Louise Rognlien will present the main findings of her PhD-project, connected to the symbolic and analytical value of the figuration muslima, in contemporary Scandinavia. She investigates the intersection of gender and religion (where she focuses on the racialization of Islam) in a context characterized by a strong welfare state, gender equality, “colorblindness”, homogeneity and kindness (the Nordic exceptionalism). Muslima refers to the material imagery of the Muslim Woman, situated in the present, but made functional through a latent (Orientalist) historical repertoire, where the intersection of gender and racialization is at the core. The concept of muslima has a double function in her work, both as that what appears in the Scandinavian debates (empirical findings), but also as an analytical tool. A tool to further analyze how the rhetoric of gender equality is applied and/or appropriated in integration policies, and to see how gender and religion/racialization work together in the Scandinavian public. Through looking at integration policies, the veil as a symbolic and political boundary, and how Muslim women themselves appropriate and activate the figuration, she analyzes the relational complexity of gender and religion/racialization, in the Scandinavian context.

In addition to the presentation, there will as usual be introductions, news, and networking.