Liquid Racism and the Danish Prophet Muhammad Cartoons

Bibliographic Data

ID2305541
AuthorsWeaver (0000-0001-7929-2920, Loughborough University, corresponding author), Simon Weaver (Loughborough University)
Year2010
Volume58
Issue5
Pages675-692
Publication date2010-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCurrent Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-3921 • E-ISSN: 1461-7064
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0011392110372728
OpenAlexW2126538032
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited11

This article examines reactions to the October 2005 publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. It does so by using the concept of 'liquid racism'. While the controversy arose because it is considered blasphemous by many Muslims to create images of the Prophet Muhammad, the article argues that the meaning of the cartoons is multidimensional, that their analysis is significantly more complex than most commentators acknowledge, and that this complexity can best be addressed via the concept of liquid racism. The article examines the liquidity of the cartoons in relation to four readings. These see the cartoons as: (1) a criticism of Islamic fundamentalism; (2) blasphemous images; (3) Islamophobic and racist; and (4) satire and a defence of freedom of speech. Finally, the relationship between postmodernity and the rise of fundamentalism is discussed because the cartoons, reactions to them, and Islamic fundamentalism, all contain an important postmodern dimension

Aesthetics · Art · Binary opposition · Criticism · Feminism · Fundamentalism · Islam · Islamic fundamentalism · Islamophobia · Literature · Political science · Postmodernism · Postmodernity · Racism · Sociology · Theology · Gender Studies · Law · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Philosophy · Religious studies · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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