Queer but Muslim Feminist Study of the Homonationalist Discourses on Queer Migration in Belgium Found in Digital News Media
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Queer but Muslim Feminist Study of the Homonationalist Discourses on Queer Migration in Belgium Found in Digital News Media Gaya Mannaerts Promotor: Dr. Ladan Rahbari Masterproef voorgelegd tot het behalen van de graad van Master in Gender en Diversiteit Academiejaar: 2019-2020 Klassieke Masterproef, woordaantal: 21454 Deze masterproef is een examendocument dat niet werd gecorrigeerd voor eventueel vastgestelde fouten. In publicaties mag naar dit werk worden gerefereerd, mits schriftelijke toelating van de promotor(en) die met naam op de titelpagina is vermeld. ii Abstract Gaya Mannaerts, Master Gender and Diversity, Universiteit Gent Abstract of Master’s Thesis, Submitted 12 August 2020: Queer but Muslim: Feminist Study of the Homonationalist Discourses on Queer Migration in Belgium Found in Digital News Media This thesis looks into the homonationalist discourse surrounding queer Muslim migrants in Belgian digital news media. It uses the War on Terror and queer studies as a conceptual background in order to execute a data analysis on three articles found on digital news media platforms. This thesis argues that the concept of homonationalism is used by right-wing parties to gain control and power, and that the West demands a disavowal of ‘Muslimness’ in order to be considered fully integrated. KEY WORDS: homonationalism, queer migration, discourse analysis, queer studies, secularism, War on Terror, migration Deze thesis onderzoekt het homonationalistische discours rond queer moslimmigranten in Belgische digitale nieuwsmedia. Het gebruikt de War on Terror en queer studies als een conceptuele achtergrond om een discourse analyse uit te voeren op drie artikelen op digitale nieuwsmediaplatforms. Deze thesis stelt dat het concept van homonationalisme door rechtse partijen wordt gebruikt om controle en macht te krijgen, en dat het Westen een afwijzing van ‘moslim-zijn’ eist om als volledig geïntegreerd te worden beschouwd. SLEUTELWOORDEN: homonationalisme, queer-migratie, discoursanalyse, queer- studies, secularisme, War on Terror, migratie iii Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my parents for supporting me throughout my studies. They have always been my biggest fans, believing in me even when I didn’t. Thank you, I love you! Secondly, I’d like to thank my friends, for letting me yell at them at every hour of the day, when this thesis became too much and I couldn’t even think about writing another page. Britt and Shauni, thank you for sticking by me, even while you were struggling through your own university career. Evelien and Lien, thank you for your patience, now I can finally go roller skating with you guys! Isi, you are the absolute best, and I adore you so much. Thank you for your kind words, your support, and everything else. I love you all. Lastly, but certainly not in the least, I would like to thank Dr. Rahbari. Without you, this would have never been what it is now. Thank you for always replying with kindness and words of encouragement, for understanding when it was hard but also for making me want to push myself. I hope this has become something that can make you proud to have been a part of. iv Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................. iv 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Conceptual and Research Background ................................................................................................................ 5 2.1. Conceptual background ‘War on Terror’ ............................................................................................... 6 2.1.1. The Hegemonic Rhetoric Used by World Leaders and Media After the Events of 9/11 ............... 6 2.1.2. Law and Policy Changes in the European Union After the Events of 9/11 ................................... 8 2.1.3. The State’s Heightened Power and Surveillance Backed by ‘the Threat of Terror’ .................... 10 2.2. Conceptual Background: the Hegemonic Discourses Surrounding (Queer) Muslim Migrants in the Liberal West ...................................................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.1. The Neo-Liberal Concept of ‘Coming Out’ .................................................................................. 12 2.2.2. Legal and Social Obstacles Specific to Queer Migrants in the Liberal West ............................... 13 2.2.3. The Reproducement of Heteronormativity in Border and Population Control .......................... 14 2.2.4. The Perceived Homophobia Within the Muslim Community and Its Link to Colonialism .......... 15 2.2.5. The Secular West’s Inability to See Agency Within Religion, Shaping the Way Muslims, Religion and Queerness are Viewed as Separate Entities .......................................................................................... 17 3. Methods ....................................................................................................................................................... 21 4. Data Analysis: Belgium ................................................................................................................................. 23 4.1. Homonationalist Discourses on Queer Migration ............................................................................... 24 4.1.1. Homonationalist Discourses of Islam’s Homo- and Queerphobia in Digital News Media Used to Justify Racist Integration and Migration Policies .......................................................................................... 25 4.1.2. Heteronormative Discourses in Digital News Media Surrounding the Racialized and Inquisitive Migration and Asylum Approach .................................................................................................................. 41 5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 48 6. Bibliography.................................................................................................................................................. 51 7. Appendix ...................................................................................................................................................... 56 v 1. Introduction [If we wanted to be heard] we were only allowed to speak in the role of victim, or the exotic - Sam Mouissat (Merhaba) This thesis was written during the COVID-19 crisis that broke out around the world and made Belgium go into lockdown in March of 2020. Because of the lockdown, and the subsequent closing of all – educational – facilities, this thesis ran into a couple of limitations and added difficulties. To work around these issues, it was decided to slightly adapt the methods used in this thesis and to focus on digital news media. This allowed for a research executed fully from home with online or earlier acquired source material. While studies on Muslim identities in connection to other social factors are gaining attention, the intersection of queer and Muslim is one that is often overlooked. Most scholarship, policymaking, activism, service provision and cultural work remain centred around the idea of the heterosexual migrant and the queer citizen. As Jasbir K. Puar states, religion has become one side of irreconcilable binary between queer and the hegemonic idea of heterosexuality (Terrorist Assemblage, 2007). In other words – at least in the minds of many – you are either queer or Muslim. This rhetoric not only puts queer Muslims in an – almost – non-existent position, but it also assumes Arabs, people from the Middle East and Muslims to be monolith, a group with no individual morals. This perceived binary of Muslim versus queer has become even more prevalent in the aftermath of the 11th of September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. The liberal discourse held after these events made for a recurring process of the construction of the Other. It became a discourse of the West versus the Middle Eastern Other, “us versus them”. The War on Terror that followed took on many forms. Not only did it change state policies and media representations surrounding that racialized Other, but it also changed the local and lived experience of the civilians both in the West and the Middle East. The racialized Other became an enemy to be feared and dealt with, a threat not only to ‘our’ Western morals, culture and/or religion, but also a security threat. As Naber says: “going to war ‘over there’ and enacting racism and immigrant exclusion ‘over here’ [became] essential components to the project of protecting national security” (The Rules of Forced Engagement, 2006). It is interesting that the invasion of these so-called terrorist countries, strengthened 1 heteronormativity, both in the country of invasion, as in the West, as they both looked for ‘unity’. In one research, civilians of the invaded country pointed out that the war made patriarchy within political movements and families more apparent, for example by having women work for the war efforts, but exclude them from making actual policy changes