“I know what a Muslim really is”: how political context predisposes the perceived need for an objective Muslim identity

ABSTRACT

This article explores the process by which Western Muslim young adults develop the need to experience an ‘objective’ religious identity. We interviewed 20 Western Muslim young adults born in Montreal, Berlin, and Copenhagen within the age range of 18–25, exploring their religious identity development. The interviews were semi-structured and open-ended. Thematic content analysis was used to explore patterns in their narratives. The participants disliked the perceived ethnocentric Muslim identity of their parents, which they sought to ‘purify’ for themselves from ‘cultural contamination’. There were two important elements underlying the process of religious identity objectification: experience of anti-Muslim political discourse and exposure to religious diversity in the aftermath of deterritorialisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Western Muslims
• identity development
• religious identity
• Islamophobia
• objectification

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the participants for sharing their experiences as well as the anonymous reviewers of the Journal of Contemporary Religion for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. All the names used in this article for participants are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tarek Younis

Tarek Younis is a clinical psychologist and Newton International Postdoctoral Fellow, presently stationed in the Division of Psychiatry at University College London. His PhD research focused on the religious and national identity development of Muslims living in Western countries. His current research explores the impact of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy on British Muslim healthcare provision and access.

Ghayda Hassan

Ghayda Hassan is a professor of clinical psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal, QC, Canada, and has several research, clinical, and community-based national and international affiliations. Her clinical and research activities focus on the interplay of culture, identity, mental health, and violence among the specific groups under study.CORRESPONDENCE: Tarek Younis, Division of Psychiatry, University College London, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7NF, UK.