Islam is credited with bringing about the end of multiculturalism, coinciding with the rise of far right-wing populism in Europe. In this talk I explore this purported end within the peculiarity of British Multiculturalism and do so from a unique vantage point: the intimate surrounds of a probation office and the relationships between probation staff and Muslim ex-offenders based on fieldwork in East London. From this vantage point, multiculturalism is far from being either alive or dead, but is instead negotiated and characterized by tensions intrinsic to the ‘cruel dynamic of inclusion and exclusion’ that has long characterized the Western tradition of citizenship.
