Imagining France as an Islamic State: Identity Construction in Michel Houellebecq's Soumission

Page created by Marilyn Brown
 
CONTINUE READING
Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020                         P-ISSN 1858-0157
 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/LC                              E-ISSN 2460-853X

                    Imagining France as an Islamic State:
          Identity Construction in Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission
                                                 Andi Mustofa
                                    Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia
                                        Email: andimustofa@uny.ac.id

Abstract
The regime change in France, which puts the Islamic group in a dominant position, has changed the structure of
the French Republic. The dynamics of social relation transformation cause shifts in the status of social groups
such as Islam, Atheists, Jews, and Catholics in social relation patterns. This descriptive qualitative research aims
at revealing the form of exclusivity, resistance, and negotiation in the construction of identity performed by the
characters in Soumission. The analysis is based on the concept of identity. The results of this research are the
exclusive identities of Islamic group are portrayed through the education and political system and the position of
women in social relation; the forms of resistance as a strategy in the construction of identity are made through
demonstration, mobilization, exploitation of the body, and rejection of the use of religious symbols; the forms of
negotiation are done by accepting and rejecting Islamic laws applied by the Islamic group.

Keywords: France, identity, Islam, negotiation, resistance.

INTRODUCTION

                                                           was in a precarious situation. The issue of immi-
                                                           grants, racism, political warfare between parties
       In January 2015, Michel Houellebecq pub-            is widely discussed and blamed as a trigger for the
lished his novel Soumission which becomes a de-            crisis in France.
bate because of the sensitivity of the theme: Fran-                France recognizes the principle of laïcité
ce becomes an Islamic State. Soumission tells the          which has become part of the tradition and iden-
dominance of the Islamic group in France, which            tity of the French Republic, which is based on
changes the social group position in French so-            freedom, equality of men and women, equality
ciety. These changes include the Islamisation of           of opportunity, rights, and obligations, and a sen-
the universities in France, the obligation for te-         se of brotherhood between citizens regardless of
achers to be Muslim to be able to teach, the lega-         the background of each individual (Bruley, 2005).
lization of polygamy, the obligation to cover hair         Soumission’s story is focused on the domination
for women by using burqa and the prohibition of            of the Islamic identity group in France and the
working for women.                                         abolition of laïcité, which is replaced with Islamic
       Although the story in Soumission is the re-         laws. Although Soumission is considered as a fic-
sult of the author’s imagination, Michel Houel-            tion, Houellebecq used real data as a source of
lebecq uses real French politicians as the charac-         stories, such as the enhancing of Islam in France
ters such as French president François Hollande,           which is a social fact, even though its reinforce-
French prime minister Manuel Valls, leader of              ment has not been able to rule all of France as
the Front National Marine Le Pen, politician               told in the novel. Houellebecq has tried to make a
François Bayrou and Jean-François Copé. The                narrative about the Islamic group, which controls
use of French characters in the novel indirectly           the French Republic identity. The Islamic group
gives the effect that the story in Soumission is true.     becomes the dominant group, while the non-Isla-
The similarity of the situation and condition of           mics groups such as Catholic, atheist, and Jews
France in real fact with the case in the novel is          become the groups which are dominated.
one of the factors of this novel’s success. The                    Identity is the result of the individual in-
deep-rooted fear of Islam in France brought a              teraction with other individuals or other groups
loud reception, not only to this novel but also to         and also the mixing and cultures movement (Her-
the government. The government continues to be             mans, 2001). Marc (2005) explains that identity
forced to blockade immigrants who are still ente-          is self-perception, but the discourse of the other
ring France. The response of Soumission was wor-           continually mediates this perception. Identity
sened by the condition of the French state, which          is a process that never stops or established. The
Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020

identity will always be constructed, reconstructed     METHODOLOGY
and also negotiated by individuals during the pro-
cess of interaction in the context of forming their           This study is descriptive qualitative re-
identity.                                              search. The analysis is based on the concept of
        In his book Social Identity, Jenkins (2008)    identity. The data source of this research is Sou-
states that identity is related to a meaning which     mission a novel written by Michel Houellebecq
is socially constructed because identity is a part     and published in 2015 by Flammarion. The steps
of social life. Social interaction is a process that   of analysis to answer question-related to exclusi-
must be passed in the formation of identity. Iden-     vity are as follows: 1) finding the action of exclu-
tity construction will always take place from two      sivity showed by an Islamic group in Soumission,
directions that are formed through relationships       2) showing the particular practices which can
with others. During the process, individuals will      distinguish the identity of one character with the
find an impression on themselves and also on ot-       other characters.
her individuals. In other words, individuals will             The subsequent analysis is to identify the
discover similarities and differences between          contestation in the form of resistance and nego-
themselves and other individuals in social relati-     tiation in the identity construction process. The
on.                                                    analysis was conducted as follows: 1) exploring
        Castells (2004) argues that the general        the possibility of the subject domination to the
principle of society is that when there is domina-     other subjects in their interaction process, 2)
tion, there will be resistance (rejection) to power.   showing the resistance practices by the subjects
Conflict will arise as a result of domination if it    which are dominated, 3) showing the forms of
is done on a large scale. Furthermore, Woodward        the subject negotiation as a result of the domi-
(2002) explains that the oppressed groups do not       nance practices.
merely accept a forced identity but negotiate by
rejecting or accepting that identity. This nego-       RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
tiation is defined as a “transactional interaction
process whereby individuals in an intercultural        Exclusive Identity of Islam in France
situation attempt to assert, define, modify, chal-             The exclusivity of Islamic identity tends to
lenge, and/or support their own and others’ de-        negate the non-Islamic groups. The superiority of
sired self-images” (Ting-Toomey, 1999). In other       Islam is present in the form of privileges in public
words, negotiation and resistance are a form of        as well as the domestic domain. This superiority
acceptance as well as rejection and legitimacy of      implies a desire to determine identity. The type
the existence of others in the process of interacti-   of Islamic exclusivity is shown in the following
on between individuals.                                passage.
        Soumission emerged as a tool to convey dis-            “Vêtues pendant la journée d’impénétrables
course about Islam that is increasingly spreading      burqas noires, les riches Saoudiennes se transforma-
France. Michel Houellebecq gives rise to Islam         ient le soir en oiseaux des paradis, se paraient de
as an exclusive group that occupies a high social      guêpieres, de soutiens-gorge ajourés, de strings
class, respected, and has political, economic, and     ornés de dentelles multicolores et de pierreries ;
social power in France. The dominant Islamic           exactement l’inverse des Occidentales, classe et
group that changes all state rules based on Isla-      sexy pendant la journée” (p. 91)
mic law influences the position of non-Islamic                 “Dressed during the day in impenetrable
groups in France. The strength of the ruling regi-     black burqas, the rich Saudi women transformed
me requires that non-Islamic groups obey the ru-       themselves in the evening into birds of paradise,
les that have been constructed by their social envi-   adorn themselves with basques, openwork bras,
ronment. Even so, the dominated groups actively        thongs adorned with multicoloured lace and pre-
carry out resistance and negotiation to form an        cious stones; just the opposite of Western wom-
identity as a form of adaptation to the new so-        en, classy and sexy during the day” (p. 91)
cial structure. The resistance may take the form               The word impénétrables (impenetrable)
of passive resistance or active resistance by redu-    implies the confidentiality of the women identity
cing, eliminating, or challenging the institutional    by wearing a burqa. The nature of burqa, which
hierarchies that oppress (Martin, 2010). Thus, the     is impénétrables from the outside but allows the
research questions in this study are the exclusivity   wearer overseeing the others provides the exclusi-
of Islamic groups positioned by the author and         vity of a religious symbol. Women in burqa acti-
the form of resistance and negotiation as an iden-     vely define others but at the same time, using the
tity construction process reflected in Soumission.     burqa as religious symbols prevents others from

                                                   164
Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020

defining the individual inside burqa. The others       exclusivity in education is demonstrated by not
can only define the individual inside burqa based      accepting non-Muslim teachers. This exclusivity
on their religious symbol, not by their personal       is a form of the legitimacy of the Islamic regime
things in depth. That exclusivity is used to negate    in education. The obligation of these Muslim te-
individuals outside the Islamic group. The exclu-      achers at the same time explains that the teaching
sivity of women is shown by metaphor oiseaux des       of Islam is closed and can only be done by Mus-
paradis (birds of paradise) to describe women in       lims. Islamic teachers are considered as a group
Islam. Women are portrayed as birds of paradise        that symbolizes the progress of thought, moder-
that show the high quality of women in Islam like      nity, and elite social class. Schools as educational
God’s heaven.                                          institutions are not free from the ideology of the
        All exercise of power is a limitation of       ruling regime.
freedom (Popitz, 2017). In Soumission, under the              In the context above, Muslim teachers be-
regime of Islam, education has to be based on          come identity-forming tools and being a means
Koran, the source of Islamic laws. The form of         of transferring knowledge. Islamic identity is gra-
exclusivity in Islamic identity is the obligation of   dually constructed through education from ele-
the society to follow an Islamic education from        mentary to tertiary level. As an implementation,
the primary to university.                             non-Muslim teachers do not get the opportunity
        “Chaque enfant français doit avoir la posi-    to teach the class. To be able to join an educatio-
bilité de bénéficier, du début à la fin de sa scola-   nal institution, becoming a Muslim is a must.
rité, d’un enseignement islamique” (p. 82)                    The Islamic Republic of France is a count-
        “Every French child should have the op-        ry based on the principles of Islamic ideology.
portunity to benefit from the beginning to the end     Therefore, the laws of daily life must obey the
of his schooling, an Islamic education” (p. 82)        Koran.
        Islamic education is an attempt to perpe-             “Les règles concernant l’alimentaire des
tuate the Islamic ideology. Education-based on         cantines, le temps dévolu aux cinq prières quo-
Islamic law is used as a hegemony tool to state        tidiennes devront être respectés. Le programme
the quality of education. The school that bases on     scolaire devra être adapté aux enseignements du
other concepts are considered to have inadequate       Coran” (p. 82)
quality. The only knowledge that is deemed to be              “The rules regarding food in the canteens,
true is the one with Islam base.                       the time allocated to the five daily prayers must be
        “Aujourd’hui c’était l’Islam, religion […],    respected. The curriculum will have to be adapted
plus récente, plus simple et plus vrai” (p. 275)       to the teachings of the Koran” (p. 82)
        “Today it was Islam, a newer, simpler and             The exclusivity of Islam is shown by the
truer religion” (p. 275)                               rules related to the worship of God. The impor-
        Education has never been free of political     tant thing in the Islamic regime is Islam and its
interests to perpetuate the existing socio-econo-      followers who can do their obligation as a Mus-
mic system and existing power. This view also          lim easily.
assumes that education is always used to preser-
ve or legitimize their dominance. In other words,      Resistance and Negotiation in the Identity Con-
education is a way to maintain power to stay in        struction Process
place. Therefore, the general nature of education              The power of the ruling regime also in-
for them is nothing more than a means to produ-        fluenced the formation of social identity in
ce social systems and structures that are unjust,      French society. In Soumission, the power of the
such as class relation, gender, racism, or other re-   Islamic group can dominate the minority group
lation systems.                                        within the French community. Therefore, non-Is-
        Education as a means of perpetuating the       lamic groups fight the dominant force in the form
existing power structure is done through the for-      of resistance. This condition is under Gramsci’s
cible transfer of knowledge. Individuals are dicta-    opinion that social conditions in conflict with the
ted to receive an Islamic education. The assump-       dominant group will lead to resistance (Fiske,
tion that Islam, religion plus vrai (Islam, the most   2007:245).
valid religion) confirms the position of Islam in              The resistance that emerges in Soumis-
social relation. Interreligious relation becomes       sion is a form of resistance to power. The rise of
misaligned, which results in an imbalance in reli-     the Islamic government in France are forms of
gious, social relation.                                majority domination, both subtle and extreme,
        In Soumission, teachers at every level of      over non-Islamic minority groups. The type of
education are required to be Muslim. Islamic           resistance that arises is a demonstration carried

                                                   165
Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020

out by non-Islamic groups who oppose the Is-                   As an activity that violates religious boun-
lamic group in France.                                 daries, prostitution is considered as an illegal
         The laïcité is the principle of freedom and   practice because it has sexual relations without
respect for differences (https://www.gouverne-         being based on a legal marriage agreement. Se-
ment.fr/qu-est-ce-que-la-laicite). This principle      xual behaviour carried out by François is a form
is applied in the public administration system         of resistance to Islamic rules implemented by the
in the French Republic (Moatti, 2004). In Sou-         ruling regime. The selection of Muslim partners
mission, the abolition of the laïcité system and       in the practice of prostitution shows this form of
its replacement with the Islamic regime as well        refusal to comply with Islamic laws imposed on
as the violation of the ideas of liberté (freedom),    non-Islamic minority groups.
égalité (equality) and fraternité (brotherhood)                Although in Soumission, Islam is domi-
receive a strong rejection from people who             nant, there will always be practices that deny their
have ideologies at odds with the ruling regime.        existence. The practices of violation of Islamic
The rejection of Islamic law in France is car-         rules are a critique of Islam which is considered
ried out through demonstrations as a form of           not open to non-Islamic cultures. The practice of
resistance to the dominance of Islamic law ap-         alcohol consumption carried out by Islamic lea-
plied in state life. Demonstrations of the French      ders in Soumission is a form of accepting and re-
people are carried out to reject several things.       jecting Islamic rules. They accept Islam as a new
The first refusal is that teachers are required to     identity but reject laws that conflict with previous
have Islamic status to be able to teach in edu-        identities.
cational institutions. The rule is considered to               Swann and Bosson (2010) state that “iden-
hamper non-Muslim to occupy educational                tity negotiation processes define relationships
posts. In social life, women are also required         and make them viable as a foundation for orga-
to wear a head covering as a form of compli-           nized social activity”. In the context of Soumis-
ance with Islamic regulations. The necessity to        sion, women are required to use the burqa as a
use the burqa is considered as an effort to limit      sign of their identity and a form of adherence to
women’s movements.                                     religion. Negotiations on these Islamic rules are
         When the ruler becomes very oppressive,       carried out by wearing these clothes during the
resistance emerges in the form of a migration          day and taking them off at night. The efforts to
strategy. Displacement is an effort to distance        negotiate Islamic law are carried out concerning
from the space of domination. In this case, the        certain times which are considered safe such as
French Islamic Republic. Individuals will look         night time.
for areas that are free from domination which                  The negotiation in marriage is carried out
will not affect their identity. In Soumission,         by the ruling regime group. The French state re-
the return of several Jewish groups to Israel          cognizes three forms of marriage, namely le ma-
is a form of their resistance to the dominance         riage, le PACS, and le concubinage (Rault, 2007).
of Islamic groups in France. Migration is car-         These three forms allow both different or same-
ried out as an effort to maintain their exclusive      sex couples to live together. The difference in
identity as members of Jewish groups.                  these three forms is the formality before marriage
         The resistance of non-Islamic groups is       and the various rights and obligations that bind
done by not obeying Islamic rules. The practice        it. This marriage form that is unknown in Islam
of prostitution and free sex continues to be car-      is maintained under the French Islamic regime.
ried out by the main character François to ful-        This negotiation is an integrated strategy with
fil his sexual desires. The satisfaction of sexual     French society.
desires is done by hiring sex workers, and even
François chooses a Muslim sex worker.                  CONCLUSION
         “Je n’avais fait que très occasionnellement
appel à des sites d’escorts, je l’avais fait le plus          The dominant position of the Islamic
souvent pendant le mois d’été [...] ça m’excitait      group in France has changed the social structure
assez, compte tenu des circonstances politiques        in French society. In Soumission, the exclusivity
globales, de choisir une musulmane” (p. 185)           of Muslim women is portrayed in social relations
         “I had only very occasionally used escort     with other individuals or groups in the form of a
sites, I had done so most often during the summer      burqa. Islamic education is an attempt to perpe-
month [...] it excited me enough, given the global     tuate the Islamic ideology. Therefore, education
political circumstances, to choose a Muslim” (p.       must be based on the teaching system based on
185)                                                   the Koran. The exclusivity of the Islamic group

                                                   166
Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020

can also be seen from the recruitment of teaching      REFERENCES
staff who have to be Islam. The exclusivity of Is-
lam in politics is the implementation of the poli-     Bianco, J-L. Qu’est-ce que la laïcité? https://www.gou-
cies which are more aligned to the Islamic group.              vernement.fr/qu-est-ce-que-la-laicite
        In Soumission, the non-Islamic groups are      Bruley, Y. (2005). l’Histoire de la Laïcité en France. Paris:
dominated by an Islamic group in France that                   Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.
                                                       Castells, M. (2004). The Power of Identity: The Informa-
cause resistance and negotiation as a strategy in
                                                               tion Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. Malden:
the identity construction. The resistance forms                Blackwell Publishing.
that emerge are the demonstration by the non-Is-       Fiske, J. (2007). Cultural and Communication Studies: Se-
lamic groups which refuse the domination of the                buah pengantar paling komprehensif. Yogyakarta:
Islamic group. When the authority becomes very                 Jalasutra.
aggressive, a mobilization becomes the resistance      Hermans, H. J. M. (2001). The dialogical self: Toward
strategy. Another strategy used by social actors is            a theory of personal and cultural positioning,
the exploitation of the body through prostituti-               Culture and Psychology, 7, p. 243-281.
on. The rejection of religious attributes is a form    Houellebecq, M. (2015). Soumission. Paris: Flammar-
                                                               ion.
of individual strategy to reject the Islamic rules
                                                       Jenkins, R. (2008). Social Identity (3rd ed.). London and
applied in France. The interaction process will                New York: Routledge
encourage the negotiation as a strategy of con-        Marc, E. (2005). Psychologie de l’identité: soi et le groupe,
flict prevention caused by the distinctive identity.           Paris: Dunod.
The negotiation is done through the use of burqa       Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T. (2010). Intercultural Com-
during the day and not using it at night. The ne-              munication in Context. New York: McGraw-Hill.
gotiation is also done by the dominant group to        Moatti, D. (2004) La laïcité ou l’histoire mouvementée
accommodate the principles of non-Islamic prac-                d’un concept français, Pyramides, 8, 83-98.
tices such as marriage.                                Popitz, H. (2017). Phenomena of Power: Authority, Domi-
                                                               nation, and Violence translated by Gianfranco
        Michel Houellebecq describes the Islamic
                                                               Poggi. New York: Columbia University Press.
group as an exclusive group that cannot be penet-      Rault, W. (2007). Entre droit et symbole. Les usages so-
rated by the other groups. There is a fear of the              ciaux du pacte civil de solidarité, Revue française
author when Islam comes to power. This fear is                 de sociologie, 48(3), 555-586.
based on the dominance of Islamic groups that          Swann, W. B., Jr., & Bosson, J. K. (2010). Self and
are considered to have damaged relation between                identity. In Handbook of social Psychology. New
social groups that were previously formed. Howe-               York: McGraw-Hill.
ver, the author tries to unify the concepts of Islam   Ting-Toomey, S. (1999). Communicating Across Cultures.
and France through social practices legitimized                New York: The Guilford Press.
                                                       Woodward, K. (2002). Understanding Identity. London:
by the Islamic group as the ruling group. The uni-
                                                               Arnold Publication.
fication of the two concepts in Islam and France
is an attempt to eliminate the dichotomy of we
and they, in groups and out groups that separate
one from the other.

                                                   167
You can also read