MOBILIZING AGAINST MOSQUES: THE ORIGINS OF OPPOSITION TO ISLAMIC CENTERS OF WORSHIP IN SPAIN by Avraham Y. Astor A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) in the University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor Howard Kimeldorf, Co-Chair Professor Margaret Somers, Co-Chair Associate Professor Andrew Shryock Associate Professor Geneviève Zubrzycki © Avi Astor 2011 In memory of my dear friend and mentor, Harold Juli. ii Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been possible without the support that I received both in Spain and in Michigan. I am appreciative of the time that those whom I interviewed in Spain took to share their stories and opinions with me. As a foreigner, I was initially quite timid and anxious to engage with people about a topic that aroused so much controversy and emotion. However, nearly everyone that I interviewed conveyed a sense of appreciation for my interest in their lives, and provided thoughtful and forthright answers to my questions. I give special thanks to Angel Vendrell, Jordi Merino, and Myriam Boiza for taking me through their neighborhoods and assisting me with my recruitment of respondents. I am also grateful to Ricard Zapata Barrero and the Interdisciplinary Research Group in Immigration (GRITIM) at Pompeu Fabra University for providing me with needed resources and opportunities for critical feedback during the course of my fieldwork. Although it is impossible to acknowledge all of those who assisted me while in Spain, I wish to mention several scholars whose input was particularly useful for my work: Jordi Moreras, Mikel Aramburu, Teresa Losada, Joan Estruch, Bernabé López García, Alex Seglers, Enrique Santamaría Lorenzo, Elena Arigita, María del Mar Griera Llonch, Juli Ponce Solé, and Javier Rosón. I also give great thanks to Gemma Pinedo de Pedro for being a wonderful roommate and putting up with my idiosyncrasies while I lived in Barcelona. iii I am deeply indebted to my professors at Michigan for the guidance and support that they provided throughout the course of this project. The co-chairs of my committee, Peggy Somers and Howard Kimeldorf, warrant special mention for the instrumental role that they played in helping me to frame and write my dissertation. Peggy‟s rich knowledge of social theory and sensitivity to issues of culture and narrative were very influential in shaping the theoretical framing of my study. And Howard‟s critical, yet constructive feedback was essential for pushing me forward at each stage of the writing process. I am also grateful to Genevieve Zubrzycki and Andrew Shryock for their helpful input on prior drafts of dissertation chapters and their general advice as I carried out my research. I would additionally like to acknowledge the generous funding and support I have received during graduate school from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius ZEIT-Stiftung, and the University of Michigan‟s Department of Sociology, Rackham Graduate School, European Union Center, and Program in Comparative Literature, without which this project would not have been possible. The fellowships and grants that I received from these institutions and departments made it possible for me to spend over two years conducting fieldwork in Spain. They also gave me the opportunity to participate in workshops, seminars, and conferences through which I received valuable feedback and contacts. And last, but certainly not least, I am deeply grateful for the support I received from my friends and family. I developed a lot, both personally and intellectually, from my conversations and relationships with my fellow graduate students at Michigan: Kim iv Greenwell, David Hutson, Alex Gerber, Eric Eide, Katherine Luke, Mariana Craciun, Camilo Leslie, Dave Dobbie, Baris Büyükokutan, Chris Roberts, Chris Gauthier, Sadia Saeed, Atef Said, Ursula Lawrence, Marco Garrido, and David Flores. I also give warm and special thanks to my parents, Carl and Sharon, my sister, Sara, and my brother, Donny, for their unconditional love and encouragement. v Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iii List of maps........................................................................................................................ ix List of tables ........................................................................................................................ x List of figures ..................................................................................................................... xi List of images .................................................................................................................... xii List of appendices ............................................................................................................ xiv Chapter I. Introduction: Toward a meaningful approach to analyzing opposition to mosques........ 1 Islam in Spain ......................................................................................................... 6 Opposition to mosques in Spain ........................................................................... 10 The presence of mosques in Spain ........................................................................ 16 Theories of intergroup conflict ............................................................................. 20 Meaning-making and mosque opposition ............................................................. 30 Memory, community, and symbolic boundaries ................................................... 33 Urban space, social privilege, and neighborhood defense .................................... 37 Research design and methods ............................................................................... 38 Summary of chapters ............................................................................................ 45 vi II. Historical and contemporary constructions of Otherness in Catalonia and Madrid .... 48 Islam‟s contemporary presence in Catalonia and Madrid ..................................... 50 The historical construction of North Africans as Other in the Spanish collective imaginary .............................................................................................. 54 Differences in the presence and perception of Moroccans across Spain .............. 60 The production of iconic Otherness in Catalonia and Madrid .............................. 68 The transposability of ethnic and religious categories in Catalonia ..................... 77 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 81 III. Urban privilege and neighborhood defense: Space, status, and opposition to mosques ...................................................................................................................... 84 Opposition to mosques in Catalonia: A brief timeline of events .......................... 90 Migration and urbanization in Barcelona ............................................................. 93 Ethnic concentration and territorial stigmatization ............................................... 96 Perceptions of ethnicization and ghettoization in diversifying neighborhoods .. 100 Struggles over social justice and public recognition ........................................... 105 Urban privilege and neighborhood defense ........................................................ 109 A point of comparison: The case of Madrid ....................................................... 123 Dispersed diversity and the reception of mosques in Madrid ............................. 132 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 141 IV. Memory, community, and opposition to mosques: The case of Badalona ............... 144 The site ................................................................................................................ 146 Opposition to mosques in Badalona ................................................................... 149 Memory, community, and boundary-making ..................................................... 153 Transformations of space, social insecurity, and the loss of place ..................... 159 vii Mosques as symbols and agents of urban change ............................................... 162 Public recognition and the politics of opposition to mosques ............................ 168 Alternative narrations of diversity and difference .............................................. 174 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 179 V. Conclusion: Unpacking the context of conflict .......................................................... 181 Constructions of North Africans and Muslims as Other in historical and contemporary perspective ................................................................................... 182 Place, ethnicity, and status .................................................................................. 184 Memory work and boundary production ............................................................ 188 “We are Catalan Muslims!”: Carving a