Europe without plural temporality becomes an imperial market anxious about Muslims

Evidence

If Europe cannot be articulated in terms of complex space and complex time that allow for multiple ways of life (and not merely multiple identities) to flourish, it may be fated to be no more than the common market of an imperial civilization, always anxious about (Muslim) exiles within its gates and (Muslim) barbarians beyond. In such an embattled modern space—a space of abundant consumer choice, optional life styles, and slogans about the virtues of secularism—is it possible for Muslims (or any other immigrants, for that matter) to be represented as themselves? — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 880

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Cooper’s market-vs-social bonds structure: Asad links consumer-choice affluence with embattled secularism, paralleling Cooper’s analysis of market expansion degrading solidarity.