Project

In the current times of war and political turmoil, security issues surface and pressing geo-political debates arise. In Europe, nation-states are grappling with the challenges posed by a constantly growing Muslim population combined with a steady increase in South-North (forced) immigration flows. 

Accordingly, the most challenging socio-legal complexities of today concern three key-aspects: 

(A) the interaction between Muslim-majority countries (MMCs) and European countries (EuCs) in case of im/migrant; 

(B) the implications - also on migration routes - of European national states dealing differently with foreign sharīʿah-compliant legal provisions and social practices; 

(C) the possibility to reconcile Islamically inspired normativity with social justice and human rights in a way that resonates with both EuCs’ and MMCs’ legal systems and civil societies.

Goals

MISLAM intends to reveal how and to what extent mostly unperceived dynamics impact on, and eventually mould, the migratory routes of MMCs’ im/migrants and their (long-term) settlement projects.

While deploying a typology of critical socio-legal issues specifically characterising MMCs’ im/migrants, the project sheds light on what happens in courts and beyond.

MISLAM also investigates whether – in MMCs – the (extra-)judicial documentation produced in Italy (and in other EuCs) is granted legal (non-)validation, religious (non-)recognition, and/or social (non-)acknowledgement. 

Timeliness 

MISLAM stems from the observation of the present-day conflicts and instability leading to the resurfacing of unresolved inter/national issues in public and political debates. Accordingly, the project addresses topical and knotty problems by investigating – through the prism of normativity – usually overlooked dynamics occurring when the daily life of MMCs’ im/migrants unfolds on European soil, or when migrant wo/men (are forced to) travel back to their country of origin.

Post-modern g-localised multipolarity

The project makes visible the invisible through the prism of normativity. Embracing a novel perspective, MISLAM unpacks the complexities embedded in the fluid framework of the post-modern g-localised multipolarity. Flipping the current narrative, the project pays attention not only to im/migrant men and women, but also to inter/national (non-)state socio-legal actors, who are playing crucial roles in legal, administrative, and healthcare environments.

Socio-legal actors and research-subjects 

MISLAM pays specific attention not only to nationals of MMCs (temporarily) settled in Europe (and, in some cases, relocating to a MMC), but also to socio-legal actors impacting on their lives. In effect, inter/national (non-)state socio-legal actors - including key-intermediaries - are normally unnoticed despite playing crucial roles in legal, administrative, and healthcare environments, both in EuCs and in MMCs. 

Methods and methodology

Adopting a multi-/inter-disciplinary cross-national comparative approach, MISLAM unveils the matters arising when law is diffused, legal provisions are transplanted across different jurisdictions, and social praxes are translated into concrete actions, in diverse environments, in various countries. 

Relying upon a reality-conscious (extra-)judicial approach, MISLAM pursues the investigation of contemporary socio-legal developments by adopting a pluralistic approach and an inter-legal method, combining top-down and bottom-up analyses in a polycentric scenario. 

Desk-research is enriched by etic/emic empirical scrutiny and ethnographic investigations. The researchers rely upon qualitative social-science research methods and extended (trouble-)case method. 

The lives of individuals embedded in multi-layered and multi-sited transnational social fields are then unpacked by conducting comparative analyses at micro-, meso- and macro-levels.

Research Design

The project work-plan is divided into six Work Packages (WP): two Operational and four Scientific.

The Operational ones will grant coordination, communication and management (WP 1), and provide dissemination and networking (WP 6).

Among the four Scientific Work Packages, two have a Thematic focus and two have a Geographical focus.

WP 2 and WP 3 embrace a Thematic viewpoint by investigating dynamics specifically affecting nationals of MMCs:  

• WP 2 focuses on judicial dynamics; 

• WP 3 concentrates on (extra-)judicial dynamics.

• WP 4 and WP 5 have a Geographic focus: 

  • WP 4 focuses on four selected MMCs  - i.e., Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Bangladesh.

  • WP 5 concentrates on EuCs where MMCs’ nationals live as a minority - i.e., EU Member States in addition to the UK and Switzerland.

Why MISLAM?

MISLAM is an acronym –or, more precisely, a portmanteau– coined by Federica Sona to convey the idea of interaction, mobility, and identities coming together. This neologistic blend combines the letter M –which stands for both "Migrant" and "My"– with the word islām. 

In the present project, the term "Migrant" is referred to “people on the (cross-border) move”, such as (economic or forced) migrants, immigrants, reunited family members, subsidiarity-protected persons, displaced persons, as well as the beneficiaries of international and/or special protection, including asylum seekers and refugees as identified in the Geneva Convention. The adjective "My" symbolises the four religious dimensions and cultural variations of religiousness combined with the “multiple ways” of being Muslim, and/or a national of a Muslim-majority country (MMCs). The word "ISLAM" is then used as a synonym of the Arabic expression al-’islām (الإسلام‎) to identify the whole body of Muslim peoples, countries, and states in their socio-cultural, political and religious spheres.

For further details, see CALUMET – intercultural law and humanities review ISSN 2465-0145 (on-line), ISSUE 23(2025).

MISLAM Visual Identity: From concept to design

Transforming concepts into visual content