The whitening of ‘foreign fighters’

Blog post by Jihane Sliti and Iman Lechkar, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

With the rapidly deteriorating security situation in North East Syria, media discourse once again presents the issue of Kurdish-led camps and its prisoners as a security threat. As the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) lose control over detention camps, such as Al Hol, reports of mass escapes of Islamic State members dominate the news. In Belgium, this renewed sense of urgency was reinforced when Minister of Foreign Affairs Michel Prevot stated on 22 January 2026 that ‘terrorist fighters will not be able to return to Belgium’.

Fear-driven discourses are not new. For more than a decade, public and political debates on Belgian men who travelled to Syria have largely been shaped by punitive logics and vindictiveness. Yet our research shows that ‘foreign fighters’ have not always been framed as irredeemable threats. Media discourse has, at times, allowed for complexity and empathy, though not for everyone.

Based on a critical media discourse analysis, our research published in our Identities article, ‘On altar boys and good-hearted guys: de-Othering and the whitening of male convert “foreign fighters” in Belgian newspapers’, shows that the category of ‘foreign fighters’ was not always associated with danger. While born Muslim Belgian men who left for Syria were frequently depicted as barbaric and irredeemable, converts were mostly presented as naïve and disillusioned individuals who had made poor choices. Indeed, scholarly literature discerns two main depictions of convert men as naïve, disillusioned and redeemable, or as traitors, radical and in high-ranking positions. 

Our Identities article challenges the victim-threat dichotomy and through abductive reasoning provides a richer understanding of media discourses on the returnee question. Rather than being portrayed solely as security risks, convert (potential) returnee men appeared as bakers, altar boys, sons and grandsons, and good-hearted guys who are deeply connected to Belgian society.

By being attentive to such emotive narratives that shape media discourses, our article uncovers whitening practices. Whitening is understood as a form of deracialization or de-Othering through which the convert is enabled to symbolically reconnect with broader society. However, whitening does not erase suspicion, but it reshapes it by externalizing it to the bad influences of the born Muslim. Whitening also downplays the perceived security threat and emphasizes rehabilitation possibilities.

By uncovering four whitening practices (relational bonds, societal engagement, externalization of the blame, and cultural bonds), our study shows that even in the case of ‘foreign fighters’ humanization and alternative imaginaries are possible. Relational bonds are one of the four crucial dynamics that underscores convert departees’ social capital, depicting them as loved and cherished members of society. Media discourses explicitly externalized the blame, by attributing radicalization to manipulative Others, harmful networks and Islam itself rather than to the agency of converts.

References to societal engagement and shared cultural bonds, rooted in stories of local belonging and Christian upbringing, enable a process of de-Othering. It also contributes to their humanization, distancing them from the stigmatized image of the male Muslim identity. This process makes converts redeemable and suitable for reintegration, rather than perceiving them as an eternal security threat.

The core finding of our research is not merely that humanizing discourses exist, but that they are selectively granted, revealing that even in the case of ‘foreign fighters’, alternative imaginaries are possible. These alternative imaginaries allow for compassion and a second chance, reinforcing the belonging of convert men to Belgian society. The real challenge does not lie in only producing humanizing narratives for some, but in undoing the racial boundaries that determine who is allowed complexity and the possibility of return.

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Image credit: Author’s own.

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Read the Identities article:
Sliti, ​​J. & Lechkar, I. (2026). On altar boys and good-hearted guys: de-Othering and the whitening of male convert “foreign fighters” in Belgian newspapers. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. DOI: 10.1080/1070289X.2026.2614178

Read further in Identities:

Good Muslims, good citizens? An intersectional approach to Muslims’ everyday (hidden) resistance tactics in Belgium   OPEN ACCESS

Travelling race and international students in Turkey: white ambiguities, Muslim differences and relational racial understandings

‘Becoming’ a possible threat: masculinity, culture and questioning among unaccompanied young men in Sweden   OPEN ACCESS