The Construction of Minority Identities in France and Britain

France and Britain are traditionally perceived as having divergent attitudes to the issue of minority identities. In France the idea that a person can be both a French citizen and have an ethnic or religious identity is unacceptable, while in Britain community cohesion promotes the combining of race or faith with the idea of being British. This volume examines the problems posed by these assumptions and the realities that are forcing them to be revisited.

GINO G. RAYMOND is Reader in French Studies and TARIQ MODOOD, O.B.E. is Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy, both at the University of Bristol.

Introduction–G.Raymond * PART ONE: APPROACHES TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF MINORITY IDENTITIES * Secularism and the Accommodation of Muslims–T.Modood & R.Kastoryano * The construction of what?–M.Wieviorka * Debating cultural difference in France–C.Wihtol de Wenden * Headscarves, beards and politics–M.Silverman * PART TWO: EXPERIENCING THE CONSTRUCTION OF MINORITY IDENTITIES * Shifting Socio-Cultural Identities: Young People of North African Origin in France–N.Kiwan * Converging at Last? France, Britain and their Minorities–V.Latour * Veiled Interventions in Pure Space: Honour, Shame and Embodied Struggles Among Muslims in Britain and France–P.Werbner * The Construction of Identity, Integration and Participation of Caribbeans in British Society–H.Goulbourne