Abstract

The dynamics of, first, modernity, and, later, globalization have generated conditions and stimuli for the expansion of Islam. Patterns of emigration have seen millions of Muslims become part of the West. Global political and cultural tendencies include a 'rebellion' or resistance from some traditional Muslims to preexisting cultural traditions in these places of insertion, exemplified in Europe in practices such as the use of the veil or hijab. Developments within Islamic territories themselves have included an increased participation in Islamist movements. These trends have generated reactions including a Western 'fear of the other' in regard to Islamism. One manifestation of this fear has been the erection of barriers to migration, constituting what we choose to denominate here as teichopolitics: The attempt of controlling the persons' flow by means of the raising of physical barriers, be they barbed-wired fences of walls, with the aim to impede the exit and entry to a territory. This securitized response however runs the risk of feeding resentment from Islamist groups in a counterproductive manner.