2 results
9 - Ways of ‘being Muslim’: Religious Identities of Second-Generation Turks
- Edited by Maurice Crul, Jens Schneider, Frans Lelie
-
- Book:
- European Second Generation Compared
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 09 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 15 February 2013, pp 341-374
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction
Large-scale immigration from Muslim-majority countries to highly secularised North-Western European societies has raised questions about how the European-born children of Muslim immigrants relate to and practise religion. On the one hand, second-generation Muslims are socialised into Islam within their immigrant families and communities. On the other hand, they grow up in societies where the majority is historically Christian, highly secularised and, in a post-9/11 era, increasingly anti-Islamic (Bruce 2011). By secularisation, we refer to a robust downward trend in the importance and impact of religion among Christian-majority populations (Gorski & Altinordu 2008). In European societies, secularism is a normative ideology that represents religiosity as a foreign, backward and/or dangerous force. Islam and its practitioners are particular targets of hostile public attitudes towards religion (Allen & Nielsen 2002). From a majority perspective, the religiosity of second-generation Muslims therefore appears to be a bright boundary, one setting them apart from the so-called mainstream and standing in the way of their successful integration (Fleischmann & Phalet 2012).
By contrast, from the minority perspective of immigrants and their children, religious traditions and ties are highly valued parts of cultural heritage and crucial sources of personal self-esteem, social support and cultural continuity in their socio-cultural environment (Bankston & Zhou 1995; Ebaugh & Chafetz 2000; Warner & Wittner 1998). Accordingly, Muslim immigrant parents purposefully and effectively transmit Islamic religious practices and beliefs to the next generation (Güngör, Fleischmann & Phalet 2011). The second generation is often highly committed to their Muslim identity, which is experienced as central to their sense of self-understanding (Duderija 2007; Fleischmann & Phalet 2012; Şirin, Bikmen, Mir, Fine, Zaal & Katsiaficas 2008; Verkuyten & Yıldız 2009).
In view of the contrasting orientations of Muslim immigrant communities and European receiving societies, this chapter asks how second-generation Turks in Europe negotiate their religious identities. We distinguish between attachment – i.e. the subjective importance of religion – and practice, such as praying or fasting. In addition, we examine how these identities relate to religious socialisation in immigrant families and communities as well as experiences of religious discrimination in receiving societies. Drawing on the TIES survey data, we investigate contextual variation in ways of ‘being Muslim’, namely, the different patterns of religious attachment and practices.
8 - Identities: Urban Belonging and Intercultural Relations
- Edited by Maurice Crul, Jens Schneider, Frans Lelie
-
- Book:
- European Second Generation Compared
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 09 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 15 February 2013, pp 285-340
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction: Theories, definitions and concepts
Identities are difficult to grasp – in more ways than one. Conceptually, ‘identity’ is probably one of the most fuzzy concepts constantly used in the social and cultural sciences. For several disciplines it is a key term, notably psychology, anthropology and cultural studies, but standard and encyclopaedic definitions are highly diverse, even within one discipline. We know that every person has ‘an identity’, but we also know that people have multiple identities. The term's root is the Latin word for ‘the same’ (idem), which highlights a contradiction found in each definition of ‘identity’. The notion of the uniqueness of each individual self seems to work against the sameness acknowledged in our sharing central attributes (e.g. gender, age, ethnicity) with other individuals and the fact that individuals forming groups is an essential part of ‘being human’.
Terms such as ‘ethnic identity’ and ‘national identity’, even when invoked as attributes of an individual, only take on meaning when they are shared with other individuals. As formulated by the French anthropologist and psychologist George Devereux, each individual belongs to a diverse range of meaningful categories (or ‘classes of attributes’) in which he or she is just one among many others. However, the unique combination of these categories is so specific that each individual is unequivocally identifiable and distinct from all others (Devereux 1978: 138). The broader the range of categories, the better an individual can respond – and find a place and position – in most diverse situations and contexts. It is this ability that makes an identity ‘functional’ (Devereux 1978: 170ff).
Identity, belonging and citizenship
Identities are difficult to grasp because of the boundedness of their ‘enactment’ to specific contexts and the different levels of enactment therein. Identities can be defined as ‘labels’ for belonging to certain categories, though these labels can be quite disconnected from actual cultural and social practices (Devereux 1978: 145; Brubaker 2004). The process of ‘labelling’ involves three different perspectives: the self-ascription of the individual, the habitus of the category (or the group itself) and the ‘outside world’ (non-group members). It can be presumed that the legitimacy of a label’s use in specific contexts is dependent on, not least, the degree of consensus across the three perspectives (Schneider 2002: 13). There are many empirical examples in which the consensus is not there.