Youth and ‘political spirituality’: the emergence of a sub-culture among new Muslims in the West?

ABSTRACT

Drawing on Foucault’s concept of ‘political spirituality’, I show how some new young converts to Islam interpret being Muslim within a framework that positions them as agents at the forefront of new social and political forces of change. My ethnographic research took place among young people who have embraced Islam or feel attracted to this religion in the Canadian province of Quebec, where Muslims constitute a small percentage of the population. Based on my findings, I examine cases of new Muslims who have appropriated Islamic beliefs and practices as a form of ‘counter-conduct’ that, recalling Foucault’s concept of ‘political spirituality’, conveys alternative ideological, social, and ecological orders, specifically in terms of social justice and equity. I show that their commitment derives from a specific understanding of social activism that relies on the inner work of the individual. Following the postulate of the British Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, I argue that youth offers a vantage point from which to grasp general social transformations. My interlocutors’ paths within or toward Islam are part of an original process of constructing a specific youth sub-culture within Western secular societies through which they introduce new patterns of community or sociality.

KEYWORDS:

• Political spirituality
• Islam
• converts
• youth
• sub-culture
• social justice

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Angela Andersen and Samuel Victor for their thorough reading and linguistic revisions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Foucault distinguishes this movement from movements that stem from a demand to exercise sovereignty.

2 Salafi are defined as believers who “aim at reproducing the model of belief and practice, and even of society, that was in place at the time of the ‘Righteous Devotees’ (al-Salaf al-Salih), who are presented as the only ones capable of inspiring the belief and conduct of the faithful today, because they are on the ‘authentic path’ (al-Minhaj al-Haq)” (Adraoui 2019, 54).

3 This doctoral research project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (2006–2008) as well as by the Fonds de recherche du Québec–Société et Culture (FQRSC) (2008–2009).

4 Funding was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

5 Stemming from the “World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms” (WWOOF, a global network of organized biological farms created in the UK in 1971), WWOOFing practices are an alternative way of traveling with little means. It consists of sharing the hosts’ lifestyle through active participation in exchange of free accommodation.

6 Lot and his family had settled in Sodom. According to the account in Genesis (chapter 19), word of the city’s crimes reached God. He decided to send two angels in the form of men to Lot’s home. Things become problematic when the townspeople demand that Lot give his guests over to their sexual pleasures. In the ensuing altercation, Lot sides with the visitors. The angels intervene, striking the townspeople blind. Lot is rewarded, however, as they warn him of the imminent destruction of the city. (See https://www.exegese-biblique.ftsr.ulaval.ca/articles/portraits-bibliques/loth-et-ses-filles, accessed 28 January 2024)

Additional information

Funding

Funding for the research reported in this article was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada (Insight Research Grant, 2016–2022). The research team assistants include Isabelle Kostecki, Marie Fally, Catherine de Guise, Ariane Bédard-Provencher, Simon Massicotte, Sophie Laniel, Marie-Charlotte Pelletier de Koninck, and Samuel Victor.

Notes on contributors

Géraldine Mossière

Géraldine Mossière is an anthropologist who teaches in the Institut d'études religieuses at the University of Montreal, Canada. She has worked and published on women converts to Islam in Quebec and France and on identification processes among young converts to Islam in Quebec (Mossière 2013). She conducts empirical research on new spiritualties and spirituality in secular domains like coaching and healing.