This panel is about political and social participation of Muslim minorities in European liberal democracies and social life. We will discuss mainly the issues that involve gender relations, Muslim women's political and social participation and varieties of masculinities in Germany and the Netherlands. The discussion will be interdisciplinary, drawing on theoretical debates of sociology, political science, anthropology and law. We will focus on three main topics and related questions:
1) Muslim minority's agency in political participation and state intervention: How do Muslim women and men react and defend the issues on gender relations?
2) The interaction between majority society-immigrant and minority communities: What are the social implications of legal processes that concern Muslim communities? In turn, how do Muslim communities react to the legal decisions and social policies that affect Muslim lives?
3) The role of gender in political participation and minority accommodation: How do social policies regarding the cultural rights of Muslims either challenge or reinforce gender identities?
Our explorations of these questions highlight changing political, social and legal discourses around religion, ethnicity and gender in the Netherlands and Germany.
