Ferruh Yilmaz is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Tulane University.
“[A] remarkable study on the ways racism has taken in Western
Europe, in particular in relations between Muslim immigrants and
Western European states. Yilmaz has made a first-rate intervention
on the discussion concerning national, popular, and ethnic
identities in the contemporary world. His contribution to
contemporary scholarship is outstanding.”—Ernesto Laclau, author of
On Populist Reason
“Yilmaz’s important book charts the rise of culture as the dominant
framework through which we now understand the politics of migration
in Europe. He gives a theoretically sophisticated account of the
production of the ‘Muslim immigrant,’ the rise of right-wing
populism, and the way ‘progressive’ values—including those of
feminism and gay rights—have come to serve racist and exclusionary
ends.”—Ben Pitcher, University of Westminster
“Guided by an original reformulation of hegemony theory that
highlights the transformative effects of media-driven moral panics,
this book offers a deep dive into contemporary anti-immigration
discourse in Europe. With great insight, Yilmaz unveils the
relations of power undergirding the seemingly benign ‘common sense’
definitions of the immigration ‘problem.’”—Rodney Benson, author of
Shaping Immigration News
“In this beautifully written and brilliantly argued book, Ferruh
Yilmaz shows how moral panics and political mobilizations against
Muslim ‘difference’ function in western nations to obscure
pervasive oppressions of race and class. Drawing deftly on advanced
currents in studies of communication and cultural studies, How the
Workers Became Muslims demonstrates the dynamism of discourse as a
social force. Yilmaz reveals how the prevailing categories and
classifications that are deployed in political discourse
deliberately direct attention toward conflicts over cultural norms
and values in order to deflect attention away from material and
political conflicts over resources and rights. This book shows how
anti-Muslim mobilizations are not merely manifestations of cultural
racism and Islamophobia, but rather key tools for the perpetuation
of class dominance and the occlusion of class conflicts.”—George
Lipsitz, author of How Racism Takes Place
“Dr. Yilmaz’s book is a highly original and sophisticated study of
public discourse on immigration in Denmark. The argument he puts
forward here is significant for its understanding of the social and
political changes in Europe in the last two decades. Yilmaz’s work
sheds important new light on the politics of immigration and is
particularly effective in showing how immigration politics has
restructured the basic ways in which social and political interests
are conceived in Europe. Beyond the issue of immigration, Yilmaz
makes important interventions in theoretical and methodological
discussions about political discourse and ‘ideological hegemony.’
This important book will make a real impact and will be widely
read, both as a statement about contemporary European politics and
as a statement about how to study discourse and political
power.”—Daniel C. Hallin, University of California–San Diego
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