{"id":35846,"date":"2026-07-20T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/?post_type=article&#038;p=35846"},"modified":"2026-07-20T09:49:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T08:49:56","slug":"wael-saleh-recognising-without-confining-to-better-de-other-the-public-debate","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/article\/wael-saleh-recognising-without-confining-to-better-de-other-the-public-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Wael Saleh: \u201cRecognising Without Confining, to Better \u2018De-other\u2019 the Public Debate\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an op-ed published on 20 July 2026 by <em>Le Devoir<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/chercheur\/saleh-wael\/\"><strong>Wael Saleh<\/strong><\/a>, a member of the <strong>scientific committee<\/strong> of <em>Pluriel<\/em>, puts forward a new concept for contemporary democratic debate: <strong>&#8220;de-othering&#8221;<\/strong> (in French, <em>d\u00e9salt\u00e9risation<\/em>). Between a universalism blind to wounds and an identity-based reading that sees nothing else, he defends a third way, one that recognises injustices (racism, religious discrimination, indigenous marginalisation) without reducing those who suffer them to their group belonging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case of the Muslim citizen illustrates the paradox. From the outside, fear and securitarian suspicion assimilate the individual to rigorist currents and hold him accountable for discourses he does not share. From the inside, Islamism &#8220;transforms his religion into a closed political identity&#8221; and claims to define what an authentic Muslim should think. Both operations, the author underlines, deny the believer &#8220;his right not to coincide with the identity that has been assigned to him&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The op-ed thus proposes an ethics of citizenship that &#8220;protects belongings without ever confining anyone within them&#8221;. It calls for distinguishing recognition, which restores to the subject his capacity to define himself, from assignation, which fixes him in the very identity by which he was wounded. &#8220;A democracy does not liberate the individual by requiring him to assume the identity that has been imposed on him. It liberates him by protecting his right to interpret and to transform it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/chercheur\/saleh-wael\/\"><strong>Wael Saleh<\/strong><\/a> will also address these issues at the <strong>&#8220;Diversity and Citizenship: Perspectives Around the Mediterranean&#8221; study day<\/strong>, held at the Catholic University of Lyon (UCLy) on Wednesday 2 December 2026, as part of the panel devoted to the Middle East.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":27828,"template":"","class_list":["post-35846","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"date_tournage":"2026-07-20","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wael Saleh: \u201cRecognising Without Confining, to Better \u2018De-other\u2019 the Public Debate\u201d - Pluriel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pluriel.fuce.eu\/en\/article\/wael-saleh-recognising-without-confining-to-better-de-other-the-public-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wael Saleh: \u201cRecognising Without Confining, to Better \u2018De-other\u2019 the Public Debate\u201d - Pluriel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an op-ed published on 20 July 2026 by Le Devoir, Wael Saleh, a member of the scientific committee of Pluriel, puts forward a new concept for contemporary democratic debate: &#8220;de-othering&#8221; (in French, d\u00e9salt\u00e9risation). 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