Pluriel

University platform for research on Islam

Initiated by
the Federation
of European
Catholic
Universities

Supported by
the International
Federation
of Catholic
Universities

Paolo Branca

Paolo Branca is professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Catholic University of Milan. Specialized in the problems of the modern Islam-world relationship, he has published: Voices of modern Islam: Arab-Muslim thinking between renewal and tradition (Marietti, Genoa 1991), Introduction to Islam (San Paolo, Milan 1995), Muslims (Il Mulino, Bologna 2000), Il Corano (Il Mulino, Bologna 2001), Yalla Italia! The real challenges of integrating Arabs and Muslims into our country (Edizioni Lavoro, Rome 2007) and, with Barbara de Poli and Patrizia Zanella, The smile of the crescent (Carocci, Rome 2011). He translated the novel of the Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Nagib Mahfuz, Vicolo del Mortaio (Feltrinelli, Milan 1989).

Author of numerous articles on Islam, interfaith dialogue, cultural integration and other subjects, he is associated with or participated in university seminars in various institutions, including the Pontificia Universitas Urbaniana; the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris; the Accademia della Guardia di Finanza in Bergamo; the universities of Lausanne, Pisa, Florence and Turin; and Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

He is a member of the scientific committee of Oasis, of SeSaMo (Middle East Studies Society) of which he was a founding member and president; and the Committee for Italian Islam, created by the Ministry of the Interior.

Member of the Research group

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Italy

For a preventive Islamic de-radicalization. The Re-Configuration of the Humanities within an inter-religious approach. (Milan)

Research group held by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan.
The return to the humanities is not only necessary, but crucial for the promotion of a de-radicalising approach to both societies: the Islamic world and Europe. This research project intends to work not only in relation to the Islamic world or the Old Continent, but to both at the same time.
The aim is to create a project of preventive de-radicalisation of Muslim citizens and society, working on a double methodological and interdisciplinary axis: the teaching of Islam, its history, its religious tradition, its sociology, etc. in parallel with the religious, cultural and historical approach of the European world and the West.

Researchers of this group

Member of the Research group

Islam in Europe (Closed)

The project aims at studying the legal statute of the Islamic communities in the EU countries.

Researchers of this group

Member of the Research group

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Italy

Dynamics of Islamic radicalization in Europe: prevention and educational policies (Closed)

Since the “Arab Springs” breakout in 2011, Islamist radicalization in Europe progressively grew as ISIS spread violence and chaos in Iraq, Syria and Libya. The so-called “Islamic State” brought a new vision of radical Islam which tears down all ethnic, national, cultural and linguistic barriers in order to promote a totalitarian view of religion that does not tolerate any type of distinction. No difference is made, at least in theory, even between converts and Muslim-born volunteers.

Researchers of this group

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Resources related toIslam in Europe

publication

Islam & Otherness. Proceedings of the Pluriel congress in Beirut

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Edited by Michel Younès, Ali Mostfa and Roula Talhouk “In a contemporary context marked by a growing tendency to lock oneself into oppositional logics, reflection on otherness in Islam opens ...

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Bad guy or good guy? The framing of an imam

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In this paper, we investigate framing in the case of an imam in Switzerland. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 175 articles from Swiss newspapers and public broadcasting websites in Ge...

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By Federico Biasca and Guillaume Chatagny "This article presents, describes, and analyses an event for breaking the fast organized in the public sphere by a local association of young Muslims in...

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The authoritarian republic. Islam in France and the Republican illusion

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Publisher’s presentation The logic of suspicion has become the compass of the French state. Since 2015 and the attacks of January and November, the preventive and repressive policy of the Sta...

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Religion and Democracy

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"This article addresses mainly two widespread prejudices. The first claims that democracy flourishes only in a Christian culture, the second wants to keep religion out of politics to protect democr...

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Religious Radicalism. The Challenges of an Ill-Defined Concept in Europe

  • Mohamed-Ali Mostfa

Ali Mostfa, professor of linguistics and discourse analysis at the Catholic University of Lyon, analyses the semantic shifts about the notion of religious radicalism, particularly since the Septemb...

videos

Thinking Islam in Europe

  • Alberto Fabio Ambrosio

Interview with Alberto F. Ambrosio, dominican friar, professor of Theology and Histpry of Religions at the Luxembourg School of Religion & Society. Reporter : Raphaël Georgy With the collabor...

videos

Muslim as ‘Other’ in former Yugoslavia

  • Cédomir Nestorovic

Balkan Islam, and in particular that of the former Yugoslavia, is plural because of its ethnic diversity. However, the collective perception does not see it that way, due to a double homogenisation...