The everyday dimensions of stigma. Morofobia in everyday life of daughters of Maghrebi-Spanish couples in Granada and Barcelona (Spain)

Abstract

Negative attitudes towards Muslim minorities are an increasingly common phenomenon in many European countries. This stigma is often associated with religious discrimination; on others, it has a more marked racial connotation. Based on biographical interviews with 19 daughters of mixed Maghrebi-Spanish families in Granada and Barcelona (Spain), this article disentangles the notion of stigma, showing how the experiences of these young women are characterized by a stratified mix of racial, ethnic, and religious discriminations that, together, exemplify how Morofobia takes place in Spain. Our findings highlight how these women are not only passively affected by this stigma, but have learned to cope with it, showing a high degree of reflexivity and acquired social skills that inform their agency. The article encourages the adoption of a cultural sociological perspective to study the meaning of stigma from an emic perspective. In so doing, it sheds light on the everyday consequences of the social transformation of national identities in a historical period dominated by the resurgence of nationalism and ‘bordering regimes.’