Quote 1:
“Islam is a disease that Australia needs to vaccinate.”
—Pauline Hanson, March 24, 2017
Student Analysis:
Pauline Hanson’s comparison of Islam to a “disease” highlights how dehumanizing rhetoric is used to frame Muslim immigrants as threats to public health and safety. This language casts a religious identity as a contagion that must be controlled, reinforcing anti-Muslim stereotypes. Drawing on Massey and Brettell, V. explains that such language supports exclusionary practices by depicting migrants as inherently incompatible with Australian society. Brettell’s theories on migration and identity emphasize that Hanson’s rhetoric stokes fear and division, limiting any vision of multicultural coexistence and shaping policy to marginalize Muslim communities. Massey’s analysis on identity politics adds that such narratives undermine migrants’ sense of belonging, portraying them not just as outsiders but as dangers to national “health.”
Quote 2:
“Je ne lutte pas contre l’islam … je lutte contre l’idéologie islamiste qui est une idéologie qui s’attaque au fondement de notre république.”
—Marine Le Pen, April 20, 2022
Translation:
“I am not fighting Islam … I am fighting the Islamic ideology, which is an ideology that attacks the foundation of our republic.”
Student Analysis:
E. examines how Marine Le Pen’s statement, made during the 2022 French presidential debate, distinguishes Islam as a religion from what she calls “Islamist ideology.” Le Pen’s rhetoric, E. argues, reinforces biases that link Muslims to extremism and uses secularism as a justification for restrictive policies, like hijab bans in schools, which target Muslim cultural expression. Drawing on Brettell, E. highlights that these policies push for outdated forms of acculturation, expecting Muslims to abandon practices deemed “un-French.” Massey’s migration theories add that such rhetoric reflects France’s attempt to redefine national identity in response to migration, symbolically “redrawing borders” that exclude particular cultural and religious identities from the French national image.
Quote 3:
« Je demande que l’on mette l’islam radical à genoux, et je le ferai toujours. Expulsons les étrangers islamistes, fermons les mosquées radicales. Et nous expulserons les imams étrangers qui sont à leurs têtes… arrêt[ons] l’immigration légale et clandestine ».
“I demand we take radical Islam to its knees, and I always will. Let’s deport the foreign Islamists, close the radical Mosques. And let’s deport the foreign Imams who are the leaders. Let’s stop legal and illegal immigration.”
— Marine Le Pen, August 21, 2015
Student Analysis:
C.’s analysis contextualizes Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration rhetoric within France’s colonial history in North Africa. Le Pen’s call to deport “foreign Islamists” and close “radical Mosques” reflects a strategy of targeting North African Muslim communities to incite fear and promote a monolithic view of French identity. This echoes the colonial-era expectation that North African Muslims could only attain citizenship by renouncing Islam—a legacy that persists in modern xenophobic policies.
Drawing on Paul Spickard’s concept of Anglo-Normativity, C. argues that Le Pen’s rhetoric represents a form of French normativity where minority viewpoints and cultural expressions, particularly those of North African Muslims, are disregarded. Spickard’s framework highlights how national identity often centers on the majority culture, sidelining minority experiences and fostering exclusion. Le Pen’s statements imply that to be truly “French” is to reject Islamic influence, portraying North African Muslims as inherently incompatible with French society. This rhetoric reinforces harmful stereotypes and exacerbates xenophobia, shaping a divisive narrative around cultural diversity that stigmatizes Muslim migrants and dismisses their historical and social ties to France.
Quote 4:
“Islam does not belong in Germany.”
– Alternative for Germany (AfD) Manifesto, 2016
Student Analysis:
L. highlights how the AfD’s anti-Islam stance exemplifies what Caroline Brettell describes as “sedentary bias,” where migration is viewed as a disruption rather than a natural part of social dynamics. This bias, she explains, creates exclusionary attitudes toward Middle Eastern and African migrants, while the same scrutiny is not applied to European migrants. L. also connects the AfD’s stance to Massey’s world systems theory, which attributes migration from poorer to wealthier nations to global capitalist inequalities. Massey’s framework suggests that economic hardships in migrants’ countries of origin are a direct result of these inequalities, driving people to seek better opportunities. However, L. observes that the AfD ignores Massey’s elements of a comprehensive migration understanding, such as the structural forces pushing migrants to Germany and the socio-economic contributions they make. The AfD’s singular focus on exclusion, without consideration of these factors, fosters a view of migrants as outsiders rather than integral to Germany’s social and economic landscape.
Quote 5:
“The current migration wave [into Europe] is made up of Islamists. These are people from a totally different culture. They exclude fifty percent of their population, namely women, from public life and from access to education. These people must not be given the right to vote in this country, but we should make sure that they will not even be able to enter our territory.”
– Czech President Milos Zeman, November 2015
Student Analysis:
A. examines Czech President Milos Zeman’s comments through the theoretical frameworks of Douglas Massey and Caroline Brettell. Zeman’s statements, which label Muslim migrants as cultural threats, ignore the structural factors driving migration, which Massey’s synthetic approach would highlight. According to Massey, migrants often come from regions undergoing rapid change and development, and his theory emphasizes that migration is shaped by broader economic and social forces rather than “backwardness” or cultural stagnation. Brettell would argue that Zeman’s rigid approach fails to recognize the concept of identity fluidity. His insistence on barring entry to these migrants reflects a perspective of forced assimilation, disregarding the possibility of acculturation and cultural exchange. A. points out that Zeman’s stance not only isolates Muslim migrants but also fails to engage with cultural understanding, essential to anthropological approaches, as it prevents any bidirectional integration between migrant and host communities.
Quote 6:
Original:
“Ich kann Ihnen sagen: Burkas, Kopftuchmädchen, und alimentierte Messermänner und sonstige Taugenichtse werden unseren Wohlstand, das Wirtschaftswachstum und vor allem den Sozialstaat nicht sichern.“
Alice Weidel, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD; far-right party in Germany) (May 5th, 2018)
English:
“[Though] I can tell you: burqas, headscarf girls, publicly supported* knife-men, and other good-for-nothings will not secure our prosperity, economic growth, and, above all, the social state.”
*in this case, publicly supported refers to them being supported by public funds/social help and benefits
Student Analysis:
S. discusses how Weidel’s statement perpetuates the stereotype that migrants contribute nothing to society, only benefiting from public support without contributing to economic growth or community stability. Drawing on Massey’s insights, S. argues that migrants often move to seek economic opportunities and stability, which are inherently counterproductive to notions of burden and crime associated with migration. Additionally, S. critiques the negative portrayal of migrant communities in the media, arguing for more balanced representation that highlights positive integration stories, including support from local communities and the resilience of migrants in creating new lives.
By dismissing the potential of migrant contributions to the social fabric, Weidel’s rhetoric overlooks the valuable social networks migrants form, which strengthen both local economies and community cohesion.
Beyond Borders 