“Not Losing Faith in the Imamate”: How Volunteer Imams in France Maintain Their “Vocation.”,...

22
"NOT LOSING FAITH IN THE IMAMATE": HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR "VOCATION." Solenne Jouanneau Presses de Sciences Po | Sociétés contemporaines 2011/4 - No 84 pages 103-125 ISSN 1150-1944 This document is a translation of: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Solenne Jouanneau, « « Ne pas perdre la foi dans l'imamat ». Comment se maintiennent les « vocations » d'imams bénévoles en France », Sociétés contemporaines, 2011/4 No 84, p. 103-125. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Translated from the French by JPD Systems Available online at: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.cairn-int.info/journal-societes-contemporaines-2011-4-page-103.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to cite this article: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Solenne Jouanneau "« Ne pas perdre la foi dans l'imamat ». Comment se maintiennent les « vocations » d'imams bénévoles en France", Sociétés contemporaines, 2011/4 No 84, p. 103-125. DOI : 10.3917/soco.084.0103 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Electronic distribution by Cairn on behalf of Presses de Sciences Po. © Presses de Sciences Po. All rights reserved for all countries. Reproducing this article (including by photocopying) is only authorized in accordance with the general terms and conditions of use for the website, or with the general terms and conditions of the license held by your institution, where applicable. Any other reproduction, in full or in part, or storage in a database, in any form and by any means whatsoever is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of the publisher, except where permitted under French law. 1 / 1 Document downloaded www.cairn-int.info - Université de Strasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130.79.249.1 - 14/10/2014 12h42. © Presses de Sciences Po Document downloaded from www.cairn-int.info - Université de Strasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130.79.249.1 - 14/10/2014 12h42. © Presses de Sciences Po

Transcript of “Not Losing Faith in the Imamate”: How Volunteer Imams in France Maintain Their “Vocation.”,...

NOT LOSING FAITH IN THE IMAMATE HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMSIN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR VOCATION Solenne Jouanneau

Presses de Sciences Po | Socieacuteteacutes contemporaines 20114 - No 84pages 103-125

ISSN 1150-1944

This document is a translation of

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Solenne Jouanneau laquo laquo Ne pas perdre la foi dans limamat raquo Comment se maintiennent les laquo vocations raquo dimams

beacuteneacutevoles en France raquo

Socieacuteteacutes contemporaines 20114 No 84 p 103-125

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Translated from the French by JPD Systems

Available online at

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------httpwwwcairn-intinfojournal-societes-contemporaines-2011-4-page-103htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to cite this article

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Solenne Jouanneau laquo Ne pas perdre la foi dans limamat raquo Comment se maintiennent les laquo vocations raquo dimams

beacuteneacutevoles en France

Socieacuteteacutes contemporaines 20114 No 84 p 103-125 DOI 103917soco0840103

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Electronic distribution by Cairn on behalf of Presses de Sciences Po

copy Presses de Sciences Po All rights reserved for all countries

Reproducing this article (including by photocopying) is only authorized in accordance with the general terms and conditions ofuse for the website or with the general terms and conditions of the license held by your institution where applicable Any otherreproduction in full or in part or storage in a database in any form and by any means whatsoever is strictly prohibited withoutthe prior written consent of the publisher except where permitted under French law

1 1

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Solenne JOUANNEAU

I SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

ldquoNot Losing Faith in the Imamaterdquo How Volunteer Imams in France Maintain Their ldquoVocationrdquo

In France being an imam allows one to exercise a moral authority that gives ac-cess to various symbolic andor financial advantages However those who per-form this role also encounter difficulties deportation threats police surveillance surveillance by the community and more In the case of volunteer imams there are also potential familial and professional complications This observation raises questions as to how involvement in the imamate is maintained and how particular individuals and especially those who volunteer can retain ndash for themselves and for others ndash their faith in the value of being and remaining an imam that is in acting as and defining themselves as imams over the long term After looking at the different categories of life trajectory which lead to this kind of activism and at the possible symbolic rewards attached to it this article attempts to understand how the rewards and disadvantages of such involvement make sense in terms of the socialization and lifestyles of activists

One of the peculiarities of Islamic doctrine is that it defines re-ligious authority as ldquoa divine capacityrdquo God communicates to men ldquonot the essence of his power but his command-

mentsrdquo (Gaborieau Zeghal 2004 6 and 12) In practical terms one consequence of this dogma is that although Islam does have a clergy responsible for the production and reproduction of the benefits of Islamic salvation they are not organized around a single ecclesiasti-cal institution with a monopoly of both legitimate priestly authority and also the training certification and nomination of its cult techni-cians (Weber 1993)

At the present time in countries that define themselves as Muslim this lack of an institutionalized and unified clergy has been counter-balanced to some extent by the recurrent intervention of temporal powers in religious matters through Ministries of Religious Affairs that train select or sometimes pay the salary of imams1 This is not the case in France where under the provisions of the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State the State may not play this role Hence although there has been a decade of discussion about setting up a national body to represent Islam Muslim wor-ship in France was and still is primarily structured through prayer

1 In Algeria and Turkey for example imams today are state employees while in Morocco access to the function of imam is authorized by the National Council of Moroccan Ulemas whose members are nominated directly by the Ministry of Habous (the Moroccanrsquos ministry of Religious Affairs)

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Presses de S

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IISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rooms run by local associations This process of institutionalization which is unequal and varies according by municipality has led to the coexistence of different categories of imams within the country particularly given the diversity of ways in which mosques allocate the license to lead Islamic rituals Consequently in some mosques the designated imams are self-educated with no religious or secular academic qualifications whereas in others they are people whose religious self-education is certified at minimum by their acquisition of substantial educational capital in the secular world Conversely for both the congregation and the leaders of other places of Islamic worship imams must necessarily be ldquoprofessionalsrdquo holders of a degree from one of the institutions charged with imparting the es-sentials of Islamic learning in Muslim countries Moreover although from the beginning of the 1990s the tendency has been towards salaried imams in 2005 more than half of the one thousand imams operating in France were volunteers (55)2 In fact far from be-ing identified as a separate profession (Hughes 1996 108) the role of Muslim cleric is still seen as a specific form of activism which although legitimate should not be a source of income Thus the imamate that has gradually taken shape in French mosques since the early 1970s is heterogeneous on the one hand there is a wide range of life trajectories and social characteristics among those who carry out this role on an everyday basis and on the other hand both salaried and voluntary clerics continue to coexist within this group

These observations which raise questions about the kind of ldquoca-reerrdquo that leads to becoming an imam in France also invite reflec-tion about the motivations behind investing in and maintaining this voluntary role In fact as this article will illustrate being an imam in the French context brings with it a range of inconveniences such as surveillance by the police and the community stigmatization and tensions within the family and at work This kind of involvement particularly when undertaken with no material gain raises the ques-tion of how some individuals manage to maintain their own and other peoplersquos belief in the validity of this religious activism Only by positioning the commitment of these men within the wider context of their life trajectories do we have a way of understanding what it is that motivates them to ldquokeep up their rolerdquo as clerics that is to act as and define themselves as such over time In fact understanding what allows voluntary imams to ldquoplay the gamerdquo by fully accept-ing its challenges even though it is not their actual job involves

2 In 2005 according to the French governmentrsquos Central Bureau of Worship ldquoonly 45 of imams receive a regular salary 22 by the association which manages the place of worship and 12 by the country which sent them ( ) The other imams are volunteers or receive offerings of various kindsrdquo Cf B Godard ldquoLes imams et leur formationrdquo contribution to the Acadeacutemie des Sciences Morales et Politiques 2005

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III SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

three stages The first stage is an analysis of the material conditions in which this religious but non-professional role is exercised with an emphasis on its biographical implications The second stage in-volves examining the range of symbolic rewards it provides to those who take it on The final stage is the attempt to understand the personal significance these volunteers attach to the advantages and disadvantages of the imamate in terms of their social trajectory

PRESENTATION OF THE STUDY

The data presented in this article came from a research project into the pro-cesses whereby imams reinvent and re-appropriate their authority as imams with-in the context of migration in France (Jouanneau 2009a) The project covered a six-year period (DEA and PhD dissertations) and used a range of research meth-ods combining ethnographic and socio-historic approaches The first years of the project consisted of field work in several Muslim prayer rooms in Eastern and Southern France Collecting the accounts of life stories and practices of around thirty imams demonstrated the diversity of the trajectories and careers leading to the imamate in France and how these materially affect the ways in which social-lysituated relationships with the role are developed In addition daily observation over a period of months within the Salam mosque provided a detailed under-standing of various aspects of the role as well as of the interactional framework of religious teaching This mosque is located on the outskirts of a large city in a large and very impoverished housing project3 It was founded in the late 1970s by a group of reform-minded foreign students and is unusual in that it attracts not only local residents of the project but also a number of students and young activists who live elsewhere

The next stage involved analyzing how the imams as ldquoimmigrant clergyrdquo who exercised a certain authority over immigrants and their descendants were gradually established as the object of public policies by French state officials This was done by studying the 1990-1997 archives on Muslim clerics of the Bureau Central des Cultes (the central office dealing with religious groups) as well as ar-chives relating to Islamic affairs in the offices of the Ministers of the Interior Pierre Joxe Jean-Louis Debreacute and Jean-Pierre Chevegravenement This work illustrated the ways in which imams in France were subject to surveillance and supervision by various government agencies from the end of the 1980s Finally various media databases were consulted to produce a statistical analysis of the media coverage of imams in France from the 1990s onwards

BEING A VOLUNTEER IMAM IN FRANCE A COSTLY ACTIVIST COMMITMENT

Although imams in most Muslim countries hold a relatively low-ly position in the religious division of labor in France they are the

3 In 1999 almost 60 of the housing in this area was social housing while less than 35 was privately owned The unemployment rate was 398 (compared to 187 for the city as a whole) and reached almost 50 for those under 24 and for ldquoforeignersrdquo In 2004 the average household income was euro5760 a year compared to euro15873 for the city as a whole See the 1999 INSEE population census and the 2004 DGI census (taxation information)

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IVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

main embodiments of Islamic authority (Fregosi 2004 137) In fact given the absence of other traditional Muslim clergy such as ulemas fuqahas and muftis at local level they constitute the main special-ists in the provision of Islamic religious goods leading the major com-munity rituals articulating religious dogma transmitting orthodox Islamic beliefs and practices to the younger generation and so on This ldquoparticular function and specific status different from that of non-specialistsrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 37) while it allows them a priori to exercise a certain authority over the members of the religious communities they lead may nonetheless prove costly to them personally in the long term

The Experience of State Surveillance

Their status as a potential community leader places them in an often uneasy position in relation to the public authorities In fact imams ndash these ldquomigrant clericsrdquo or ldquomigrants-turned-clericsrdquo ndash do not often have French nationality4 At the beginning of the 1990s certain State agents who had the ldquoprivilege of defining the identi-ties problems and norms of the social worldrdquo (Noiriel 2006 4) began to worry about the negative influence the imams might have on Muslim ldquointegrationrdquo in France Muslims were most often seen as falling into the categories of ldquoforeignersrdquo ldquoimmigrantsrdquo or ldquoyoung people of immigrant originrdquo Following a Ministry of the Interior initiative foreign imams were thereafter subjected to an exceptional procedure when applying for or extending visas and were almost automatically given temporary one-year residence permits as well as subjected to systematic questioning by the local branch of the Central Directorate of General Intelligence (Jouanneau 2009b) Yet since they represented the face of Islam within the local community it was also not uncommon for agents of the Prefecture or police force to see them as a personification of more global concerns raised by the practice of Islam in working-class neighborhoods They were thus the subject of police surveillance operations (the listening and analysis of their sermons regular visits ldquomoralityrdquo inquiries etc) in an attempt to evaluate ldquothe level of threat to public order the pres-ence of these foreigners may representrdquo5

4 According to recent Ministry of the Interior estimates of the breakdown by nationality of Muslim clerics operating in France in 2005 20 of them were French citizens (most of whom most were naturalized foreign-ers) while the majority were foreigners (30 Moroccan 20 Algerian 135 Turkish 5 Tunisian and 5 from Sub-Saharan Africa)

5 Centre drsquoArchives Contemporaines (Centre for Contemporary Archives ndash CAC) v 20030069 art 29 note from a regional Prefect to the Intelligence Director dated 07071995

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V SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However as the archives of the Ministry of the Interior illustrate the information gathered in this way ndash which was not always verified or verifiable since it depended largely on the subjective attitudes of the public servants and those they questioned ndash might in some cas-es culminate in more or less radical procedures of imprisonment deportation or ldquoexclusionrdquo Hence every year a dozen or so imams who were considered rightly or wrongly as likely to ldquoconstitute a danger to the security of the Staterdquo are subjected to deportation from the country6 Such cases usually receive heavy media coverage as in the case of the imam of Venissieux Abdelkader Bouziane who was accused in 2004 of ldquoovertly advocating violence and hatredrdquo7 Yet there are also a number of lesser-known imams who like Ahmed receive an Invitation to Leave the Country (IQT) when they attempt to renew their residence permit An imam in Ile-de-France who was held in high regard by the local council of the community he served thanks to his involvement in the local campaign against drug abuse had his visa renewal application refused in 1992 after being accused ldquoby certain associates of having changed his views after a visit to Algeriardquo during which he might have been ldquoinfluenced by elements in the FISrdquo8 Algeriarsquos Islamist opposition For others it could be a case of symbolic measures to ldquoexcluderdquo them from the national com-munity Thus at the beginning of the 1990s Hussein a volunteer imam and professional researcher was refused French nationality because of a ldquofailure to assimilaterdquo on the grounds that by ldquoactively promoting values foreign to the French community he could not be seen as having assimilated to itrdquo9

The Risk of Stigmatization

But the difficulty of committing to the imamate does not only come from the fact that it is a source of concern to the State It also comes from the risk of stigmatization attached to fulfilling this role The image of the ldquopoorly integratedrdquo or ldquoradicalrdquo imam which is commonly evoked to illustrate the supposed problems of the Islamic faith is not confined solely to the corridors of the Ministry of the Interior This image fits all the easier within ldquocontemporary frame-works of understandingrdquo (Laferte and Avanza 2005 144) in that it

6 Interview with the Head of Islamic Affairs Central Bureau of Worship of the Ministry of the Interior

7 Extract from the expulsion order for A Bouziane by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy in February 2004

8 CAC v 20030069 art 30 note to the General Information Bureau from the Prefect of one of the main Ile-de-France departments dated October 2 1992

9 This decision was overturned by the Nantes Administrative Court in 1994 The French government lodged an appeal with the Council of State which eventually granted Hussein French nationality in 1999

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No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

encourages the plotting and dramatization of Islam as a French pub-lic issue (Gusfield 2008 56) it is also widely disseminated through-out the mass media as exemplified by the following press extracts

Although some imams represent what the Muslim leadership of tomor-row could be they are an exception This body is still largely made up of first-generation immigrants with little education who are sometimes barely able to speak French and are illequipped to help Muslims rediscover an identity that is already battered by exile and to discourage them from lis-tening to the siren song of fundamentalism10

A thirty-eight-year-old Algerian is considered a possible candidate for imam at the great mosque in Creacuteteil However according to General Information this imam regularly preaches sermons tainted with an ldquoideol-ogy that incites discrimination hatred and violence towards the West and the Jewish peoplerdquo The Prefecture indicated that it was particularly ldquovigi-lant about Islamic fundamentalismrdquo11

This journalistic reading of the imamate the logical founda-tions of which deserve to be analyzed at ldquothe intersection of the demands of editors-in-chief ( ) and the sourcesrdquo (Berthaut et al 2009 105) is particularly apparent in the tendency of journalists to ignore the daily role of imam to focus on the ldquoexceptional epi-sodesrdquo in which government forces intervene ldquoto maintain public orderrdquo In fact as shown in the FACTIVA database (which covers the majority of French magazines and local and national newspa-pers since 1995) of the 831 articles published between 1995 and 2008 that had the word ldquoimam(s)rdquo in their title 431 focused on ldquodeported imamsrdquo or those ldquothreatened with deportationrdquo Thus by concentrating on those imams who pose a problem for the State media coverage tends to throw suspicion on all ministers of the Muslim faith

ldquoUnder Surveillancerdquo by Their Congregations Too

Beyond this double process of criminalization and stigmatiza-tion which tends to categorize Muslim clerics as foreigners who come to threaten public order (Rea et al 2001) the potential cost of commitment to the imamate also lies in the fact that this kind of religious activism places those who invest in it at the center of a network of socially constraining expectations In fact although imams in France bear an authority that is not generally granted to their colleagues in ldquoMuslimrdquo countries in France their religious

10 ldquoGreater Vigilance by Imams The Faithful Feel the Need for a Better Understanding of IslamrdquoLibeacuteration 10 September 2002

11 ldquoIslam An Imam from Creacuteteil is under Surveillance by the PrefecturerdquoLa Croix 4 December 2007

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

legitimacy is based on a ldquopower relation founded not on a princi-ple that creates the organization12 but on the personal recognition of authorityrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 50) This authority is never fully guaranteed by the possession of a universally accepted qualification or the attribution of a specific recognized status and it is accepted as legitimate only within a particular Islamic associa-tionrsquos range of influence It appears all the more fragile and condi-tional in that it can never be definitively acquired In fact although candidate selection depends on criteria which often differ from one mosque to the next as was noted in the introduction one com-mon aspect of these ldquocooptationrdquoprocedures is the close surveil-lance of imams by the religious community both before and after their recruitment In other words the imam must not only accept state-imposed surveillance but also the moral judgments of the religious community even in areas of life that are not necessarily relevant to their role as cleric

You really need a lot of patience and courage to be an imam Sometimes people get things mixed up Irsquom an imam but Irsquom not perfect For instance Irsquoll sometimes go to the cafeacute not to drink alcohol OK but to meet a non-Muslim friend Anyway if people from the mosque see me I know some of them are going to say ldquoOh the imam you know he goes to the cafeacuterdquo [laughter] Thatrsquos what I find quite hard to live with on a daily basis Another example I know an imam whose daughter doesnrsquot wear headscarves and now people from his mosque are starting to hassle him about it ldquoLook hersquos the imam here but hersquos not capable of being the imam in his own homerdquo Some days I say to myselfldquoListen if yoursquore an imam itrsquos for Allah and you just have to forget about all that other stuff the criticism the surveillancerdquo otherwise Irsquod just give it all up

mdash Mouloud a Moroccan who took French nationality a skilled worker who is a volunteer imam in the prayer room at his factory (January 2004)

In addition to this community surveillance which as this work-er-imam suggests can be a burden both for the imam himself and his family there is also the time-consuming nature of the role In fact beyond the variety of religious careers and the different models of being a ldquogood imamrdquo that derive from them all the imams inter-viewed stressed the hours they spent responding to the demands of worshipers(requests to officiate at marriages burials conversions individual meetings aid to families in crisis and so on) All of them stress that they respond to these demands over and above the hours they spend leading the main rituals the salats jumarsquoa and ceremo-nies associated with the important dates of the Muslim calendar as well as providing religious andor language instruction(usually to children but also to adults when there is a demand for it)

12 Unlike the ldquoofficialrdquo Turkish and Algerian imams who are recognized as such by the ministries of reli-gious affairs of their respective states or the Moroccan imams appointed by the Council Of Moroccan Ulemas

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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-inti

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rsiteacute

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asbo

urg

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uann

eau

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enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

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42 copy

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sses

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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umen

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Solenne JOUANNEAU

I SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

ldquoNot Losing Faith in the Imamaterdquo How Volunteer Imams in France Maintain Their ldquoVocationrdquo

In France being an imam allows one to exercise a moral authority that gives ac-cess to various symbolic andor financial advantages However those who per-form this role also encounter difficulties deportation threats police surveillance surveillance by the community and more In the case of volunteer imams there are also potential familial and professional complications This observation raises questions as to how involvement in the imamate is maintained and how particular individuals and especially those who volunteer can retain ndash for themselves and for others ndash their faith in the value of being and remaining an imam that is in acting as and defining themselves as imams over the long term After looking at the different categories of life trajectory which lead to this kind of activism and at the possible symbolic rewards attached to it this article attempts to understand how the rewards and disadvantages of such involvement make sense in terms of the socialization and lifestyles of activists

One of the peculiarities of Islamic doctrine is that it defines re-ligious authority as ldquoa divine capacityrdquo God communicates to men ldquonot the essence of his power but his command-

mentsrdquo (Gaborieau Zeghal 2004 6 and 12) In practical terms one consequence of this dogma is that although Islam does have a clergy responsible for the production and reproduction of the benefits of Islamic salvation they are not organized around a single ecclesiasti-cal institution with a monopoly of both legitimate priestly authority and also the training certification and nomination of its cult techni-cians (Weber 1993)

At the present time in countries that define themselves as Muslim this lack of an institutionalized and unified clergy has been counter-balanced to some extent by the recurrent intervention of temporal powers in religious matters through Ministries of Religious Affairs that train select or sometimes pay the salary of imams1 This is not the case in France where under the provisions of the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State the State may not play this role Hence although there has been a decade of discussion about setting up a national body to represent Islam Muslim wor-ship in France was and still is primarily structured through prayer

1 In Algeria and Turkey for example imams today are state employees while in Morocco access to the function of imam is authorized by the National Council of Moroccan Ulemas whose members are nominated directly by the Ministry of Habous (the Moroccanrsquos ministry of Religious Affairs)

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IISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rooms run by local associations This process of institutionalization which is unequal and varies according by municipality has led to the coexistence of different categories of imams within the country particularly given the diversity of ways in which mosques allocate the license to lead Islamic rituals Consequently in some mosques the designated imams are self-educated with no religious or secular academic qualifications whereas in others they are people whose religious self-education is certified at minimum by their acquisition of substantial educational capital in the secular world Conversely for both the congregation and the leaders of other places of Islamic worship imams must necessarily be ldquoprofessionalsrdquo holders of a degree from one of the institutions charged with imparting the es-sentials of Islamic learning in Muslim countries Moreover although from the beginning of the 1990s the tendency has been towards salaried imams in 2005 more than half of the one thousand imams operating in France were volunteers (55)2 In fact far from be-ing identified as a separate profession (Hughes 1996 108) the role of Muslim cleric is still seen as a specific form of activism which although legitimate should not be a source of income Thus the imamate that has gradually taken shape in French mosques since the early 1970s is heterogeneous on the one hand there is a wide range of life trajectories and social characteristics among those who carry out this role on an everyday basis and on the other hand both salaried and voluntary clerics continue to coexist within this group

These observations which raise questions about the kind of ldquoca-reerrdquo that leads to becoming an imam in France also invite reflec-tion about the motivations behind investing in and maintaining this voluntary role In fact as this article will illustrate being an imam in the French context brings with it a range of inconveniences such as surveillance by the police and the community stigmatization and tensions within the family and at work This kind of involvement particularly when undertaken with no material gain raises the ques-tion of how some individuals manage to maintain their own and other peoplersquos belief in the validity of this religious activism Only by positioning the commitment of these men within the wider context of their life trajectories do we have a way of understanding what it is that motivates them to ldquokeep up their rolerdquo as clerics that is to act as and define themselves as such over time In fact understanding what allows voluntary imams to ldquoplay the gamerdquo by fully accept-ing its challenges even though it is not their actual job involves

2 In 2005 according to the French governmentrsquos Central Bureau of Worship ldquoonly 45 of imams receive a regular salary 22 by the association which manages the place of worship and 12 by the country which sent them ( ) The other imams are volunteers or receive offerings of various kindsrdquo Cf B Godard ldquoLes imams et leur formationrdquo contribution to the Acadeacutemie des Sciences Morales et Politiques 2005

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III SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

three stages The first stage is an analysis of the material conditions in which this religious but non-professional role is exercised with an emphasis on its biographical implications The second stage in-volves examining the range of symbolic rewards it provides to those who take it on The final stage is the attempt to understand the personal significance these volunteers attach to the advantages and disadvantages of the imamate in terms of their social trajectory

PRESENTATION OF THE STUDY

The data presented in this article came from a research project into the pro-cesses whereby imams reinvent and re-appropriate their authority as imams with-in the context of migration in France (Jouanneau 2009a) The project covered a six-year period (DEA and PhD dissertations) and used a range of research meth-ods combining ethnographic and socio-historic approaches The first years of the project consisted of field work in several Muslim prayer rooms in Eastern and Southern France Collecting the accounts of life stories and practices of around thirty imams demonstrated the diversity of the trajectories and careers leading to the imamate in France and how these materially affect the ways in which social-lysituated relationships with the role are developed In addition daily observation over a period of months within the Salam mosque provided a detailed under-standing of various aspects of the role as well as of the interactional framework of religious teaching This mosque is located on the outskirts of a large city in a large and very impoverished housing project3 It was founded in the late 1970s by a group of reform-minded foreign students and is unusual in that it attracts not only local residents of the project but also a number of students and young activists who live elsewhere

The next stage involved analyzing how the imams as ldquoimmigrant clergyrdquo who exercised a certain authority over immigrants and their descendants were gradually established as the object of public policies by French state officials This was done by studying the 1990-1997 archives on Muslim clerics of the Bureau Central des Cultes (the central office dealing with religious groups) as well as ar-chives relating to Islamic affairs in the offices of the Ministers of the Interior Pierre Joxe Jean-Louis Debreacute and Jean-Pierre Chevegravenement This work illustrated the ways in which imams in France were subject to surveillance and supervision by various government agencies from the end of the 1980s Finally various media databases were consulted to produce a statistical analysis of the media coverage of imams in France from the 1990s onwards

BEING A VOLUNTEER IMAM IN FRANCE A COSTLY ACTIVIST COMMITMENT

Although imams in most Muslim countries hold a relatively low-ly position in the religious division of labor in France they are the

3 In 1999 almost 60 of the housing in this area was social housing while less than 35 was privately owned The unemployment rate was 398 (compared to 187 for the city as a whole) and reached almost 50 for those under 24 and for ldquoforeignersrdquo In 2004 the average household income was euro5760 a year compared to euro15873 for the city as a whole See the 1999 INSEE population census and the 2004 DGI census (taxation information)

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No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

main embodiments of Islamic authority (Fregosi 2004 137) In fact given the absence of other traditional Muslim clergy such as ulemas fuqahas and muftis at local level they constitute the main special-ists in the provision of Islamic religious goods leading the major com-munity rituals articulating religious dogma transmitting orthodox Islamic beliefs and practices to the younger generation and so on This ldquoparticular function and specific status different from that of non-specialistsrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 37) while it allows them a priori to exercise a certain authority over the members of the religious communities they lead may nonetheless prove costly to them personally in the long term

The Experience of State Surveillance

Their status as a potential community leader places them in an often uneasy position in relation to the public authorities In fact imams ndash these ldquomigrant clericsrdquo or ldquomigrants-turned-clericsrdquo ndash do not often have French nationality4 At the beginning of the 1990s certain State agents who had the ldquoprivilege of defining the identi-ties problems and norms of the social worldrdquo (Noiriel 2006 4) began to worry about the negative influence the imams might have on Muslim ldquointegrationrdquo in France Muslims were most often seen as falling into the categories of ldquoforeignersrdquo ldquoimmigrantsrdquo or ldquoyoung people of immigrant originrdquo Following a Ministry of the Interior initiative foreign imams were thereafter subjected to an exceptional procedure when applying for or extending visas and were almost automatically given temporary one-year residence permits as well as subjected to systematic questioning by the local branch of the Central Directorate of General Intelligence (Jouanneau 2009b) Yet since they represented the face of Islam within the local community it was also not uncommon for agents of the Prefecture or police force to see them as a personification of more global concerns raised by the practice of Islam in working-class neighborhoods They were thus the subject of police surveillance operations (the listening and analysis of their sermons regular visits ldquomoralityrdquo inquiries etc) in an attempt to evaluate ldquothe level of threat to public order the pres-ence of these foreigners may representrdquo5

4 According to recent Ministry of the Interior estimates of the breakdown by nationality of Muslim clerics operating in France in 2005 20 of them were French citizens (most of whom most were naturalized foreign-ers) while the majority were foreigners (30 Moroccan 20 Algerian 135 Turkish 5 Tunisian and 5 from Sub-Saharan Africa)

5 Centre drsquoArchives Contemporaines (Centre for Contemporary Archives ndash CAC) v 20030069 art 29 note from a regional Prefect to the Intelligence Director dated 07071995

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No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However as the archives of the Ministry of the Interior illustrate the information gathered in this way ndash which was not always verified or verifiable since it depended largely on the subjective attitudes of the public servants and those they questioned ndash might in some cas-es culminate in more or less radical procedures of imprisonment deportation or ldquoexclusionrdquo Hence every year a dozen or so imams who were considered rightly or wrongly as likely to ldquoconstitute a danger to the security of the Staterdquo are subjected to deportation from the country6 Such cases usually receive heavy media coverage as in the case of the imam of Venissieux Abdelkader Bouziane who was accused in 2004 of ldquoovertly advocating violence and hatredrdquo7 Yet there are also a number of lesser-known imams who like Ahmed receive an Invitation to Leave the Country (IQT) when they attempt to renew their residence permit An imam in Ile-de-France who was held in high regard by the local council of the community he served thanks to his involvement in the local campaign against drug abuse had his visa renewal application refused in 1992 after being accused ldquoby certain associates of having changed his views after a visit to Algeriardquo during which he might have been ldquoinfluenced by elements in the FISrdquo8 Algeriarsquos Islamist opposition For others it could be a case of symbolic measures to ldquoexcluderdquo them from the national com-munity Thus at the beginning of the 1990s Hussein a volunteer imam and professional researcher was refused French nationality because of a ldquofailure to assimilaterdquo on the grounds that by ldquoactively promoting values foreign to the French community he could not be seen as having assimilated to itrdquo9

The Risk of Stigmatization

But the difficulty of committing to the imamate does not only come from the fact that it is a source of concern to the State It also comes from the risk of stigmatization attached to fulfilling this role The image of the ldquopoorly integratedrdquo or ldquoradicalrdquo imam which is commonly evoked to illustrate the supposed problems of the Islamic faith is not confined solely to the corridors of the Ministry of the Interior This image fits all the easier within ldquocontemporary frame-works of understandingrdquo (Laferte and Avanza 2005 144) in that it

6 Interview with the Head of Islamic Affairs Central Bureau of Worship of the Ministry of the Interior

7 Extract from the expulsion order for A Bouziane by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy in February 2004

8 CAC v 20030069 art 30 note to the General Information Bureau from the Prefect of one of the main Ile-de-France departments dated October 2 1992

9 This decision was overturned by the Nantes Administrative Court in 1994 The French government lodged an appeal with the Council of State which eventually granted Hussein French nationality in 1999

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VISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

encourages the plotting and dramatization of Islam as a French pub-lic issue (Gusfield 2008 56) it is also widely disseminated through-out the mass media as exemplified by the following press extracts

Although some imams represent what the Muslim leadership of tomor-row could be they are an exception This body is still largely made up of first-generation immigrants with little education who are sometimes barely able to speak French and are illequipped to help Muslims rediscover an identity that is already battered by exile and to discourage them from lis-tening to the siren song of fundamentalism10

A thirty-eight-year-old Algerian is considered a possible candidate for imam at the great mosque in Creacuteteil However according to General Information this imam regularly preaches sermons tainted with an ldquoideol-ogy that incites discrimination hatred and violence towards the West and the Jewish peoplerdquo The Prefecture indicated that it was particularly ldquovigi-lant about Islamic fundamentalismrdquo11

This journalistic reading of the imamate the logical founda-tions of which deserve to be analyzed at ldquothe intersection of the demands of editors-in-chief ( ) and the sourcesrdquo (Berthaut et al 2009 105) is particularly apparent in the tendency of journalists to ignore the daily role of imam to focus on the ldquoexceptional epi-sodesrdquo in which government forces intervene ldquoto maintain public orderrdquo In fact as shown in the FACTIVA database (which covers the majority of French magazines and local and national newspa-pers since 1995) of the 831 articles published between 1995 and 2008 that had the word ldquoimam(s)rdquo in their title 431 focused on ldquodeported imamsrdquo or those ldquothreatened with deportationrdquo Thus by concentrating on those imams who pose a problem for the State media coverage tends to throw suspicion on all ministers of the Muslim faith

ldquoUnder Surveillancerdquo by Their Congregations Too

Beyond this double process of criminalization and stigmatiza-tion which tends to categorize Muslim clerics as foreigners who come to threaten public order (Rea et al 2001) the potential cost of commitment to the imamate also lies in the fact that this kind of religious activism places those who invest in it at the center of a network of socially constraining expectations In fact although imams in France bear an authority that is not generally granted to their colleagues in ldquoMuslimrdquo countries in France their religious

10 ldquoGreater Vigilance by Imams The Faithful Feel the Need for a Better Understanding of IslamrdquoLibeacuteration 10 September 2002

11 ldquoIslam An Imam from Creacuteteil is under Surveillance by the PrefecturerdquoLa Croix 4 December 2007

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VII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

legitimacy is based on a ldquopower relation founded not on a princi-ple that creates the organization12 but on the personal recognition of authorityrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 50) This authority is never fully guaranteed by the possession of a universally accepted qualification or the attribution of a specific recognized status and it is accepted as legitimate only within a particular Islamic associa-tionrsquos range of influence It appears all the more fragile and condi-tional in that it can never be definitively acquired In fact although candidate selection depends on criteria which often differ from one mosque to the next as was noted in the introduction one com-mon aspect of these ldquocooptationrdquoprocedures is the close surveil-lance of imams by the religious community both before and after their recruitment In other words the imam must not only accept state-imposed surveillance but also the moral judgments of the religious community even in areas of life that are not necessarily relevant to their role as cleric

You really need a lot of patience and courage to be an imam Sometimes people get things mixed up Irsquom an imam but Irsquom not perfect For instance Irsquoll sometimes go to the cafeacute not to drink alcohol OK but to meet a non-Muslim friend Anyway if people from the mosque see me I know some of them are going to say ldquoOh the imam you know he goes to the cafeacuterdquo [laughter] Thatrsquos what I find quite hard to live with on a daily basis Another example I know an imam whose daughter doesnrsquot wear headscarves and now people from his mosque are starting to hassle him about it ldquoLook hersquos the imam here but hersquos not capable of being the imam in his own homerdquo Some days I say to myselfldquoListen if yoursquore an imam itrsquos for Allah and you just have to forget about all that other stuff the criticism the surveillancerdquo otherwise Irsquod just give it all up

mdash Mouloud a Moroccan who took French nationality a skilled worker who is a volunteer imam in the prayer room at his factory (January 2004)

In addition to this community surveillance which as this work-er-imam suggests can be a burden both for the imam himself and his family there is also the time-consuming nature of the role In fact beyond the variety of religious careers and the different models of being a ldquogood imamrdquo that derive from them all the imams inter-viewed stressed the hours they spent responding to the demands of worshipers(requests to officiate at marriages burials conversions individual meetings aid to families in crisis and so on) All of them stress that they respond to these demands over and above the hours they spend leading the main rituals the salats jumarsquoa and ceremo-nies associated with the important dates of the Muslim calendar as well as providing religious andor language instruction(usually to children but also to adults when there is a demand for it)

12 Unlike the ldquoofficialrdquo Turkish and Algerian imams who are recognized as such by the ministries of reli-gious affairs of their respective states or the Moroccan imams appointed by the Council Of Moroccan Ulemas

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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asbo

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uann

eau

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enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

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42 copy

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rooms run by local associations This process of institutionalization which is unequal and varies according by municipality has led to the coexistence of different categories of imams within the country particularly given the diversity of ways in which mosques allocate the license to lead Islamic rituals Consequently in some mosques the designated imams are self-educated with no religious or secular academic qualifications whereas in others they are people whose religious self-education is certified at minimum by their acquisition of substantial educational capital in the secular world Conversely for both the congregation and the leaders of other places of Islamic worship imams must necessarily be ldquoprofessionalsrdquo holders of a degree from one of the institutions charged with imparting the es-sentials of Islamic learning in Muslim countries Moreover although from the beginning of the 1990s the tendency has been towards salaried imams in 2005 more than half of the one thousand imams operating in France were volunteers (55)2 In fact far from be-ing identified as a separate profession (Hughes 1996 108) the role of Muslim cleric is still seen as a specific form of activism which although legitimate should not be a source of income Thus the imamate that has gradually taken shape in French mosques since the early 1970s is heterogeneous on the one hand there is a wide range of life trajectories and social characteristics among those who carry out this role on an everyday basis and on the other hand both salaried and voluntary clerics continue to coexist within this group

These observations which raise questions about the kind of ldquoca-reerrdquo that leads to becoming an imam in France also invite reflec-tion about the motivations behind investing in and maintaining this voluntary role In fact as this article will illustrate being an imam in the French context brings with it a range of inconveniences such as surveillance by the police and the community stigmatization and tensions within the family and at work This kind of involvement particularly when undertaken with no material gain raises the ques-tion of how some individuals manage to maintain their own and other peoplersquos belief in the validity of this religious activism Only by positioning the commitment of these men within the wider context of their life trajectories do we have a way of understanding what it is that motivates them to ldquokeep up their rolerdquo as clerics that is to act as and define themselves as such over time In fact understanding what allows voluntary imams to ldquoplay the gamerdquo by fully accept-ing its challenges even though it is not their actual job involves

2 In 2005 according to the French governmentrsquos Central Bureau of Worship ldquoonly 45 of imams receive a regular salary 22 by the association which manages the place of worship and 12 by the country which sent them ( ) The other imams are volunteers or receive offerings of various kindsrdquo Cf B Godard ldquoLes imams et leur formationrdquo contribution to the Acadeacutemie des Sciences Morales et Politiques 2005

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III SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

three stages The first stage is an analysis of the material conditions in which this religious but non-professional role is exercised with an emphasis on its biographical implications The second stage in-volves examining the range of symbolic rewards it provides to those who take it on The final stage is the attempt to understand the personal significance these volunteers attach to the advantages and disadvantages of the imamate in terms of their social trajectory

PRESENTATION OF THE STUDY

The data presented in this article came from a research project into the pro-cesses whereby imams reinvent and re-appropriate their authority as imams with-in the context of migration in France (Jouanneau 2009a) The project covered a six-year period (DEA and PhD dissertations) and used a range of research meth-ods combining ethnographic and socio-historic approaches The first years of the project consisted of field work in several Muslim prayer rooms in Eastern and Southern France Collecting the accounts of life stories and practices of around thirty imams demonstrated the diversity of the trajectories and careers leading to the imamate in France and how these materially affect the ways in which social-lysituated relationships with the role are developed In addition daily observation over a period of months within the Salam mosque provided a detailed under-standing of various aspects of the role as well as of the interactional framework of religious teaching This mosque is located on the outskirts of a large city in a large and very impoverished housing project3 It was founded in the late 1970s by a group of reform-minded foreign students and is unusual in that it attracts not only local residents of the project but also a number of students and young activists who live elsewhere

The next stage involved analyzing how the imams as ldquoimmigrant clergyrdquo who exercised a certain authority over immigrants and their descendants were gradually established as the object of public policies by French state officials This was done by studying the 1990-1997 archives on Muslim clerics of the Bureau Central des Cultes (the central office dealing with religious groups) as well as ar-chives relating to Islamic affairs in the offices of the Ministers of the Interior Pierre Joxe Jean-Louis Debreacute and Jean-Pierre Chevegravenement This work illustrated the ways in which imams in France were subject to surveillance and supervision by various government agencies from the end of the 1980s Finally various media databases were consulted to produce a statistical analysis of the media coverage of imams in France from the 1990s onwards

BEING A VOLUNTEER IMAM IN FRANCE A COSTLY ACTIVIST COMMITMENT

Although imams in most Muslim countries hold a relatively low-ly position in the religious division of labor in France they are the

3 In 1999 almost 60 of the housing in this area was social housing while less than 35 was privately owned The unemployment rate was 398 (compared to 187 for the city as a whole) and reached almost 50 for those under 24 and for ldquoforeignersrdquo In 2004 the average household income was euro5760 a year compared to euro15873 for the city as a whole See the 1999 INSEE population census and the 2004 DGI census (taxation information)

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IVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

main embodiments of Islamic authority (Fregosi 2004 137) In fact given the absence of other traditional Muslim clergy such as ulemas fuqahas and muftis at local level they constitute the main special-ists in the provision of Islamic religious goods leading the major com-munity rituals articulating religious dogma transmitting orthodox Islamic beliefs and practices to the younger generation and so on This ldquoparticular function and specific status different from that of non-specialistsrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 37) while it allows them a priori to exercise a certain authority over the members of the religious communities they lead may nonetheless prove costly to them personally in the long term

The Experience of State Surveillance

Their status as a potential community leader places them in an often uneasy position in relation to the public authorities In fact imams ndash these ldquomigrant clericsrdquo or ldquomigrants-turned-clericsrdquo ndash do not often have French nationality4 At the beginning of the 1990s certain State agents who had the ldquoprivilege of defining the identi-ties problems and norms of the social worldrdquo (Noiriel 2006 4) began to worry about the negative influence the imams might have on Muslim ldquointegrationrdquo in France Muslims were most often seen as falling into the categories of ldquoforeignersrdquo ldquoimmigrantsrdquo or ldquoyoung people of immigrant originrdquo Following a Ministry of the Interior initiative foreign imams were thereafter subjected to an exceptional procedure when applying for or extending visas and were almost automatically given temporary one-year residence permits as well as subjected to systematic questioning by the local branch of the Central Directorate of General Intelligence (Jouanneau 2009b) Yet since they represented the face of Islam within the local community it was also not uncommon for agents of the Prefecture or police force to see them as a personification of more global concerns raised by the practice of Islam in working-class neighborhoods They were thus the subject of police surveillance operations (the listening and analysis of their sermons regular visits ldquomoralityrdquo inquiries etc) in an attempt to evaluate ldquothe level of threat to public order the pres-ence of these foreigners may representrdquo5

4 According to recent Ministry of the Interior estimates of the breakdown by nationality of Muslim clerics operating in France in 2005 20 of them were French citizens (most of whom most were naturalized foreign-ers) while the majority were foreigners (30 Moroccan 20 Algerian 135 Turkish 5 Tunisian and 5 from Sub-Saharan Africa)

5 Centre drsquoArchives Contemporaines (Centre for Contemporary Archives ndash CAC) v 20030069 art 29 note from a regional Prefect to the Intelligence Director dated 07071995

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V SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However as the archives of the Ministry of the Interior illustrate the information gathered in this way ndash which was not always verified or verifiable since it depended largely on the subjective attitudes of the public servants and those they questioned ndash might in some cas-es culminate in more or less radical procedures of imprisonment deportation or ldquoexclusionrdquo Hence every year a dozen or so imams who were considered rightly or wrongly as likely to ldquoconstitute a danger to the security of the Staterdquo are subjected to deportation from the country6 Such cases usually receive heavy media coverage as in the case of the imam of Venissieux Abdelkader Bouziane who was accused in 2004 of ldquoovertly advocating violence and hatredrdquo7 Yet there are also a number of lesser-known imams who like Ahmed receive an Invitation to Leave the Country (IQT) when they attempt to renew their residence permit An imam in Ile-de-France who was held in high regard by the local council of the community he served thanks to his involvement in the local campaign against drug abuse had his visa renewal application refused in 1992 after being accused ldquoby certain associates of having changed his views after a visit to Algeriardquo during which he might have been ldquoinfluenced by elements in the FISrdquo8 Algeriarsquos Islamist opposition For others it could be a case of symbolic measures to ldquoexcluderdquo them from the national com-munity Thus at the beginning of the 1990s Hussein a volunteer imam and professional researcher was refused French nationality because of a ldquofailure to assimilaterdquo on the grounds that by ldquoactively promoting values foreign to the French community he could not be seen as having assimilated to itrdquo9

The Risk of Stigmatization

But the difficulty of committing to the imamate does not only come from the fact that it is a source of concern to the State It also comes from the risk of stigmatization attached to fulfilling this role The image of the ldquopoorly integratedrdquo or ldquoradicalrdquo imam which is commonly evoked to illustrate the supposed problems of the Islamic faith is not confined solely to the corridors of the Ministry of the Interior This image fits all the easier within ldquocontemporary frame-works of understandingrdquo (Laferte and Avanza 2005 144) in that it

6 Interview with the Head of Islamic Affairs Central Bureau of Worship of the Ministry of the Interior

7 Extract from the expulsion order for A Bouziane by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy in February 2004

8 CAC v 20030069 art 30 note to the General Information Bureau from the Prefect of one of the main Ile-de-France departments dated October 2 1992

9 This decision was overturned by the Nantes Administrative Court in 1994 The French government lodged an appeal with the Council of State which eventually granted Hussein French nationality in 1999

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VISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

encourages the plotting and dramatization of Islam as a French pub-lic issue (Gusfield 2008 56) it is also widely disseminated through-out the mass media as exemplified by the following press extracts

Although some imams represent what the Muslim leadership of tomor-row could be they are an exception This body is still largely made up of first-generation immigrants with little education who are sometimes barely able to speak French and are illequipped to help Muslims rediscover an identity that is already battered by exile and to discourage them from lis-tening to the siren song of fundamentalism10

A thirty-eight-year-old Algerian is considered a possible candidate for imam at the great mosque in Creacuteteil However according to General Information this imam regularly preaches sermons tainted with an ldquoideol-ogy that incites discrimination hatred and violence towards the West and the Jewish peoplerdquo The Prefecture indicated that it was particularly ldquovigi-lant about Islamic fundamentalismrdquo11

This journalistic reading of the imamate the logical founda-tions of which deserve to be analyzed at ldquothe intersection of the demands of editors-in-chief ( ) and the sourcesrdquo (Berthaut et al 2009 105) is particularly apparent in the tendency of journalists to ignore the daily role of imam to focus on the ldquoexceptional epi-sodesrdquo in which government forces intervene ldquoto maintain public orderrdquo In fact as shown in the FACTIVA database (which covers the majority of French magazines and local and national newspa-pers since 1995) of the 831 articles published between 1995 and 2008 that had the word ldquoimam(s)rdquo in their title 431 focused on ldquodeported imamsrdquo or those ldquothreatened with deportationrdquo Thus by concentrating on those imams who pose a problem for the State media coverage tends to throw suspicion on all ministers of the Muslim faith

ldquoUnder Surveillancerdquo by Their Congregations Too

Beyond this double process of criminalization and stigmatiza-tion which tends to categorize Muslim clerics as foreigners who come to threaten public order (Rea et al 2001) the potential cost of commitment to the imamate also lies in the fact that this kind of religious activism places those who invest in it at the center of a network of socially constraining expectations In fact although imams in France bear an authority that is not generally granted to their colleagues in ldquoMuslimrdquo countries in France their religious

10 ldquoGreater Vigilance by Imams The Faithful Feel the Need for a Better Understanding of IslamrdquoLibeacuteration 10 September 2002

11 ldquoIslam An Imam from Creacuteteil is under Surveillance by the PrefecturerdquoLa Croix 4 December 2007

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VII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

legitimacy is based on a ldquopower relation founded not on a princi-ple that creates the organization12 but on the personal recognition of authorityrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 50) This authority is never fully guaranteed by the possession of a universally accepted qualification or the attribution of a specific recognized status and it is accepted as legitimate only within a particular Islamic associa-tionrsquos range of influence It appears all the more fragile and condi-tional in that it can never be definitively acquired In fact although candidate selection depends on criteria which often differ from one mosque to the next as was noted in the introduction one com-mon aspect of these ldquocooptationrdquoprocedures is the close surveil-lance of imams by the religious community both before and after their recruitment In other words the imam must not only accept state-imposed surveillance but also the moral judgments of the religious community even in areas of life that are not necessarily relevant to their role as cleric

You really need a lot of patience and courage to be an imam Sometimes people get things mixed up Irsquom an imam but Irsquom not perfect For instance Irsquoll sometimes go to the cafeacute not to drink alcohol OK but to meet a non-Muslim friend Anyway if people from the mosque see me I know some of them are going to say ldquoOh the imam you know he goes to the cafeacuterdquo [laughter] Thatrsquos what I find quite hard to live with on a daily basis Another example I know an imam whose daughter doesnrsquot wear headscarves and now people from his mosque are starting to hassle him about it ldquoLook hersquos the imam here but hersquos not capable of being the imam in his own homerdquo Some days I say to myselfldquoListen if yoursquore an imam itrsquos for Allah and you just have to forget about all that other stuff the criticism the surveillancerdquo otherwise Irsquod just give it all up

mdash Mouloud a Moroccan who took French nationality a skilled worker who is a volunteer imam in the prayer room at his factory (January 2004)

In addition to this community surveillance which as this work-er-imam suggests can be a burden both for the imam himself and his family there is also the time-consuming nature of the role In fact beyond the variety of religious careers and the different models of being a ldquogood imamrdquo that derive from them all the imams inter-viewed stressed the hours they spent responding to the demands of worshipers(requests to officiate at marriages burials conversions individual meetings aid to families in crisis and so on) All of them stress that they respond to these demands over and above the hours they spend leading the main rituals the salats jumarsquoa and ceremo-nies associated with the important dates of the Muslim calendar as well as providing religious andor language instruction(usually to children but also to adults when there is a demand for it)

12 Unlike the ldquoofficialrdquo Turkish and Algerian imams who are recognized as such by the ministries of reli-gious affairs of their respective states or the Moroccan imams appointed by the Council Of Moroccan Ulemas

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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nloa

ded

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asbo

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uann

eau

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enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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umen

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Presses de S

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III SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

three stages The first stage is an analysis of the material conditions in which this religious but non-professional role is exercised with an emphasis on its biographical implications The second stage in-volves examining the range of symbolic rewards it provides to those who take it on The final stage is the attempt to understand the personal significance these volunteers attach to the advantages and disadvantages of the imamate in terms of their social trajectory

PRESENTATION OF THE STUDY

The data presented in this article came from a research project into the pro-cesses whereby imams reinvent and re-appropriate their authority as imams with-in the context of migration in France (Jouanneau 2009a) The project covered a six-year period (DEA and PhD dissertations) and used a range of research meth-ods combining ethnographic and socio-historic approaches The first years of the project consisted of field work in several Muslim prayer rooms in Eastern and Southern France Collecting the accounts of life stories and practices of around thirty imams demonstrated the diversity of the trajectories and careers leading to the imamate in France and how these materially affect the ways in which social-lysituated relationships with the role are developed In addition daily observation over a period of months within the Salam mosque provided a detailed under-standing of various aspects of the role as well as of the interactional framework of religious teaching This mosque is located on the outskirts of a large city in a large and very impoverished housing project3 It was founded in the late 1970s by a group of reform-minded foreign students and is unusual in that it attracts not only local residents of the project but also a number of students and young activists who live elsewhere

The next stage involved analyzing how the imams as ldquoimmigrant clergyrdquo who exercised a certain authority over immigrants and their descendants were gradually established as the object of public policies by French state officials This was done by studying the 1990-1997 archives on Muslim clerics of the Bureau Central des Cultes (the central office dealing with religious groups) as well as ar-chives relating to Islamic affairs in the offices of the Ministers of the Interior Pierre Joxe Jean-Louis Debreacute and Jean-Pierre Chevegravenement This work illustrated the ways in which imams in France were subject to surveillance and supervision by various government agencies from the end of the 1980s Finally various media databases were consulted to produce a statistical analysis of the media coverage of imams in France from the 1990s onwards

BEING A VOLUNTEER IMAM IN FRANCE A COSTLY ACTIVIST COMMITMENT

Although imams in most Muslim countries hold a relatively low-ly position in the religious division of labor in France they are the

3 In 1999 almost 60 of the housing in this area was social housing while less than 35 was privately owned The unemployment rate was 398 (compared to 187 for the city as a whole) and reached almost 50 for those under 24 and for ldquoforeignersrdquo In 2004 the average household income was euro5760 a year compared to euro15873 for the city as a whole See the 1999 INSEE population census and the 2004 DGI census (taxation information)

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IVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

main embodiments of Islamic authority (Fregosi 2004 137) In fact given the absence of other traditional Muslim clergy such as ulemas fuqahas and muftis at local level they constitute the main special-ists in the provision of Islamic religious goods leading the major com-munity rituals articulating religious dogma transmitting orthodox Islamic beliefs and practices to the younger generation and so on This ldquoparticular function and specific status different from that of non-specialistsrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 37) while it allows them a priori to exercise a certain authority over the members of the religious communities they lead may nonetheless prove costly to them personally in the long term

The Experience of State Surveillance

Their status as a potential community leader places them in an often uneasy position in relation to the public authorities In fact imams ndash these ldquomigrant clericsrdquo or ldquomigrants-turned-clericsrdquo ndash do not often have French nationality4 At the beginning of the 1990s certain State agents who had the ldquoprivilege of defining the identi-ties problems and norms of the social worldrdquo (Noiriel 2006 4) began to worry about the negative influence the imams might have on Muslim ldquointegrationrdquo in France Muslims were most often seen as falling into the categories of ldquoforeignersrdquo ldquoimmigrantsrdquo or ldquoyoung people of immigrant originrdquo Following a Ministry of the Interior initiative foreign imams were thereafter subjected to an exceptional procedure when applying for or extending visas and were almost automatically given temporary one-year residence permits as well as subjected to systematic questioning by the local branch of the Central Directorate of General Intelligence (Jouanneau 2009b) Yet since they represented the face of Islam within the local community it was also not uncommon for agents of the Prefecture or police force to see them as a personification of more global concerns raised by the practice of Islam in working-class neighborhoods They were thus the subject of police surveillance operations (the listening and analysis of their sermons regular visits ldquomoralityrdquo inquiries etc) in an attempt to evaluate ldquothe level of threat to public order the pres-ence of these foreigners may representrdquo5

4 According to recent Ministry of the Interior estimates of the breakdown by nationality of Muslim clerics operating in France in 2005 20 of them were French citizens (most of whom most were naturalized foreign-ers) while the majority were foreigners (30 Moroccan 20 Algerian 135 Turkish 5 Tunisian and 5 from Sub-Saharan Africa)

5 Centre drsquoArchives Contemporaines (Centre for Contemporary Archives ndash CAC) v 20030069 art 29 note from a regional Prefect to the Intelligence Director dated 07071995

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V SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However as the archives of the Ministry of the Interior illustrate the information gathered in this way ndash which was not always verified or verifiable since it depended largely on the subjective attitudes of the public servants and those they questioned ndash might in some cas-es culminate in more or less radical procedures of imprisonment deportation or ldquoexclusionrdquo Hence every year a dozen or so imams who were considered rightly or wrongly as likely to ldquoconstitute a danger to the security of the Staterdquo are subjected to deportation from the country6 Such cases usually receive heavy media coverage as in the case of the imam of Venissieux Abdelkader Bouziane who was accused in 2004 of ldquoovertly advocating violence and hatredrdquo7 Yet there are also a number of lesser-known imams who like Ahmed receive an Invitation to Leave the Country (IQT) when they attempt to renew their residence permit An imam in Ile-de-France who was held in high regard by the local council of the community he served thanks to his involvement in the local campaign against drug abuse had his visa renewal application refused in 1992 after being accused ldquoby certain associates of having changed his views after a visit to Algeriardquo during which he might have been ldquoinfluenced by elements in the FISrdquo8 Algeriarsquos Islamist opposition For others it could be a case of symbolic measures to ldquoexcluderdquo them from the national com-munity Thus at the beginning of the 1990s Hussein a volunteer imam and professional researcher was refused French nationality because of a ldquofailure to assimilaterdquo on the grounds that by ldquoactively promoting values foreign to the French community he could not be seen as having assimilated to itrdquo9

The Risk of Stigmatization

But the difficulty of committing to the imamate does not only come from the fact that it is a source of concern to the State It also comes from the risk of stigmatization attached to fulfilling this role The image of the ldquopoorly integratedrdquo or ldquoradicalrdquo imam which is commonly evoked to illustrate the supposed problems of the Islamic faith is not confined solely to the corridors of the Ministry of the Interior This image fits all the easier within ldquocontemporary frame-works of understandingrdquo (Laferte and Avanza 2005 144) in that it

6 Interview with the Head of Islamic Affairs Central Bureau of Worship of the Ministry of the Interior

7 Extract from the expulsion order for A Bouziane by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy in February 2004

8 CAC v 20030069 art 30 note to the General Information Bureau from the Prefect of one of the main Ile-de-France departments dated October 2 1992

9 This decision was overturned by the Nantes Administrative Court in 1994 The French government lodged an appeal with the Council of State which eventually granted Hussein French nationality in 1999

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VISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

encourages the plotting and dramatization of Islam as a French pub-lic issue (Gusfield 2008 56) it is also widely disseminated through-out the mass media as exemplified by the following press extracts

Although some imams represent what the Muslim leadership of tomor-row could be they are an exception This body is still largely made up of first-generation immigrants with little education who are sometimes barely able to speak French and are illequipped to help Muslims rediscover an identity that is already battered by exile and to discourage them from lis-tening to the siren song of fundamentalism10

A thirty-eight-year-old Algerian is considered a possible candidate for imam at the great mosque in Creacuteteil However according to General Information this imam regularly preaches sermons tainted with an ldquoideol-ogy that incites discrimination hatred and violence towards the West and the Jewish peoplerdquo The Prefecture indicated that it was particularly ldquovigi-lant about Islamic fundamentalismrdquo11

This journalistic reading of the imamate the logical founda-tions of which deserve to be analyzed at ldquothe intersection of the demands of editors-in-chief ( ) and the sourcesrdquo (Berthaut et al 2009 105) is particularly apparent in the tendency of journalists to ignore the daily role of imam to focus on the ldquoexceptional epi-sodesrdquo in which government forces intervene ldquoto maintain public orderrdquo In fact as shown in the FACTIVA database (which covers the majority of French magazines and local and national newspa-pers since 1995) of the 831 articles published between 1995 and 2008 that had the word ldquoimam(s)rdquo in their title 431 focused on ldquodeported imamsrdquo or those ldquothreatened with deportationrdquo Thus by concentrating on those imams who pose a problem for the State media coverage tends to throw suspicion on all ministers of the Muslim faith

ldquoUnder Surveillancerdquo by Their Congregations Too

Beyond this double process of criminalization and stigmatiza-tion which tends to categorize Muslim clerics as foreigners who come to threaten public order (Rea et al 2001) the potential cost of commitment to the imamate also lies in the fact that this kind of religious activism places those who invest in it at the center of a network of socially constraining expectations In fact although imams in France bear an authority that is not generally granted to their colleagues in ldquoMuslimrdquo countries in France their religious

10 ldquoGreater Vigilance by Imams The Faithful Feel the Need for a Better Understanding of IslamrdquoLibeacuteration 10 September 2002

11 ldquoIslam An Imam from Creacuteteil is under Surveillance by the PrefecturerdquoLa Croix 4 December 2007

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VII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

legitimacy is based on a ldquopower relation founded not on a princi-ple that creates the organization12 but on the personal recognition of authorityrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 50) This authority is never fully guaranteed by the possession of a universally accepted qualification or the attribution of a specific recognized status and it is accepted as legitimate only within a particular Islamic associa-tionrsquos range of influence It appears all the more fragile and condi-tional in that it can never be definitively acquired In fact although candidate selection depends on criteria which often differ from one mosque to the next as was noted in the introduction one com-mon aspect of these ldquocooptationrdquoprocedures is the close surveil-lance of imams by the religious community both before and after their recruitment In other words the imam must not only accept state-imposed surveillance but also the moral judgments of the religious community even in areas of life that are not necessarily relevant to their role as cleric

You really need a lot of patience and courage to be an imam Sometimes people get things mixed up Irsquom an imam but Irsquom not perfect For instance Irsquoll sometimes go to the cafeacute not to drink alcohol OK but to meet a non-Muslim friend Anyway if people from the mosque see me I know some of them are going to say ldquoOh the imam you know he goes to the cafeacuterdquo [laughter] Thatrsquos what I find quite hard to live with on a daily basis Another example I know an imam whose daughter doesnrsquot wear headscarves and now people from his mosque are starting to hassle him about it ldquoLook hersquos the imam here but hersquos not capable of being the imam in his own homerdquo Some days I say to myselfldquoListen if yoursquore an imam itrsquos for Allah and you just have to forget about all that other stuff the criticism the surveillancerdquo otherwise Irsquod just give it all up

mdash Mouloud a Moroccan who took French nationality a skilled worker who is a volunteer imam in the prayer room at his factory (January 2004)

In addition to this community surveillance which as this work-er-imam suggests can be a burden both for the imam himself and his family there is also the time-consuming nature of the role In fact beyond the variety of religious careers and the different models of being a ldquogood imamrdquo that derive from them all the imams inter-viewed stressed the hours they spent responding to the demands of worshipers(requests to officiate at marriages burials conversions individual meetings aid to families in crisis and so on) All of them stress that they respond to these demands over and above the hours they spend leading the main rituals the salats jumarsquoa and ceremo-nies associated with the important dates of the Muslim calendar as well as providing religious andor language instruction(usually to children but also to adults when there is a demand for it)

12 Unlike the ldquoofficialrdquo Turkish and Algerian imams who are recognized as such by the ministries of reli-gious affairs of their respective states or the Moroccan imams appointed by the Council Of Moroccan Ulemas

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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nloa

ded

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wc

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-inti

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nive

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Str

asbo

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uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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IVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

main embodiments of Islamic authority (Fregosi 2004 137) In fact given the absence of other traditional Muslim clergy such as ulemas fuqahas and muftis at local level they constitute the main special-ists in the provision of Islamic religious goods leading the major com-munity rituals articulating religious dogma transmitting orthodox Islamic beliefs and practices to the younger generation and so on This ldquoparticular function and specific status different from that of non-specialistsrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 37) while it allows them a priori to exercise a certain authority over the members of the religious communities they lead may nonetheless prove costly to them personally in the long term

The Experience of State Surveillance

Their status as a potential community leader places them in an often uneasy position in relation to the public authorities In fact imams ndash these ldquomigrant clericsrdquo or ldquomigrants-turned-clericsrdquo ndash do not often have French nationality4 At the beginning of the 1990s certain State agents who had the ldquoprivilege of defining the identi-ties problems and norms of the social worldrdquo (Noiriel 2006 4) began to worry about the negative influence the imams might have on Muslim ldquointegrationrdquo in France Muslims were most often seen as falling into the categories of ldquoforeignersrdquo ldquoimmigrantsrdquo or ldquoyoung people of immigrant originrdquo Following a Ministry of the Interior initiative foreign imams were thereafter subjected to an exceptional procedure when applying for or extending visas and were almost automatically given temporary one-year residence permits as well as subjected to systematic questioning by the local branch of the Central Directorate of General Intelligence (Jouanneau 2009b) Yet since they represented the face of Islam within the local community it was also not uncommon for agents of the Prefecture or police force to see them as a personification of more global concerns raised by the practice of Islam in working-class neighborhoods They were thus the subject of police surveillance operations (the listening and analysis of their sermons regular visits ldquomoralityrdquo inquiries etc) in an attempt to evaluate ldquothe level of threat to public order the pres-ence of these foreigners may representrdquo5

4 According to recent Ministry of the Interior estimates of the breakdown by nationality of Muslim clerics operating in France in 2005 20 of them were French citizens (most of whom most were naturalized foreign-ers) while the majority were foreigners (30 Moroccan 20 Algerian 135 Turkish 5 Tunisian and 5 from Sub-Saharan Africa)

5 Centre drsquoArchives Contemporaines (Centre for Contemporary Archives ndash CAC) v 20030069 art 29 note from a regional Prefect to the Intelligence Director dated 07071995

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V SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However as the archives of the Ministry of the Interior illustrate the information gathered in this way ndash which was not always verified or verifiable since it depended largely on the subjective attitudes of the public servants and those they questioned ndash might in some cas-es culminate in more or less radical procedures of imprisonment deportation or ldquoexclusionrdquo Hence every year a dozen or so imams who were considered rightly or wrongly as likely to ldquoconstitute a danger to the security of the Staterdquo are subjected to deportation from the country6 Such cases usually receive heavy media coverage as in the case of the imam of Venissieux Abdelkader Bouziane who was accused in 2004 of ldquoovertly advocating violence and hatredrdquo7 Yet there are also a number of lesser-known imams who like Ahmed receive an Invitation to Leave the Country (IQT) when they attempt to renew their residence permit An imam in Ile-de-France who was held in high regard by the local council of the community he served thanks to his involvement in the local campaign against drug abuse had his visa renewal application refused in 1992 after being accused ldquoby certain associates of having changed his views after a visit to Algeriardquo during which he might have been ldquoinfluenced by elements in the FISrdquo8 Algeriarsquos Islamist opposition For others it could be a case of symbolic measures to ldquoexcluderdquo them from the national com-munity Thus at the beginning of the 1990s Hussein a volunteer imam and professional researcher was refused French nationality because of a ldquofailure to assimilaterdquo on the grounds that by ldquoactively promoting values foreign to the French community he could not be seen as having assimilated to itrdquo9

The Risk of Stigmatization

But the difficulty of committing to the imamate does not only come from the fact that it is a source of concern to the State It also comes from the risk of stigmatization attached to fulfilling this role The image of the ldquopoorly integratedrdquo or ldquoradicalrdquo imam which is commonly evoked to illustrate the supposed problems of the Islamic faith is not confined solely to the corridors of the Ministry of the Interior This image fits all the easier within ldquocontemporary frame-works of understandingrdquo (Laferte and Avanza 2005 144) in that it

6 Interview with the Head of Islamic Affairs Central Bureau of Worship of the Ministry of the Interior

7 Extract from the expulsion order for A Bouziane by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy in February 2004

8 CAC v 20030069 art 30 note to the General Information Bureau from the Prefect of one of the main Ile-de-France departments dated October 2 1992

9 This decision was overturned by the Nantes Administrative Court in 1994 The French government lodged an appeal with the Council of State which eventually granted Hussein French nationality in 1999

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VISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

encourages the plotting and dramatization of Islam as a French pub-lic issue (Gusfield 2008 56) it is also widely disseminated through-out the mass media as exemplified by the following press extracts

Although some imams represent what the Muslim leadership of tomor-row could be they are an exception This body is still largely made up of first-generation immigrants with little education who are sometimes barely able to speak French and are illequipped to help Muslims rediscover an identity that is already battered by exile and to discourage them from lis-tening to the siren song of fundamentalism10

A thirty-eight-year-old Algerian is considered a possible candidate for imam at the great mosque in Creacuteteil However according to General Information this imam regularly preaches sermons tainted with an ldquoideol-ogy that incites discrimination hatred and violence towards the West and the Jewish peoplerdquo The Prefecture indicated that it was particularly ldquovigi-lant about Islamic fundamentalismrdquo11

This journalistic reading of the imamate the logical founda-tions of which deserve to be analyzed at ldquothe intersection of the demands of editors-in-chief ( ) and the sourcesrdquo (Berthaut et al 2009 105) is particularly apparent in the tendency of journalists to ignore the daily role of imam to focus on the ldquoexceptional epi-sodesrdquo in which government forces intervene ldquoto maintain public orderrdquo In fact as shown in the FACTIVA database (which covers the majority of French magazines and local and national newspa-pers since 1995) of the 831 articles published between 1995 and 2008 that had the word ldquoimam(s)rdquo in their title 431 focused on ldquodeported imamsrdquo or those ldquothreatened with deportationrdquo Thus by concentrating on those imams who pose a problem for the State media coverage tends to throw suspicion on all ministers of the Muslim faith

ldquoUnder Surveillancerdquo by Their Congregations Too

Beyond this double process of criminalization and stigmatiza-tion which tends to categorize Muslim clerics as foreigners who come to threaten public order (Rea et al 2001) the potential cost of commitment to the imamate also lies in the fact that this kind of religious activism places those who invest in it at the center of a network of socially constraining expectations In fact although imams in France bear an authority that is not generally granted to their colleagues in ldquoMuslimrdquo countries in France their religious

10 ldquoGreater Vigilance by Imams The Faithful Feel the Need for a Better Understanding of IslamrdquoLibeacuteration 10 September 2002

11 ldquoIslam An Imam from Creacuteteil is under Surveillance by the PrefecturerdquoLa Croix 4 December 2007

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VII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

legitimacy is based on a ldquopower relation founded not on a princi-ple that creates the organization12 but on the personal recognition of authorityrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 50) This authority is never fully guaranteed by the possession of a universally accepted qualification or the attribution of a specific recognized status and it is accepted as legitimate only within a particular Islamic associa-tionrsquos range of influence It appears all the more fragile and condi-tional in that it can never be definitively acquired In fact although candidate selection depends on criteria which often differ from one mosque to the next as was noted in the introduction one com-mon aspect of these ldquocooptationrdquoprocedures is the close surveil-lance of imams by the religious community both before and after their recruitment In other words the imam must not only accept state-imposed surveillance but also the moral judgments of the religious community even in areas of life that are not necessarily relevant to their role as cleric

You really need a lot of patience and courage to be an imam Sometimes people get things mixed up Irsquom an imam but Irsquom not perfect For instance Irsquoll sometimes go to the cafeacute not to drink alcohol OK but to meet a non-Muslim friend Anyway if people from the mosque see me I know some of them are going to say ldquoOh the imam you know he goes to the cafeacuterdquo [laughter] Thatrsquos what I find quite hard to live with on a daily basis Another example I know an imam whose daughter doesnrsquot wear headscarves and now people from his mosque are starting to hassle him about it ldquoLook hersquos the imam here but hersquos not capable of being the imam in his own homerdquo Some days I say to myselfldquoListen if yoursquore an imam itrsquos for Allah and you just have to forget about all that other stuff the criticism the surveillancerdquo otherwise Irsquod just give it all up

mdash Mouloud a Moroccan who took French nationality a skilled worker who is a volunteer imam in the prayer room at his factory (January 2004)

In addition to this community surveillance which as this work-er-imam suggests can be a burden both for the imam himself and his family there is also the time-consuming nature of the role In fact beyond the variety of religious careers and the different models of being a ldquogood imamrdquo that derive from them all the imams inter-viewed stressed the hours they spent responding to the demands of worshipers(requests to officiate at marriages burials conversions individual meetings aid to families in crisis and so on) All of them stress that they respond to these demands over and above the hours they spend leading the main rituals the salats jumarsquoa and ceremo-nies associated with the important dates of the Muslim calendar as well as providing religious andor language instruction(usually to children but also to adults when there is a demand for it)

12 Unlike the ldquoofficialrdquo Turkish and Algerian imams who are recognized as such by the ministries of reli-gious affairs of their respective states or the Moroccan imams appointed by the Council Of Moroccan Ulemas

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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nloa

ded

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wc

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-inti

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nive

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Str

asbo

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uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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V SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However as the archives of the Ministry of the Interior illustrate the information gathered in this way ndash which was not always verified or verifiable since it depended largely on the subjective attitudes of the public servants and those they questioned ndash might in some cas-es culminate in more or less radical procedures of imprisonment deportation or ldquoexclusionrdquo Hence every year a dozen or so imams who were considered rightly or wrongly as likely to ldquoconstitute a danger to the security of the Staterdquo are subjected to deportation from the country6 Such cases usually receive heavy media coverage as in the case of the imam of Venissieux Abdelkader Bouziane who was accused in 2004 of ldquoovertly advocating violence and hatredrdquo7 Yet there are also a number of lesser-known imams who like Ahmed receive an Invitation to Leave the Country (IQT) when they attempt to renew their residence permit An imam in Ile-de-France who was held in high regard by the local council of the community he served thanks to his involvement in the local campaign against drug abuse had his visa renewal application refused in 1992 after being accused ldquoby certain associates of having changed his views after a visit to Algeriardquo during which he might have been ldquoinfluenced by elements in the FISrdquo8 Algeriarsquos Islamist opposition For others it could be a case of symbolic measures to ldquoexcluderdquo them from the national com-munity Thus at the beginning of the 1990s Hussein a volunteer imam and professional researcher was refused French nationality because of a ldquofailure to assimilaterdquo on the grounds that by ldquoactively promoting values foreign to the French community he could not be seen as having assimilated to itrdquo9

The Risk of Stigmatization

But the difficulty of committing to the imamate does not only come from the fact that it is a source of concern to the State It also comes from the risk of stigmatization attached to fulfilling this role The image of the ldquopoorly integratedrdquo or ldquoradicalrdquo imam which is commonly evoked to illustrate the supposed problems of the Islamic faith is not confined solely to the corridors of the Ministry of the Interior This image fits all the easier within ldquocontemporary frame-works of understandingrdquo (Laferte and Avanza 2005 144) in that it

6 Interview with the Head of Islamic Affairs Central Bureau of Worship of the Ministry of the Interior

7 Extract from the expulsion order for A Bouziane by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy in February 2004

8 CAC v 20030069 art 30 note to the General Information Bureau from the Prefect of one of the main Ile-de-France departments dated October 2 1992

9 This decision was overturned by the Nantes Administrative Court in 1994 The French government lodged an appeal with the Council of State which eventually granted Hussein French nationality in 1999

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VISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

encourages the plotting and dramatization of Islam as a French pub-lic issue (Gusfield 2008 56) it is also widely disseminated through-out the mass media as exemplified by the following press extracts

Although some imams represent what the Muslim leadership of tomor-row could be they are an exception This body is still largely made up of first-generation immigrants with little education who are sometimes barely able to speak French and are illequipped to help Muslims rediscover an identity that is already battered by exile and to discourage them from lis-tening to the siren song of fundamentalism10

A thirty-eight-year-old Algerian is considered a possible candidate for imam at the great mosque in Creacuteteil However according to General Information this imam regularly preaches sermons tainted with an ldquoideol-ogy that incites discrimination hatred and violence towards the West and the Jewish peoplerdquo The Prefecture indicated that it was particularly ldquovigi-lant about Islamic fundamentalismrdquo11

This journalistic reading of the imamate the logical founda-tions of which deserve to be analyzed at ldquothe intersection of the demands of editors-in-chief ( ) and the sourcesrdquo (Berthaut et al 2009 105) is particularly apparent in the tendency of journalists to ignore the daily role of imam to focus on the ldquoexceptional epi-sodesrdquo in which government forces intervene ldquoto maintain public orderrdquo In fact as shown in the FACTIVA database (which covers the majority of French magazines and local and national newspa-pers since 1995) of the 831 articles published between 1995 and 2008 that had the word ldquoimam(s)rdquo in their title 431 focused on ldquodeported imamsrdquo or those ldquothreatened with deportationrdquo Thus by concentrating on those imams who pose a problem for the State media coverage tends to throw suspicion on all ministers of the Muslim faith

ldquoUnder Surveillancerdquo by Their Congregations Too

Beyond this double process of criminalization and stigmatiza-tion which tends to categorize Muslim clerics as foreigners who come to threaten public order (Rea et al 2001) the potential cost of commitment to the imamate also lies in the fact that this kind of religious activism places those who invest in it at the center of a network of socially constraining expectations In fact although imams in France bear an authority that is not generally granted to their colleagues in ldquoMuslimrdquo countries in France their religious

10 ldquoGreater Vigilance by Imams The Faithful Feel the Need for a Better Understanding of IslamrdquoLibeacuteration 10 September 2002

11 ldquoIslam An Imam from Creacuteteil is under Surveillance by the PrefecturerdquoLa Croix 4 December 2007

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VII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

legitimacy is based on a ldquopower relation founded not on a princi-ple that creates the organization12 but on the personal recognition of authorityrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 50) This authority is never fully guaranteed by the possession of a universally accepted qualification or the attribution of a specific recognized status and it is accepted as legitimate only within a particular Islamic associa-tionrsquos range of influence It appears all the more fragile and condi-tional in that it can never be definitively acquired In fact although candidate selection depends on criteria which often differ from one mosque to the next as was noted in the introduction one com-mon aspect of these ldquocooptationrdquoprocedures is the close surveil-lance of imams by the religious community both before and after their recruitment In other words the imam must not only accept state-imposed surveillance but also the moral judgments of the religious community even in areas of life that are not necessarily relevant to their role as cleric

You really need a lot of patience and courage to be an imam Sometimes people get things mixed up Irsquom an imam but Irsquom not perfect For instance Irsquoll sometimes go to the cafeacute not to drink alcohol OK but to meet a non-Muslim friend Anyway if people from the mosque see me I know some of them are going to say ldquoOh the imam you know he goes to the cafeacuterdquo [laughter] Thatrsquos what I find quite hard to live with on a daily basis Another example I know an imam whose daughter doesnrsquot wear headscarves and now people from his mosque are starting to hassle him about it ldquoLook hersquos the imam here but hersquos not capable of being the imam in his own homerdquo Some days I say to myselfldquoListen if yoursquore an imam itrsquos for Allah and you just have to forget about all that other stuff the criticism the surveillancerdquo otherwise Irsquod just give it all up

mdash Mouloud a Moroccan who took French nationality a skilled worker who is a volunteer imam in the prayer room at his factory (January 2004)

In addition to this community surveillance which as this work-er-imam suggests can be a burden both for the imam himself and his family there is also the time-consuming nature of the role In fact beyond the variety of religious careers and the different models of being a ldquogood imamrdquo that derive from them all the imams inter-viewed stressed the hours they spent responding to the demands of worshipers(requests to officiate at marriages burials conversions individual meetings aid to families in crisis and so on) All of them stress that they respond to these demands over and above the hours they spend leading the main rituals the salats jumarsquoa and ceremo-nies associated with the important dates of the Muslim calendar as well as providing religious andor language instruction(usually to children but also to adults when there is a demand for it)

12 Unlike the ldquoofficialrdquo Turkish and Algerian imams who are recognized as such by the ministries of reli-gious affairs of their respective states or the Moroccan imams appointed by the Council Of Moroccan Ulemas

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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nloa

ded

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asbo

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uann

eau

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enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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umen

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VISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

encourages the plotting and dramatization of Islam as a French pub-lic issue (Gusfield 2008 56) it is also widely disseminated through-out the mass media as exemplified by the following press extracts

Although some imams represent what the Muslim leadership of tomor-row could be they are an exception This body is still largely made up of first-generation immigrants with little education who are sometimes barely able to speak French and are illequipped to help Muslims rediscover an identity that is already battered by exile and to discourage them from lis-tening to the siren song of fundamentalism10

A thirty-eight-year-old Algerian is considered a possible candidate for imam at the great mosque in Creacuteteil However according to General Information this imam regularly preaches sermons tainted with an ldquoideol-ogy that incites discrimination hatred and violence towards the West and the Jewish peoplerdquo The Prefecture indicated that it was particularly ldquovigi-lant about Islamic fundamentalismrdquo11

This journalistic reading of the imamate the logical founda-tions of which deserve to be analyzed at ldquothe intersection of the demands of editors-in-chief ( ) and the sourcesrdquo (Berthaut et al 2009 105) is particularly apparent in the tendency of journalists to ignore the daily role of imam to focus on the ldquoexceptional epi-sodesrdquo in which government forces intervene ldquoto maintain public orderrdquo In fact as shown in the FACTIVA database (which covers the majority of French magazines and local and national newspa-pers since 1995) of the 831 articles published between 1995 and 2008 that had the word ldquoimam(s)rdquo in their title 431 focused on ldquodeported imamsrdquo or those ldquothreatened with deportationrdquo Thus by concentrating on those imams who pose a problem for the State media coverage tends to throw suspicion on all ministers of the Muslim faith

ldquoUnder Surveillancerdquo by Their Congregations Too

Beyond this double process of criminalization and stigmatiza-tion which tends to categorize Muslim clerics as foreigners who come to threaten public order (Rea et al 2001) the potential cost of commitment to the imamate also lies in the fact that this kind of religious activism places those who invest in it at the center of a network of socially constraining expectations In fact although imams in France bear an authority that is not generally granted to their colleagues in ldquoMuslimrdquo countries in France their religious

10 ldquoGreater Vigilance by Imams The Faithful Feel the Need for a Better Understanding of IslamrdquoLibeacuteration 10 September 2002

11 ldquoIslam An Imam from Creacuteteil is under Surveillance by the PrefecturerdquoLa Croix 4 December 2007

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VII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

legitimacy is based on a ldquopower relation founded not on a princi-ple that creates the organization12 but on the personal recognition of authorityrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 50) This authority is never fully guaranteed by the possession of a universally accepted qualification or the attribution of a specific recognized status and it is accepted as legitimate only within a particular Islamic associa-tionrsquos range of influence It appears all the more fragile and condi-tional in that it can never be definitively acquired In fact although candidate selection depends on criteria which often differ from one mosque to the next as was noted in the introduction one com-mon aspect of these ldquocooptationrdquoprocedures is the close surveil-lance of imams by the religious community both before and after their recruitment In other words the imam must not only accept state-imposed surveillance but also the moral judgments of the religious community even in areas of life that are not necessarily relevant to their role as cleric

You really need a lot of patience and courage to be an imam Sometimes people get things mixed up Irsquom an imam but Irsquom not perfect For instance Irsquoll sometimes go to the cafeacute not to drink alcohol OK but to meet a non-Muslim friend Anyway if people from the mosque see me I know some of them are going to say ldquoOh the imam you know he goes to the cafeacuterdquo [laughter] Thatrsquos what I find quite hard to live with on a daily basis Another example I know an imam whose daughter doesnrsquot wear headscarves and now people from his mosque are starting to hassle him about it ldquoLook hersquos the imam here but hersquos not capable of being the imam in his own homerdquo Some days I say to myselfldquoListen if yoursquore an imam itrsquos for Allah and you just have to forget about all that other stuff the criticism the surveillancerdquo otherwise Irsquod just give it all up

mdash Mouloud a Moroccan who took French nationality a skilled worker who is a volunteer imam in the prayer room at his factory (January 2004)

In addition to this community surveillance which as this work-er-imam suggests can be a burden both for the imam himself and his family there is also the time-consuming nature of the role In fact beyond the variety of religious careers and the different models of being a ldquogood imamrdquo that derive from them all the imams inter-viewed stressed the hours they spent responding to the demands of worshipers(requests to officiate at marriages burials conversions individual meetings aid to families in crisis and so on) All of them stress that they respond to these demands over and above the hours they spend leading the main rituals the salats jumarsquoa and ceremo-nies associated with the important dates of the Muslim calendar as well as providing religious andor language instruction(usually to children but also to adults when there is a demand for it)

12 Unlike the ldquoofficialrdquo Turkish and Algerian imams who are recognized as such by the ministries of reli-gious affairs of their respective states or the Moroccan imams appointed by the Council Of Moroccan Ulemas

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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-inti

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nive

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Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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VII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

legitimacy is based on a ldquopower relation founded not on a princi-ple that creates the organization12 but on the personal recognition of authorityrdquo (Dassetto and Bastenier 1984 50) This authority is never fully guaranteed by the possession of a universally accepted qualification or the attribution of a specific recognized status and it is accepted as legitimate only within a particular Islamic associa-tionrsquos range of influence It appears all the more fragile and condi-tional in that it can never be definitively acquired In fact although candidate selection depends on criteria which often differ from one mosque to the next as was noted in the introduction one com-mon aspect of these ldquocooptationrdquoprocedures is the close surveil-lance of imams by the religious community both before and after their recruitment In other words the imam must not only accept state-imposed surveillance but also the moral judgments of the religious community even in areas of life that are not necessarily relevant to their role as cleric

You really need a lot of patience and courage to be an imam Sometimes people get things mixed up Irsquom an imam but Irsquom not perfect For instance Irsquoll sometimes go to the cafeacute not to drink alcohol OK but to meet a non-Muslim friend Anyway if people from the mosque see me I know some of them are going to say ldquoOh the imam you know he goes to the cafeacuterdquo [laughter] Thatrsquos what I find quite hard to live with on a daily basis Another example I know an imam whose daughter doesnrsquot wear headscarves and now people from his mosque are starting to hassle him about it ldquoLook hersquos the imam here but hersquos not capable of being the imam in his own homerdquo Some days I say to myselfldquoListen if yoursquore an imam itrsquos for Allah and you just have to forget about all that other stuff the criticism the surveillancerdquo otherwise Irsquod just give it all up

mdash Mouloud a Moroccan who took French nationality a skilled worker who is a volunteer imam in the prayer room at his factory (January 2004)

In addition to this community surveillance which as this work-er-imam suggests can be a burden both for the imam himself and his family there is also the time-consuming nature of the role In fact beyond the variety of religious careers and the different models of being a ldquogood imamrdquo that derive from them all the imams inter-viewed stressed the hours they spent responding to the demands of worshipers(requests to officiate at marriages burials conversions individual meetings aid to families in crisis and so on) All of them stress that they respond to these demands over and above the hours they spend leading the main rituals the salats jumarsquoa and ceremo-nies associated with the important dates of the Muslim calendar as well as providing religious andor language instruction(usually to children but also to adults when there is a demand for it)

12 Unlike the ldquoofficialrdquo Turkish and Algerian imams who are recognized as such by the ministries of reli-gious affairs of their respective states or the Moroccan imams appointed by the Council Of Moroccan Ulemas

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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Presses de S

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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asbo

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uann

eau

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enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

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42 copy

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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VIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

For volunteer imams however the time spent at the mosque is all the more costly (in terms of time and personal sacrifice) in that it is normally in addition to their day job(as workers craftsmen teach-ers doctors etc) and there is no financial compensation to make up for their efforts The number of hours devoted to the mosque and its community is taken out of time normally devoted to the family and this may be a source of possible conflict between imams and their wives

What does your wife think about your being an imam

That itrsquos not easy for her In fact we often fight about it One day FR3 asked me how I managed to reconcile my work as a researcher with my role as imam and I said ldquoI just love itrdquo When she heard that it didnrsquot help the situation [He laughs] She thinks I devote too much time to my role as imam and not enough to the family [ ] I think shersquos very patient and I understand that she sometimes gets angry when I get home at midnight if we donrsquot see each other all day or that she has to leave me notes or call me up to speak to me I try to reason with her but she doesnrsquot take it all as well as I would have liked[ ] because she didnrsquot choose to marry an imam She married a man who then became an imam It was my choice

mdash Hussein a researcher at the CNRS and a volunteer imam since 1992 (January 2005)

A Commitment That May Create Problems at Work

Finally by ricochet volunteer imams sometimes find that their professional lives are affected by their commitment to the imamate even when they do not carry out this role in their workplace as in the case of the imam of the factory-based mosque referred to above Firstly although these part-time clerics see their religious commit-ment as part of their private lives it is sometimes difficult for them to conceal it in the long term Thus in Husseinrsquos case it was the refusal to grant him citizenship on the grounds of a ldquolack of integra-tionrdquo (mentioned above) which forced him to make his religious activism public so that the director of his laboratory could support his appeal to the Council of State Yet since these volunteer imams sometimes have a bit of notoriety at the local or even national level especially in the case of ldquointellectualsrdquo they are subjected to media publicity which sooner or later forces them to justify their religious commitment to their colleagues

Initially no one at the university knew I was an imam or even that I was a practicing Muslim Personally I have never wanted to mix work and religion At first I was worried people would find out I was afraid of how they would react especially since Irsquom Algerian and given what went on there in the 1990s

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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nloa

ded

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-inti

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nive

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asbo

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uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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umen

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IX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

And now your colleagues are aware of it

Yes they heard about it when I appeared in the local media because I was an imam [ ] At first they were rather surprised So I had to explain ldquoI go to a small prayer room in the suburbs We donrsquot have a proper full-time imam So as I know a bit more about our religion than the people who pray with me Irsquom the person who acts as imam rdquo But I know that there have been rumors ever since Some people said I belonged to the FIS that I forced my wife to wear the veil ( ) On principle I never discuss religion with students With all thatrsquos happened Irsquom afraid people will say ldquoYes yoursquore a university professor yoursquore taking advantage of your position your influence over the studentsrdquo Or that they might sayldquoYoursquore a funda-mentalistrdquo and all the stuff that lies behind that

mdash Djalil university professor and imam since 1995 (March 2004)

In the case of this university professor and imam his colleaguesrsquo discovery of his clerical role produced at most a certain suspicion and a few persistent rumors as to his supposed fundamentalism (even though the reason for his media exposure had nothing to do with the suspicion of any involvement with a radical Islamic move-ment) Yet for another imam a doctoral student who is active in the Union of Islamic Organizations of France the universityrsquos discovery of his role of volunteer imam severely affected his academic pros-pects in his opinion

I earned my masterrsquos degree in Morocco in 1987 and came to France to finish my studies I went as far as completing my PhD in chemistry

And after you finished your dissertation

I looked for a university position But I didnrsquot have French nationality at the time And it was already very difficult in terms of employment But above all to tell you the truth it was 1993 And in the town where I did my PhD people knew I was an imam

And do you think that was a factor

Yes it was definitely a factor The people in my lab and the university authorities werenrsquot happy about it In 1993 there was the Algerian con-flict there were attacks People got the wrong idea about everything and everyone and so I could say I was looked at with suspicion So Irsquove never had a university job which is what I wanted

mdash Abdallah a former volunteer imam now the salaried manager of an UOIF association (February 2005)

In the interviews many volunteer imams described how they had progressively allowed their religious activism to encroach upon their studies or their professional lives the time spent at the mosque led them to either spend less time on their studies or early careers or to turn to another field that was more compatible with their reli-gious commitment Suleyman an African student who had gone to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Islamic law came to France at the

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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asbo

urg

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uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

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42 copy

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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umen

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XSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

beginning of the 1980s planning to write a sociology dissertation on Islam In addition to being a student he was actively involved in his local Islamic association where he was soon nominated as imam Two years later when the rewards of his studies seemed uncertain and he could no longer reconcile his academic career with his reli-gious functions he finally accepted a full-time youth worker posi-tion in the same association He was paid to help the local children but today he continues to fulfill the role of imam on a voluntary basis As for Malik he explained how fulfilling the role of imam had limited his professional ambitions Having earned an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated from a small business school he stated during the interview that he had ldquonever wanted a managerial jobrdquo because of his volunteer work as imam-chaplain in a hospital ldquoI prefer just being a salesman For me the important thing is to earn a living while still having the time to carry on being a chaplain because thatrsquos what I really want to do even though I donrsquot want to be paid for itrdquo13 Others like the following engineer attributed their professional difficulties to their strong commitment to Islamic activi-ties and practice ldquoI had a good job in the last company I worked for but I was fired Even though the director officially claimed it was for misconduct I was led to understand that I wasnrsquot integrated enough ( ) [because] for instance as a Muslim I canrsquot go to parties where alcohol is being servedrdquo However this undoubtedly illustrates the limits of the interview as the sole means of under-standing the biographical consequences of activism in terms of how it restricts possibilities In fact it is difficult to state with certainty that the lack of promotion problems at work or change in career path described above are really the result of the fact that these men are volunteer imams and not simply a justification that allows them subsequently to explain professional problems that might have had little to do with their religious activism (Bourdieu 1986) It remains true however that given the drawbacks of fulfilling this role there is still a need to understand why volunteer imams do not decide to hang up their gandouras14

VARIABLE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE SYMBOLIC REWARDS

If we add community surveillance to police surveillance profes-sional complications to family problems and possible stigmatization

13 Interview with Mohamed (a Moroccan who took French nationality) he worked for several years as a salesman for a chain of bookstores in Eastern France (February 2005)

14 The gandoura a long-sleeved full-length tunic with a pointed hood is the apparel normally worn by imams when presiding over the main communal Islamic ceremonies

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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Str

asbo

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- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

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42 copy

Pre

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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XI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

to the risk of expulsion it is clear that taking on an ongoing role as a Muslim cleric in France will by its very nature have long-term and structural biographical effects Furthermore in the case of vol-unteer imams this commitment is all the more costly in personal terms in that the lack of material compensation in the form of salary or lodging means that its rewards are purely symbolic However the small proportion of salaried imams in France shows that this type of voluntary commitment has its attractions In fact the mas-sive reliance on unpaid imams cannot be explained solely by the scarce financial resources available to the Muslim associations that run the mosques If so many mosque directors are able to avoid hiring a salaried imam it is also because this role of cleric is a form of activism that is sufficiently attractive in itself to be undertaken on an unpaid basis Hence in order to understand the durability of this unremunerated commitment to the imamate the kinds of sym-bolic rewards it offers in both objective and subjective terms need to be analyzed (Gaxie 1977)

In objective terms the advantages offered by the imamate in France vary if not in kind then at least in terms of intensity and vol-ume since some prayer rooms are more likely than others to provide their clerics with greater visibility andor popularity in the public eye However these symbolic rewards whether great or small derive essentially from the potential authority inherent in the role of imam as well as the social and religious prestige it confers on he who ful-fills it Indeed since (by declaring what is allowed and what is not) the role of imam induces a ldquodichotomization between us [Muslims] and them [non-Muslims]rdquo (Streiff-Fenart 1996 9) it gives those who fulfill this role the status of community and religious spokesman In addition to exercising this leadership imams also have the possibil-ity of constructing for themselves and others an image of a ldquolearned manrdquo ldquosagerdquo or even ldquoMuslim scholarrdquo So over and above any aca-demic qualifications he may actually possess a mastery of Islamic learning (real or claimed) once recognized by the congregation enables imams to present themselves within the mosques as pos-sible organic intellectuals of migratory Islam Finally when client-like relations are formed at the local level between Muslim associations and local authorities being an imam (even a volunteer one) can in some cases and to various extents also mean being a local notable (both within and outside the religious community)15

15 In fact by agreeing to ldquoplay the gamerdquo imposed on them by local authorities some imams manage to ldquoaccess resources and gain benefit from thisrdquo so the client-like relationship becomes ldquoa specific form of sym-bolic mastery over onersquos social conditionrdquo Cf J-L Briquet 1999 ldquoDes amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteres-seacutes et morale du deacutes inteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix 45 (12) 18-19

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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nloa

ded

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-inti

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asbo

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uann

eau

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enne

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307

924

91

- 14

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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umen

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Presses de S

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XIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However there are at least two reasons why enumerating the ob-jective symbolic rewards conferred by the role of imam provides only partial insight into how long-term belief in the value of this kind of religious commitment is fostered In fact this exercise in objectifica-tion while necessary says nothing about the process whereby these imams come to associate themselves with the Islamic cause even though it is clear that it is one of the conditions that make it possible for them to derive effective benefits from their activism (Gaxie 2005 185) Nor can it tell us anything about the concrete ways in which these volunteers appropriate these rewards which are not intrinsic but which they are predisposed to take on and draw satisfaction from (2005 176)

Yet although the range of activities that characterizes the imamate is relatively stable from one mosque to another the in-depth inter-views conducted with around thirty imams show that they are not necessarily in agreement as to the aims of their commitment to their fellow Muslims nor in defining what for them are its most valuable aspects Not all of them react in the same way to the mosquersquos ten-dency to see the imam as a kind of family mediator Thus it is pri-marily the volunteer clerics from intermediate and upper social and professional categories who are willing in their own words ldquoto act as social workersrdquo or ldquopsychologistsrdquo In fact their university degrees social status and intellectualized and ascetic relationship to religious practice make them more likely than others to see Islam as a way to encourage the improvement of the working class On the other hand the working-class imams who may be less endowed with intellec-tual capital and possibly less socially secure define themselves less as ldquospiritual guidesrdquo and more as ldquoreligious techniciansrdquo This main-tenance of social hierarchy in the realm of religious commitment is demonstrated by their attachment to the more ritualistic aspects of their role and by a reluctance to get involved with family matters a kind of ldquodirty workrdquo that they are always likely to ldquoget blamed for if people arenrsquot happyrdquo16

The idea that each activist perceives the rewards and costs of his commitments as a function of his social trajectory is certainly not a new one Yet in the case of volunteer imams the explanatory frameworks applied are even more individually specific as their definitions of what an imam should be are multiple and heteroge-neous In fact in the absence of a system to train Muslim clerics that might inculcate a shared definition of their ldquovocationrdquo these

16 Extract from an interview with Abdallah (Moroccan-born French worker a volunteer imam at a small local mosque in a large city in the South of France February 2004)

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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ded

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wc

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-inti

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nive

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asbo

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uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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XIII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

imams unlike the priests studied by Charles Suaud did not share a ldquopriestly habitusrdquo (Suaud 1978) And while they later come to ldquoshare the viewpointrdquo (Lagroye 2006 13) of the Islamic associations among which they work it varies widely from one local organiza-tion to another as Islam in France is far from homogeneous partly because it is not yet established On a day-to-day basis imams are naturally part of ldquosociability networks [that tend to act as] belief validation systemsrdquo (Sorignet 2004 115) Yet unlike trade union and political activists they cannot refer to some central organiza-tion which may on a national or international scale provide the fuel to feed the flames of their religious enthusiasm For all these reasons an understanding of the maintenance mechanisms adopt-ed by volunteer imams must in this case perhaps more than in oth-ers go hand in hand with a detailed and contextualized analysis of the type of trajectory and socialization that enables them over time to appreciate the objective rewards of the role and to come to terms with its potential costs

THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM BIOGRAPHICAL PREDISPOSITION TO DEVOTION

Given the kind of biographical implications that taking on the role of volunteer imam may have deciding to become and to re-main a volunteer imam requires a predisposition to believe that the help and support one can provide for onersquos fellow Muslims is not outweighed by the rolersquos possible disadvantages Yet it also requires the ability to act as an imam on an ongoing basis for onersquos congregation However in a religious environment where the ex-ercise of authority is only legitimate when concealed one has to be able to act as if serving God and the well-being of the community are the only valid concerns Indeed in French mosques in order to speak ldquowith all the authority of this ineffable absence which is Godrdquo imams have to be able to ldquonullify their own personality in favor of [this] transcendent moral personalityrdquo (Bourdieu 1984 52-53) The importance of the biographical implications related to this kind of activism and the ways in which Islamic leadership is legitimized thus combine to make ldquodevotionrdquo (understood here as the ability to reconcile onersquos own interests with those of the congregation) a key predisposition in maintaining involvement with the voluntary imamate In other words the ldquogift of oneselfrdquo is what enables volunteer imams to accept on a long-term basis the risks of a ldquocareerrdquo they are not paid for At the same time it nourishes the practicality necessary to exercise an authority

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

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Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

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HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

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nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

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uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

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sses

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ence

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ocument dow

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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XIVSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

which as it presupposes an ignorance of the violence caused by the role must therefore both for oneself and for others take the form of disinterest (defined here as the impossibility of express-ing too much enjoyment in the symbolic rewards brought by this commitment)

The prayer room where daily observations were made over several months was indicative of the conditions necessary for the in situ illustration of such an arrangement Indeed the ways of dissimulating any personal interest in the imamate were par-tially revealed by the veiled competition that was being played out at the time between two candidates for the role of imam (cf insert below) The first Hussein had been attending the mosque for twenty-five years and had been carrying out the tasks of an Islamic cleric for some fifteen years He was very popular among the congregation who unanimously recognized him as ldquoimamrdquo Malik the other candidate had arrived more recently and strug-gled to receive the same treatment In fact although it was he who stood in for Hussein whenever the latterrsquos professional duties prevented him from being present (at midday prayers for exam-ple) the congregation regularly refused to grant him the title and status of ldquoimamrdquo

TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE IMAMATE TWO VERY DIFFERENT SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES

Hussein who had been a member of the association responsible for the 1975 creation of the Salam mosque since 1982 was born in West Africa17 at the end of the 1950s His illiterate father was the caretaker and gardener of a private residence Following the wishes of his very pious mother Hussein first attended a Koranic school At the age of seven however his father enrolled him in the public school which he saw as the only school capable of ensuring social advancement for his children At his fatherrsquos instigation academic success became a true collective enterprise for this very poor family with ten children The parents made up for their illiteracy by obliging the older children to help their younger siblings succeed It was in this familial context that Hussein a star pupil received a scholarship at the end of middle school it allowed him to at-tend a boarding school that welcomed the countryrsquos most ldquogiftedrdquo working-class students so they could continue their education After graduating with high honors in 1975 he was offered another scholarship this time by the Fonds drsquoAide agrave la Coopeacuteration to pursue a natural sciences degree in France Since his father had succumbed to illness in 1972 it was the school principal who persuaded his mother to let him go to France for religious reasons she was opposed to let-ting him move to a non-Muslim country At the end of his university studies which were again crowned with success Hussein was appointed as a researcher at the

17 Given that there are few black African imams in the South of France his nationality is not specified here in order to protect his anonymity

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XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

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XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

Doc

umen

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ded

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- 1

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91

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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umen

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924

91

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2014

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XV SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

CNRS in 1992 in the laboratory where he had completed his dissertation This appointment was accompanied by his wifersquos arrival in France and his permanent settlement in the country

Malik was born in the early 1970s to a well-off urban middle-class fam-ily in Morocco His father was the financial director of a Japanese automobile franchise and his mother owned a small boutique After having attended pri-vate French-language schools from primary to middle school Malik received a diploma (baccalaureacuteat) in technology from a public high school His parents thought that in a period marked by high unemployment it was better to choose a field leading to a career in industry In 1995 after earning a degree in informa-tion technology Malik convinced his parents to pay his studies in France After being admitted to an industrial maintenance degree program he completed a bachelorrsquos and masterrsquos degree at an institute of information technology which won him the title of IT engineer in 1998 However from the very beginning his professional life was complicated by his evident religious practice It became a constant source of conflict with his employers leading to two resignations and a dismissal Each broken contract meant a period of unemployment during which Malik a devout Muslim since childhood intensified his commitment to the Islamic faith During his last period of unemployment which lasted nearly three years he tried to become a volunteer imam at another mosque before starting to attend the Salam mosque where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and was appointed assistant imam by Hussein a year later

Malikrsquos lack of legitimacy was not as one might initially think purely due to his lack of seniority It raises the more general ques-tion of how an individualrsquos upward or downward social mobility may affect his capacity to manifest ldquodevotionrdquo It also illustrates how imams gain legitimacy in the mosque as well as how concretely the vocation of volunteer cleric is reinforced for as shall be illustrated these two processes tend to reinforce one another In fact Hussein and Malik underwent contrasting trajectories of social mobility the former experienced rapid and strong upward social mobility while the latter was faced with a downward social mobility that was all the more extreme since his social origins had scarcely prepared him for it These contrasting social trajectories affected the two menrsquos dif-fering capacity within the same mosque to manifest humility and restraint regarding the rewards deriving from a position of authority within a given religious community

This was clearly visible during the observations carried out at the Salam mosque during the evening meals of the month of Ramadan Hussein far from restricting himself to the role of ldquopreacherrdquo made it a point of honor to join in the less noble tasks (setting the ta-ble and serving food) all while complimenting the women who had prepared the meal Malik on the other hand was more distant in his relation to the members of the mosque and found it difficult to behave in a helpful and attentive manner which earned him severe

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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Presses de S

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XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

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umen

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Presses de S

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XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

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umen

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nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

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ence

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XVISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

rebukes from some members who were critical of his propensity to ldquoalways want to be in chargerdquo

A few months ago somebody organized a couscous dinner for the mosque [ ] Malik was with his friends in one of the teaching rooms and he told one of them to ldquogo and get a big plate of couscous for us allrdquo So his friend went down and told Abdallah (the mosque concierge) ldquoThe imam wants a platerdquoAbdallah rudely dismissed him sayingldquoThe only imam I know of here is Hussein Who does your friend think he is Who is he to give orders and have people serve himrdquo

mdash Yasmina the daughter of a Moroccan workman and a young stay-at-home mother who has a BTS diploma (February 2005)

One could cite a number of observations where as here Malik was unable to avoid overtly seeking out the symbolic rewards related to being an imam By showing more interest in the aspects of the imamrsquos role that gave him the opportunity to speak ldquoalonerdquo to the congregation (classes conferences sermons) to the detriment of those he considered less gratifying it seemed as if for him the imamate was an opportu-nity to compensate for the decline in social status he had experienced since losing his job Yet by doing so he demonstrated a certain ldquolack of humilityrdquo in the eyes of the mosque which largely explains his lack of legitimacy as an imam It is all the more difficult for him to stand up to comparison with Hussein as illustrated by the following extract For the congregation Husseinrsquos social success serves as additional proof of his capacity to ldquobe of service to his fellow Muslimsrdquo

Hussein is a very modest person But you saw hersquos not just a workman like me Even in the way he dresses hersquos modest ( ) To me all that shows that hersquos somebody who really has faith Because if he didnrsquot have great faith somebody like him who has a lot of diplomas and who works at the university he wouldnrsquot be living here among us when he could build a lovely house A man who behaves like he does hersquos an example to our young people ( ) And then therersquos all the time he spends at the mosque what with the prayers the classes for the young people the plan for the new mosque The poor man he spends more time here than he does at home

mdash Ahmed (French of Moroccan origins) SNCF retiree (excerpt from field journal)

This retired railway workerrsquos comments on how Hussein tended to downplay his social success not only illustrate a worshiperrsquos views on the sources of Husseinrsquos authority as an imam they also throw an oblique light on how his religious commitment has led him to limit any potential social advantage from his upward social mobility In doing so he also provides a glimpse of the intimate mechanisms that allow him to act as if what he gives to his religious community (time religious and academic knowledge social capital and so on) were compensated purely by immaterial and deferred satisfactions (that

Doc

umen

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nloa

ded

ww

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-inti

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- U

nive

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Str

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924

91

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nloaded from w

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cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

Doc

umen

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de

Str

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924

91

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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umen

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de

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asbo

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uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

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sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XVII SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

the members of the mosque attribute to faith and the ldquosatisfaction of serving Godrdquo and ldquothose who believe in himrdquo) The sociology of migration has helped to throw light on the tensions produced by the need to reconcile the social identity inherited from parents of lowly origins and the practices and representations acquired in the course of upward social mobility (Hoggart 1970 338) It has also shown how these tensions have tended to produce a certain durable pro-pensity towards activist commitment (Pudal 1989 Mauger 2005) Since the identity reconstruction phenomenon for migrants who set-tle in France is ldquoas much a matter of culture as of classrdquo religious commitment may in some cases aid ldquothe compensatory recasting of the lsquowersquo that is lost during the vagaries and misadventures of migra-tionrdquo (Bastenier 1997 54) Being the imam in an impoverished area is therefore a way for Hussein to remain loyal to the ldquosocial group of originrdquo the manifestations of which are redefined throughout his migratory journey Furthermore fulfilling the role of imam allows him to limit the impact of his social mobility by giving him a reason to mingle with the working class on a daily basis while at the same time giving him the opportunity to use his accumulated educational and professional capital to their benefit through the transmission of rare religious expertise By feeding Husseinrsquos belief in the value of the ldquogamerdquo these ldquoprivate motivationsrdquo of commitment and continuing loyalty to the role of imam bring him awareness of most of the sym-bolic rewards this role objectively provides (such as having a certain moral authority that entails a certain popularity) and also enables him to act with the humility required to legitimately occupy this role In fact since putting himself at the service of his community allows him to remain loyal to his working-class origins all while assigning moral value to his upward social mobility it is relatively easy for him to act as if ultimately his own interests directly coin-cide with those of his religious community although its members are culturally socially and economically less advantaged than him Moreover the reasons that spur him to commit to the imamate are also those that give meaning to the negative effects the role has on other areas of his life and thus enable him to continue fulfilling it These difficulties far from calling into question his commitment to the imamate actually act as a symbolic validation of its value Firstly despite the relative security his professional position provides they allow him to feel as if he shares some of the difficulties encountered by his fellow Muslims in France Secondly they give him the op-portunity to present himself as a spokesman and defender of his religious community as when he agreed to publicize his appeal to the Council of State after being refused citizenship in order to de-nounce discrimination against practicing Muslims in France

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XVIIISOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

Affirmations that rely on the analysis of a single trajectory in-evitably risk being criticized for their specificity and thus for the non-representative nature of the selected case Therefore to dem-onstrate that under certain conditions an unlikely upward social mobility (and the tensions it generates) can constitute a long-term motivation for commitment to the imamate it is necessary to show that this analytical framework can be applied to other cases The example of Mouloud who became an imam in the factory where he worked after rising from the status of unskilled laborer to that of skilled worker (cf insert below) is interesting in this respect It illustrates how this framework can be usefully applied in another social space In fact it is even more demonstrative in this case since his ldquovocation to be a volunteer imamrdquo ended along with his professional mobility

MOULOUD BECOMING AN IMAM TO FIT IN AS A SKILLED WORKER

Born in 1955 in a rural Moroccan village Mouloud grew up in a modest farming family Although his fatherrsquos illness forced him to leave school early to work as a bricklayer (1970) his trajectory was also one of high social mobility thanks to professional training After his fatherrsquos death he immigrated to France where he became an unskilled worker in a plastics factory (1972-1975) When he lost his job because of restructuring he took a course in agricultural machinery repair at an adult training facility (AFPA) His technical certification (CAP) al-lowed him to become a mechanic in a vehicle repair shop In 1978 when his wife joined him in France he decided to move to a small town in the South of France where there was an aluminum factory that employed a large number of Moroccans from his home village Although almost all of the immigrant workers in the factory spent their entire working lives confined to unskilled jobs Mouloud be-came a skilled worker in 1994 since his CAP made him eligible for in-house train-ing he thus become qualified in Automated Mechanical Systems Maintenance Thanks to this job he was able to buy a house pay for his childrenrsquos college education and look after his mother and youngest brother back in Morocco Yet as his daughter explained ldquobeing one of the few Arabs who worked alongside French workers and had left the production linerdquo had placed him in a difficult intermediate position ldquoBecause he had a house had studied in France and had succeeded well the other Arabs werenrsquot always friendly towards him Irsquom not saying they didnrsquot like him but they were jealous of him ( ) And with the French people he worked with at the factory again it wasnrsquot a lot of them were bigots who played dirty tricks on him they let him do all the work and then they criticized him in front of the foremanrdquo18 It was around this time (1992) that Mouloud who had never been particularly devout before joined other workers to lobby the management to provide a prayer room Since he was literate in both French and Arabic he set about educating himself about Islam which eventually led to his being offered the position of volunteer imam (1996) He accepted the job because he felt it was necessary to use his knowledge ldquoto help other people even though it isnrsquot easy because normally an imam is someone much more important than merdquo

18 Informal discussion with Nora a BTS student during a car journey with me following a long interview with her father (January 2004 conversation reconstituted from memory and field notes)

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umen

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-inti

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nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

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sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XIX SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

What is interesting about Mouloudrsquos case is that although he served as volunteer imam until he was fired in 2002 he subsequently refused to officiate at the prayer room that opened in town after the factory closed down in 2003 In fact besides renewing his Muslim faith for him being an imam had mainly been a way to make his status as a qualified immigrant worker acceptable within the factory where as in many others immigrant workers were largely confined to the most unskilled jobs (Sayad 1999 233-253) Being an imam at the factory was what allowed him to demonstrate his loyalty to the group of unskilled ldquoArabrdquo workers all while remaining a unique member of the group of skilled ldquoFrenchrdquo workers Indeed because it served his social group of origin the translation of the professional hierarchy into the religious sphere(via the structural equivalence be-tween being religiously and professionally qualified) is what ena-bled Mouloud to render the upward social trajectory that had led him to leave this very group acceptable by attaching a moral value to it and thus attenuating its effects From this point of view it is not surprising that the closing of the factory which put an end to the tensions Mouloud had experienced also signaled the end of his commitment to the role of volunteer imam

Analyzing the voluntary commitment to the role of imam through its biographical implications deepens our understanding of religious activism in two ways Evoking the costs and burdens attached to the role of imam draws attention to the conditions leading to the forma-tion of this ldquobelief in the game which means that the individuals who participate in it are ready to give themselves over to it entirely often at the cost of their material comfort security and even family liferdquo (Sapiro 2006 9) Indeed ldquocareerrdquo-based analyses are often inadequate in that they assume that ldquoany individual is capable of taking up a given ca-reer or at least that the analysis should not be based on the personal and social characteristics thought to be the cause of their commitmentrdquo (Darmon 2008 88-90) Drawing attention to the socially constituted dispositions which make it possible for a certain ldquovocationrdquo to blossom and flourish despite a context in which Muslim clerics are criminal-ized and stigmatized invites reflection about how a person must be able to ldquodordquo or ldquoput up withrdquo certain things in order to remain a vol-unteer imam This approach also raises the question of who one has to ldquoberdquo (in terms of position and disposition) in order to be able to ldquodordquo these things naturally and to draw a certain satisfaction from them if not in all mosques then at least in the mosque where one has decided to officiate As this article has tried to demonstrate ldquoinhabiting the role of imamrdquo in a mosque and ldquofeeling at home thererdquo requires being able to find meaning in all the difficulties that weigh down on this function while also being prepared to deny its rewards

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXSOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

However revealing the moral significance that this double hard-ship assumes for some volunteer imams also changes the focus of the question of the biographical implications of activism Although the role of imam has definite consequences on the lives of those who fulfill it and who suffer the cost of this voluntary commit-ment the examples of Hussein and Mouloud also show how com-mitment can be the way to limit the biographical implications of a change in social status that occurred prior to onersquos acceptance of the role Although as imams these men constantly make use of the resources and dispositions of their upward social mobility occupy-ing this role nevertheless allows them to continue to share a certain common destiny with the working class from which they emerged While some studies have defined activism as a means for reshaping and transforming habitus it may for some of these imams be better understood as a way of preserving who they once were and who they think they should remain ndash both for the benefit of others and their own

Solenne Jouanneau(SAGE - IEP ndash University of Strasbourg)

jouanneausolennefreefr

REFERENCES

BASTENIER Albert 1997 ldquoCONSCIENCE ethnique et Islamrdquo In Facettes de lrsquoislam belge edited by Felice Dassetto Louvain la Neuve Eacuted BruylantAcademia

BERTHAUT Jeacuterocircme Eric DARRAS and Sylvain LAURENS 2009

ldquoPOURQUOI les faits divers stigmatisent-ils Hypothegravese de la discrimination indirecterdquo Reacuteseaux 157-15889-124

BOURDIEU Pierre 1984 ldquoLA deacuteleacutegation et le feacutetichisme politiquerdquoActes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 52-5349-55

BOURDIEU Pierre 1986 ldquoLrsquoILLUSION biographiquerdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 62-6369-72

BRIQUET Jean-Louis 1999 ldquoDES amitieacutes paradoxales Eacutechanges inteacuteresseacutes et morale du deacutesinteacuteressement dans les relations de clientegravelesrdquo Politix45 (1)27-20

DARMON Muriel 2008 DEVENIR anorexique une approche sociologique Paris La Deacutecouverte

DASSETO Felice and Albert BASTENIER 1984

LrsquoISLAM transplanteacute Brussels Eacuted Epo

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

Doc

umen

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ded

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wc

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-inti

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urg

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- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

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Presses de S

ciences Po

XXI SOCIEacuteTEacuteS CONTEMPORAINES

No 84

Solenne JOUANNEAU

HOW VOLUNTEER IMAMS IN FRANCE MAINTAIN THEIR ldquoVOCATIONrdquo

FREGOSI Franck 2004 ldquoLrsquoIMAM le confeacuterencier et le jurisconsulte Retour sur trois figures contemporaines du champ religieux Islamique en Francerdquo Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions 125131-147

GAXIE Daniel 1977 ldquoEacuteCONOMIE des partis et reacutetributions du militantismerdquo Revue Franccedilaise de Science Politique 27 (1)123-154

GAXIE Daniel 2005 ldquoREacuteTRIBUTIONS du militantisme et paradoxe de lrsquoaction collectiverdquo Revue Suisse de Science Politique 11 (1)157-188

GUSFIELD Joseph 2008 LA culture des problegravemes publics Paris Economica

HOGGART Richard 1970 LA culture du pauvre Paris Eacuted de Minuit

HUGHES Everett C 1996 LE regard sociologique Paris Eacuted EHESS

JOUANNEAU Solenne 2009a ldquoLES imams en France Reacuteinvention et tentatives drsquoappropriations drsquoun magistegravere religieux en contexte migratoirerdquo PhD dissertation Universiteacute Paris VII

mdash 2009b ldquoREacuteGULARISER ou non un imam eacutetranger en France Droit au seacutejour et deacutefinition du lsquobon imamrsquo en pays laiumlquerdquo Politix86147-166

LAFERTE Gilles and Martina AVANZA 2005

ldquoDEacutePASSER la construction des identiteacutes Identification image sociale appartenancerdquo Genegraveses 61134-152

LAGROYE Jacques 2006 LA veacuteriteacute dans lrsquoEacuteglise catholique contestations et restauration drsquoun reacutegime drsquoautoriteacute Paris Eacuted Belin

MAUGER Geacuterard 2005 ldquoENTRE engagement politique et engagement sociologiquerdquo In Reconversions militants edited by Sylvie Tissot Christophe Gaubert and Marie-Heacutelegravene Lechien Limoges PULIM

NOIRIEL Geacuterard 2006 INTRODUCTION agrave la socio-histoire Paris La Deacutecouverte

PUDAL Bernard 1989 PRENDRE parti Pour une sociologie historique du PCF Paris Presse de la FNSP

REA Andrea Fabienne BRION Christine SCHAUT and Axel TIXHON eds 2001

MON deacutelit Mon origine Criminaliteacute et criminalization de lrsquoimmigration Westmael De Boeck Universiteacute

SAPIRO Gisegravele 2006 ldquoLA vocation artistique entre don et don de soirdquo Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 1684-11

SAYAD Abdelmalek 1999 LA double absence Des illusions de lrsquoeacutemigreacute aux souffrances de lrsquoimmigreacute Paris Eacuted du Seuil

SORIGNET Pierre-Emmanuel 2004

ldquoSORTIR drsquoun meacutetier de vocation le cas des danseurs contemporainsrdquo Socieacuteteacutes Contemporaines 56111-132

STREIFF-FENART Jocelyne 1996

ldquoFRONTIEgraveREETHNIQUErdquo Vocabulaire Historique et Critique des Relations Inter ethniques 438-40

SUAUD Charles 1978 LA vocation sacerdotale Paris Eacuted de Minuit

WEBER Max 1993 THE Sociology of Religion Boston Beacon Press

Doc

umen

t dow

nloa

ded

ww

wc

airn

-inti

nfo

- U

nive

rsiteacute

de

Str

asbo

urg

- Jo

uann

eau

Sol

enne

- 1

307

924

91

- 14

10

2014

12h

42 copy

Pre

sses

de

Sci

ence

s P

o D

ocument dow

nloaded from w

ww

cairn-intinfo - Universiteacute de S

trasbourg - Jouanneau Solenne - 130792491 - 14102014 12h42 copy

Presses de S

ciences Po