The Ummah racial project: Arab satellite television, Islamic movements, and the construction of Spanish Moroccan identity

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how non-western, transnational racial ideologies impact Muslim minority identity negotiation and construction in contemporary Spain. It argues that Spanish Moroccans are increasingly racialized towards a Arab-Muslim identity through two transnational scapes, international Islamic movements and Arabic satellite television. These scapes co-opt and mobilize the concept of the Ummah, a traditional Islamic legal prescription that traditionally emphasizes the primacy of Muslim identity and community. In co-opting the Ummah, these scapes reinforce ideological affinities to an Arabized version of Islam that racializes the ethnically diverse Spanish Moroccan community towards a Arab-Muslim first identity. This study contributes to the study of race in the global system by seeking to understand the identity formation of Spanish Muslim minorities in the context of larger non-European, transnational racial ideologies.