Accounting for refugee segregation through “misfit” Islam

The present study aims at investigating discourse about religion of refugees in interviews with Greek citizens. Specifically, the analytic material was derived from semi-structured interviews conducted with 30 residents in Athens, Lesvos, and Thessaloniki. The analysis was based on the principles of critical discursive social psychology. As a result, four main lines of argumentation emerged from the interviews, discussing elements of the refugees' religion. First, religion is equated with Islam and it is described as a religion that defines all aspects of its adherents' lives. Furthermore, it is described as a religion that fosters fanaticism. In addition, it is constructed as a religion that devalues women and it is hostile to alternative religions. All these argumentative lines construct refugee religion as dangerous and, by extension, its adherents (the refugees) as dangerous and, coexistence with them as inevitable. Nonetheless, the possibility of peaceful coexistence is also presented in another argumentative line, provided that refugees assimilate into Greek culture.