between Europe and the Middle East has been important, yet tumultuous, for more than a thousand years. In both regions, immigrants from religious minorities found their place and yet often stayed connected through historical and/or religious ties to the other region. Several large Christian communities remained in the Middle East after the Islamization of the region. More recently, immigration from Mediterranean countries has brought Islam back into Europe. Muslim communities with diverging regional and ideological backgrounds are increasingly becoming part of the European landscape. The influence of globalization has given way to a shift in the position of minorities in their relationship to the majority culture, in which religion is played out as a key element. We are also currently witnessing a reinterpretation of the minority issue in itself and a repositioning of minority communities within the dominant strand of society. The interaction between global and local contexts has created new dynamics in the minority issue and therefore requires renewed academic analysis. This publication comprises the contributions of scholars and researchers who participated in a conference on the topic organized by the University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp in December 2007 and covers different aspects of the subject matter including the politics of religious diversity, religion and ethnic identity, migration, conversion, virtual communication, European Islam and feminine minority discourse.

The Editors: Christiane Timmerman holds a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology. As head of the Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies (CeMIS), she co-ordinates research on Ethnic Minorities and Migration at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. She is also Director of Academic Affairs at the University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp. She is co-editor of How to Conquer the Barriers to Intercultural Dialogue (P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2005) and Faith-based Radicalism (P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2007). Johan Leman holds a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology. He is Director of the Interculturalism, Migration and Minority Research Centre (IMMRC) in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He is also the President of Foyer, a regional integration centre for minorities in Brussels. Hannelore Roos holds a Master’s degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology and Policy Economics from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. She is a junior member of the academic staff at the Interculturalism, Migration and Minority Research Centre (IMMRC) at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where she is writing a Ph.D. on the Asian Indian diaspora in Europe. Barbara Segaert holds a Master’s degree in Arab Philology and Islamic History from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and a Postgraduate Diploma in the Social Sciences from the Open University in the UK. Since 2002 she has been scientific coordinator at the University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp where she develops academic programmes on interreligious and intercultural topics. She is co-editor of How to Conquer the Barriers to Intercultural Dialogue (P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2005) and Europe and the Historical Legacies of the Balkans (P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2008).