The Controversy Surrounding the Construction of Mosques by Turkish-Muslim Organizations in Austria: A Multidimensional Analytical Framework
The Controversy Surrounding the Construction of Mosques by Turkish-Muslim Organizations in Austria: A Multidimensional Analytical Framework

Author(s): Ernst Fürlinger
Subject(s): Architecture, Geography, Regional studies, Recent History (1900 till today), Islam studies, Migration Studies
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Islam; mosque; Austria; Turkish-Muslim organisations; conflict;
Summary/Abstract: The controversy surrounding the construction of mosques has been part of Europe’s political landscape during the past forty years, and it has reached a new level of intensity since the beginning of the new century. The controversy crystallizes public debate and struggle over Islam, migration, and European identity. It’s about more than architecture, the height of minarets or the number of parking places around a mosque. The heated debates surrounding the development of Muslim infrastructure are public forums where societies negotiate questions of belonging or exclusion of the Muslim minority in the national state. In my paper, I will propose a multi-dimensional framework for the analysis of these controversies. This paper is based on empirical research on opposition to mosque construction in Austria, which I conducted between 2009 and 2012 (Fürlinger 2013).

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