‘I Want Good Children, Also for this Country’: How Dutch Minority Muslim Parents’ Experience and Negotiate Parenting, Parenthood and Citizenship

ABSTRACT

This article investigates how minority Muslim parents experience and negotiate parenting, parenthood and citizenship in a context of increasing socio-political tensions. Drawing upon both parenting and parenthood as well as minority citizenship studies, it conceptualises parenthood as a domain for experiences of in- and exclusion of belonging to society. Based on an ethnographic study with self-organising Moroccan-Dutch parent groups, analyses show that political discourses contesting migrants’ belonging to society as well as disqualifications of minority parenting in parenting discourses and social services enter these families’ domestic lives in pervasive ways. As parents engage in socio-political dynamics in public spheres, they ground themselves in migratory, classed, historical, religious and globalised perspectives to express, counter and co-build parenthood and citizenship notions. As such, this study sheds light on how parents affirm their civic contribution to society as a parent, as well as on the civic nature of parenthood. Translating the findings to practice, this article draws attention to minority Muslim families’ diverse stances as child-rearing citizens.

Introduction

This article sets out to explore the parenthood and citizenship experiences and perspectives of minority Muslim mothers and fathers in the Netherlands. Recent studies with interest in the impact of present-day socio-political tendencies on Muslim minorities living in the West¹ provide empirical insight into how relations between Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim, and migrant and non-migrant people are under increased pressure since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and related international conflicts, refugee crises and reviving nationalistic political movements (Vertovec and Wessendorf 2010; Triandafyllidou 2015; Mondon and Winter 2017; Muis and Immerzeel 2017; Nebhan Aydin 2017; Vasta 2007). In public discourses, minority Muslims are predominantly questioned if and how they are ‘compatible’ with Western values due to perceived cultural and religious discrepancies or are portrayed as ‘precarious’ due to marginalisation (Patton 2014). However, studies also highlight people’s agentic efforts to counter-hegemonic notions of belonging in face of stigmatisation and exclusion, by enacting engaged citizenship in daily life from an Islamic standpoint (Patton 2014; Johns, Mansouri and Lobo 2015; Mustafa 2016; Eidoo 2018). As Patton (2014) stated, the latter insights emphasise a more nuanced understanding of Muslim life in the West that counters dualist interpretations of minority Muslims as passive subjects in the matter, either demonised or vulnerable.

In this article, I² investigate minority Muslim parenthood as a domain of experiences of in- and exclusion of belonging to society. I do so, by linking up with recent strands of study that locate their interest in how parenting and citizenship as well as faith and citizenship dialogically constitute and shape one another. Parenting and critical citizenship studies offer important insights into intergenerational aspects of belonging from the perspective of parents (LeVine 2003; Grusec and Hastings 2008; Erel 2011; De Haan 2011; Rogoff 2003; Weille 2011; Erel and Reynolds 2018; Longman, De Graeve and Brouckaert 2013). However, these studies often lack the inclusion of religiosity in the understanding of parental citizenship. I therefore also draw upon studies on minority Muslim citizenship of young adults that do address the role of faith in issues of social exclusion and civic engagement (Patton 2014; Johns, Mansouri and Lobo 2015; Mustafa 2016; Eidoo 2018). In the following theoretical framework, I first elaborate on parenting and parenthood as respectively a child-rearing practice aimed at initiating new generations into society and an experience defining parents place in that society. Second, I scrutinise the public domain in which these practices become subject of negotiation in relation to belonging and what is known so far about minority citizenship. The study presented thereafter empirically illustrates this theoretical exploration, originating in a 2013–2015 research project with self-organising Moroccan-Dutch parent groups in The Netherlands. As such, this article contributes to current academic debates by highlighting how Muslim minority parents engage in everyday social negotiations as they affirm their civic contribution to society as a parent, grounded in migratory, classed, historical, religious and globalised perspectives. I conclude with translations of the findings for practice.

Theoretical Framework

Parenting as a Child-Rearing Practice for and as Social Belonging

Drawing upon parenting perspectives for matters of citizenship leads us to a fundamental, but often overlooked question in prevailing parenting studies: for what do we raise children? Next to physical survival and developmental well-being, parenting as a child socialising practice aims to initiate new members into a kinship and community (Grusec and Hastings 2008). ‘Parenting for belonging’ as such, is a key aspect of child-rearing practices (Rogoff 2003). To various extents, the socialisation of new generations involves the extended family and society at large (Grusec and Hastings 2008; De Winter 2012). However, present-day parenting culture in the West pre-dominantly views parents as primary and accountable caretakers of children. This invites us to study how mothers and fathers experience this role and participate in the social structures of family as well as society. Next to ‘parenting for belonging’ as a child-rearing practice, this notion of parents’ awareness and experience of their parental role broadens our interest to ‘parenting as belonging’. Critical parenthood studies emphasise the experience of parenthood in relation to social spheres. Differentiated from prevailing scientific interest in the practice of parenting as means to care for child development, these studies elaborate on identity-oriented explorations of what it means to be a parent, what that experience does to a person, how parents understand their role and experiences living that role (Van der Pas 2003; Weille 2011; Raffaetà 2015).

Scholars studying child care in diverse communities, such as Lancy (2015), LeVine (2003) and Rogoff (2003), point towards cultural conceptions that shape desired socialisation goals as well as the means to integrate new generations into existing social environments. This points towards the normativity that is inherent to parenting as a human enculturating practice (LeVine 2003); its goals, means and status being susceptible to change and negotiation across places and times. Migration is often studied as a phenomenon by which an encounter of such cultural perspectives takes place; challenging families in the meaning of practices and roles as their sociocultural embedment is lost under geographical relocation (De Haan 2011; Cook and Waite 2016). These cross-cultural and migration studies as well as the above discussed parenthood studies offer important insights concerning the contextual and relational nature of child rearing. However, they seldomly incorporate an investigation of the public domain as the space in which parents’ practices and experiences manifest themselves, nor the interplay of power dynamics in this space. Yet in postmigration contexts in which the belonging of minority families is being contested, it becomes of utter importance to understand how parents’ task and practice to ‘parent for belonging’ simultaneously encompasses their own social place in society.

Parenting as an Affective Citizenship Practice Under Negotiation

Traditionally, parenting is approached as taking place in the home environment, whereas citizenship is perceived as taking form in the communal life of legal rights and duties. Recent critical citizenship studies have pointed towards a more blurred divide between the private and public of family life (Erel 2011; Longman et al. 2013; Salvaterra Trovão 2017). Including an understanding of the domestic contribution to civil society as an often-undervalued female domain, these studies scrutinise children’s upbringing as an ‘affective’ civic practice (Erel 2011; Erel and Reynolds 2018; Longman et al. 2013). However, Longman, De Graeve and Brouckaert (2013: 391) underline how mothers’ ‘[ … ] effectiveness of their mothering work, their ability to act and the identities they are able to claim [ … ] are contingent upon their specific locations in society [ … ]’. Studies show how legal status (Luibheid 2013), socioeconomic capital (Salvaterra Trovão 2017) and the social status of ethnocultural heritage (Erel 2011; Elliot and Aseltine 2012), amongst other, inform and constitute parents’ locations and experiences as members of society, and the socio-political implications that come with it as a parent.

When taking a closer look at the public domain as the space in which minorities’ parenting practices and parenthood experiences are under negotiation, both dominant migration as well as parenting discourses can be understood as public spheres shaping family experiences. Concerning migration discourses, studies reveal the socio-political implications of dominant narratives that question minorities’ belonging and loyalty to Western nations and its ‘core values’. On an institutional level, policies and programmes have been implemented to integrate Muslim migrants into Western citizenship, originating in the assumption that their religiosity forms a barrier that needs conscious addressing and redirecting (Patton 2014; Johns et al. 2015; Mustafa 2016). On an interpersonal level, exclusion and racism are shown to direct minority families’ parenting as well as children’s civic engagement (Erel 2011; Elliot and Aseltine 2012; Longman et al. 2013). Concerning parenting discourses, studies indicate how minority families face ‘deficit-narratives’ that exclude them from ‘good’ parenthood perspectives (Hermans 2004; Gillies 2005; Van den Berg 2016). As Longman and colleagues’ study (2013: 385) highlights, minority mothers are provoked to ‘[ … ] negotiate prevalent ideologies of mothering that are often exclusionary of their own and their children’s sense of identity and belonging’. With respect to the Dutch context, Hermans’ study (2004: 11) concerned with parents of Moroccan descent in the Netherlands and Belgium shows how public discourses tend to frame these parents predominantly as ‘foreign, undeveloped and immoral or portrays them as losers or victims’. Other studies illustrate how Dutch Muslim women are stereotyped as isolated, oppressed and passive (Van Es 2019), and run the risk of being paternalised at parenting services due to normative notions about gender intersecting with immigrant status (Jonkers 2003; Van den Berg 2016).

Minority Muslims’ Agentic Civic Engagement

The above-discussed literature sheds light on what Raffaetà (2016: 44) calls the ‘double burden’ parents with a migration history carry; that of becoming both citizens and parents in the aftermath of resettlement. An important additional observation concerning minority Muslim citizenship comes from studies that take an interest in the civic experiences and engagement of Muslim adolescents in the West. Providing a more nuanced understanding of minority citizenship from the perspective of young individuals, this recent strand of study highlight how they grapple with their faith as a contested as well as an inspirational aspect of their belonging. Pointing towards a ‘strong commitment to civic responsibility and participation’ (Mustafa 2016) a trend is observed among Western Muslims, by which they connect universal humanity to individual agency. As Johns, Mansouri and Lobo (2015) explain in their study among young minority adults in Australia, Islamic faith can ‘nourish the ethical and spiritual life of participants in a manner which demonstrates not only strong correspondence with liberal democratic models of civic virtue but also that these practices affirm a commitment to improving social conditions in the places and communities they live in’. Rather than being the perceived obstacle, religion is found to be a source of inspiration to articulate, bridge and reconstruct active and self-determined citizenship (Patton 2014; Johns et al. 2015; Mustafa 2016; Eidoo 2018).

The Study

In this article I present the analyses of an ethnographic case-study with Moroccan-Dutch parents in Rotterdam, to investigate parenting and parenthood from a citizen standpoint as experienced by Muslim migrant parents today. My research questions are: How do Moroccan-Dutch mothers and fathers experience and negotiate parenting, parenthood and citizenship in a context of socio-political tensions, both as parents and citizens? And how do these experiences and negotiations relate to and inform each other?

To answer these questions, I shift my analytical lens in line with Erel (2011: 695) from a ‘question of integration’, as often studied in the field of parenting in migration (with its most used acculturation model by Berry 1997), to a ‘question of engagement with citizenship’. Making this shift is important because it allows to study how parents engage in negotiations over normative notions of socialisation, belonging and civic engagement in the public domain. Drawing on elements of above-presented theorisations, I adopt a conceptual understanding that includes the constructs of ‘parenting’ as well as ‘parenthood’, referring respectively to parents’ socialisation practices and the experience of their social role as parents. While doing so, I do not investigate parenthood merely as it relates to identity experiences in general, such as Weille (2011) elaborated. Rather, I explore parenting and parenthood as they touch upon experiences of, parental accountability and socio-political implications as they matter in contexts of contested belonging. Following Longman and colleagues (2013: 388), I further adopt a conceptualisation of ‘citizenship’ rejecting the dichotomy between public and private as well as broadening its understanding to include a ‘[ … ] more differentiated and inclusive conception that emphasizes the role of socio-political participation in relation to cultural identity, recognition and belonging’. Transcending explicitly ‘state-centric’ definitions (Erel 2011; Patton 2014; Johns 2015), I do not intend to neglect legal aspects of citizenship, which can become yet even more strained in relation to people’s migration histories. Rather, I focus on its social meaning as it is under negotiation for minority families.

Background: A Research Project with Self-Organising Moroccan-Dutch Parent Groups

The presented data in this article derives from a 2013–2015 research collaboration with the Attanmia Foundation, a Moroccan-Dutch organisation in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. This organisation can be understood as a community organisation of which its programmes serve as important ‘entry point’ for people’s civic engagement, by providing minority communities with public spaces, volunteering services and the strengthening of support networks (Peucker and Ceylan 2017). The Moroccan-Dutch community in which the Attanmia Foundation is rooted has its history in labour and family reunion agreements between European and North-African countries since the 1960s (Van Praag 2006) and includes both Arab and Amazigh people of which great majority practices the Sunni Islamic faith.

The research collaboration aimed to evaluate and improve their parenting support programme Youth of Today! (Also see Van Beurden, De Haan and Jongmans 2018 and Van Beurden and De Haan 2019). The programme originates in a self-identified need within the local Moroccan-Dutch community to support parents in raising teenagers in urban areas and is implemented by professionally trained community members through its integration in pre-existing meetings of neighbourhood groups scattered over the city. Offering parents collective reflection and training in observation, feedback, dialogue and negotiation in family and public life in six sessions, its curriculum includes sociopsychological and Islamic perspectives on child development, parenting and citizenship. As such, it approaches parenting and parenthood from a citizen standpoint, addressing the particularities of a migration family history and Muslim background in today’s Dutch society.

Procedure

Grounded in ethnographic research methodologies (Crozier 2005; Silverman 2013), we worked with a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual research team to build a long-term relationship with the local Moroccan-Dutch community. Groups were recruited by the Attanmia Foundation as part of their programme implementation. Through introductory group meetings and leaflets informing parents about the project aim and procedure, we invited them for research participation. Working with a nested sampling procedure, 115 parents participated in repeated structured interviews, 23 in repeated in-depth and social network interviews, and five parent groups in the ethnographic case-study. This article draws upon in-depth interview and ethnographic data only, as these cover the themes it is concerned with. Case-study groups were purposively selected with location, gender and practical possibilities as selection criteria to represent variety found in the entire study of 15 groups. See Van Beurden, De Haan and Jongmans (2018) for a complete method description.

Using a semi-structured interview design to gather data about parents’ socialisation practices and parenthood and citizen experiences, we asked parents to reflect upon their parenting concepts, experiences of being a parent, their urban postmigration parenting context, social support and learning experiences, and changes over time. As part of the case-study, we engaged in participatory observations and informal talks at parents’ programme meetings as well as sociocultural events, informal gatherings, neighbourhoods and family homes. Using an open-ended observation design to gather field notes (Silverman 2013), it focused on parents’ collective social processes, with specific attention paid to peer-to-peer learning interactions, programme enactment by trainers, and group dynamics revolving around meaning-making and identity. Interviews lasted 30–90 min and were conducted in Dutch; two were held in Darija (Moroccan-Arabic) and translated to Dutch upon transcription. The Faculty Ethics Review Board of Utrecht University provided ethical approval for the study and an informed consent procedure was included. Pseudonyms are used in this article.

Participants

The five parent groups included in the case-study are presented in Table 1. Familiarity among programme participants in the study was common due to shared involvement in the neighbourhood-based locations. Groups were all gender-homogeneous, reflecting predominant community norms concerning gender-separation in public spheres (Van Praag 2006). Most participants were married, had three or four children and resided in the same neighbourhood as the groups in which they engaged. The great majority of the participants are Moroccan-born, with some born in Algeria, France and the Netherlands. Most migrated to the Netherlands in early adulthood or (late) childhood. Schooling experience ranged from no attendance to having attained higher education degrees, with most parents having done vocational training. Approximately half was employed, and most unemployed parents did volunteer work at their children’s school, social services and local migrant organisations. As became clear during interviews and group meetings, legal status varied among participating parents (ranging from having no legal status to residence permit or Dutch nationality), though we did not systematically inquire on this aspect. Concerning variety in socioeconomic status, participants that engaged in the in-depth interviews did not differ from the total of participating parents save having higher degrees of schooling on average at the time of study.

Table 1. Parent groups’ size, gender and location for in-depth interview and ethnographic data.

Group	Size	Gender	Location
1.	±18	Mothers	Neighbourhood centre
2.	±18	Mothers	Neighbourhood centre
11.	±15	Mothers	Migrant organisation
12.	±13	Mothers	Mosque
14.	±8	Fathers	Migrant organisation

Procedure

The participating parents can be understood to be part of a marginalised group within Dutch society (Hermans 2004; Van Praag 2006; Van den Berg 2016), raising children in a postmigration context characterised by ‘highly asymmetrical relations of power’ (Pratt, 1991: 1). Prospectively reflecting on issues of power and the effect of the person and position of the researcher on the study (Edge 2011), differences in background characteristics of me and other research team members as compared to participants inevitably entered the researcher-participant relationship (Crozier 2003; Van den Berg 2007). I am, and increasingly are, aware of my own position as young, white, non-Muslim, female academic without children, offering me inherently different citizenship experiences, specifically in relation to the personal effect of current sociopolitical tensions in which this article locates its interest. Engaging in collaborative efforts with the Attanmia Foundation and local community to build a long-term relationship, we have grappled with these tensions that direct both cooperative trust and its limitations. Examples of such efforts include working with a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual research team, initiating dialogues on issues of representation and dis/trust at introductory group meetings, and organising Participant Feedback Meetings throughout the project. Concerning this article as an academic product resulting from these efforts, I want to mention my awareness of this text acting as a theorisation, or ‘intellectualisation’ (Munganyende 2018), of other people’s, at times distressing, experience and precarious position. Concurring with Crozier (2003) and Hermans (2004) I do not attempt to represent the participants or Moroccan-Dutch population in a sense of ‘voicing’ or acting for them, simply because I cannot. Departing from my academic practice I do intend however, to contribute to the knowledge of and insight in multiple perspectives and narratives in current socio-political discourses, by giving account of the perspectives and lived experiences of these parents through the particular theoretical lens chosen.

Analytical Framework

Using interpretative analysis methodologies (Silverman 2006), I inspired the analyses on the theoretical framework and research questions presented above. Taking both data sets together, it included two steps: first, I conducted thematic analysis (Silverman 2006; Boeije 2010), segmenting both transcribed interview and observational data regarding those texts involving reflections of and discussions about sociopolitical tensions in relation to participants’ experiences as parents and citizens. Second, I continued to analyse the segmented data using a discourse analytical approach (Gee 2014) to question how excerpts reflect parents’ experiences of and negotiations over parenting, parenthood and citizenship. This second step was characterised by an exploratory process guided by analysis questions, by which I moved repeatedly between analytical questions, research questions and theoretical perspectives.³ For this article, I only analysed participants’ narratives. Public migration and parenting discourses are reflected in local retellings found in individual narratives and group discourses collected by the study.

Results

The following presents how the participating parents experienced and negotiated parenting, parenthood and citizenship in relation to experiences of contested belonging. The first section includes experiences and negotiations in face of exclusionary migration and parenting discourses, international affairs and parenting services. The second section elaborates further on the diverse perspectives in which participants grounded themselves in these interrelated negotiations.

A Public Affair Penetrating the Private: How Dominant Migration Discourses Enter Daily Parenting Life

This section focuses on how recent dominant migration and parenting discourses as taking place in the public domain entered participants’ daily experiences as a parent and citizen. During participants’ programme group meetings and in interviews the impact of public statements on Moroccan-Dutch families by politicians became clear. A particular incident at the time of data collection illustrates how these statements touch upon families’ sense of belonging. On a 2015 election tour Dutch politician Geert Wilders asked an audience of supporters of his Party for Freedom (elected with 9 members in parliament in 2015 and 20 in 2018; dnpp 2018) whether they wanted ‘more or less Moroccans’, claiming to ‘to take care of less Moroccans’ in the Netherlands (OM 2014). Such exclusionary narratives, for which this politician was later prosecuted and convicted for discrimination, reject the presence of migrants and their offspring in society and debate the ‘cultural compatibility’ of Arabic culture and Islamic religion with Western norms and values. Talking with mother Hajar (35, married with 3 children and living in the Netherlands for 27 years; group 2), she reflected on conversations she had with her nine-year-old daughter in days following the speech:

The first two days [daughter] lay in bed with me and she said like: ‘If we have to go, are we allowed to bring our things?’ [I] said: ‘Honey, that is not true what you hear. We are not going anywhere’. But [she] doesn’t believe me, right? ‘Tell mum, tell me, may we bring our things?’ [ … ] She believed the media but didn’t believe me. [She] says: ‘I just want to know if I may take my stuff’. [I] said: ‘Well honey, if time comes you may certainly take your stuff. But it is not going to happen.’ But she has been bothered with it for a week, that fear. ‘Do we have to go? Why do we have to go, we don’t know when … How do we go … ’ Such things. She has been scared yeah.⁴

Hajar’s story illustrates how political speeches addressing the presence of her socio-ethnic group in society as ‘undesired’, confronts Moroccan-Dutch parents with claims about their family’s residential rights and belonging. The perseverance of her daughter’s concerns arising from media items furthermore challenges this mother to educate her child about how to interpret and judge public discourses. This indicates how political dynamics in society intervened participants’ domestic sphere through public discourses; locating the impact of sociopolitical tensions in daily parenting situations, as minority Muslim belonging to society is being challenged.

The fear of Hajar’s daughter may appear drastic, however, it illustrates the emotional impact of exclusionary campaigns accompanying many interactions parents had with their children at home. At parent group meetings after this particular incident, participants shared with each other how they felt burdened to have conversations with their children about who is Moroccan and who is not, and who is included or excluded from Dutch citizenship. At a meeting of parent group 1, mother Meisanne (39, married with 3 children and living in the Netherlands for 23 years) recalled how her son told her he does not feel addressed by the speech, ‘because their family is not part of criminal Moroccans’. Meisanne explained to her son ‘criminal Moroccans’ living in the Netherlands are also Dutch citizens. This illustrates how parents and children questioned, explored, and spelled out conditions of legal and ethnic belonging, and into which category they themselves fall, in the aftermath of exclusionary political statements.

The above indicates how, in current context of exclusionary migration discourses, participants and their children experienced threats of exclusion from Dutch citizenship; challenging parents’ task to parent for belonging. Such experience was also reflected in the narrative of father Fadi (49, married with four children and in the Netherlands for 28 years; group 14), as he shares his worries about the social dislocation of his children in relation to international affairs. At time of the study, war in Syria and jihadist terrorist attacks in Europe as yet other political affairs added to sociopolitical tensions in society. In an interview, Fadi talks about this in relation to exclusionary discourses and the risk of children going on the ‘wrong path’:

We are afraid of our children, too. We raise them well and they feel Dutch, but politics keep groups separated. What does that do to our children? I want to give back to the Netherlands with a good child.

In this reflection, Fadi positioned his children in a social dilemma: being raised in the Netherlands and feeling Dutch does not guarantee inclusion in Dutch society, making youth prone to be included in alternative and ‘undesired’ ways to belongingsuch as religious-inspired violent ideologies. Fadi’s narrative furthermore reflects perspectives on parenthood and migrant citizenship that entail a sense of ‘moral obligation’ or ‘civic duty’ he has to the country he migrated to, by wanting to ‘give back’ as a father-citizen. By reflecting on his fear of children choosing a violent, nation-transcending alternative belonging over national social exclusion this father’s narrative demonstrates how the interplay between threats of civic exclusion and ‘alternative inclusions’ frustrates both participants’ wish to raise children to belong to society and the fulfilment of their civic role as migrant parent in society.

The above indicates how parenting and parenthood are inseparable from civic experiences and intentions. Concerning parenthood as an experience of parents’ place in society, participants shared how they, besides perceiving threats of exclusion from ‘good’ citizenship by dominant migration discourses, also felt threatened to be excluded from ‘good’ parenthood in public media and parenting services. Talking with mother Zubaidah (45, married with three children and living in the Netherlands for 20 years; group), she expressed her frustration about the disqualification of Moroccan-Dutch parents in relation to perceived social issues with Moroccan-Dutch youth:

Look, [this] is our second country. You just want good, you are a good mother, you want to give a good example here also. So, through your children you must show that you are a good person and so on. And your children going down a wrong path [ … ]. That also doesn’t feel good to you. Maybe they say: ‘Oh, the mother is also bad or those parents are bad, that’s why the son … ’ I don’t want, we don’t want to hear that, we don’t want to feel that. [ … ] Yes, I am a good mother, I also want good children, also for this country.

Zubaidah’s narrative reflects how she feels being held publicly accountable for ‘bad’ behaviour of Moroccan-Dutch youth, disqualifying her aim to be ‘a good human being’ and, more specifically, her parental and civic aim to raise ‘good’ children, also for the country in which she lives. Confronted with this disqualification, Zubaidah rejected the claim of being a ‘bad parent’ and put forward her perspectives on how ‘good’ parenthood makes ‘good’ citizenship. Just like Fadi, this mother links her civic intentions to her parental investment; wishing to contribute to society as a parent. As she puts forward her migratory perspectives on the matter, she links her parental efforts to her civic role. However, Zubaidah’s narrative reflects how public disqualification denies her a place in society as a ‘good’ parent, challenging the experience of parenthood as a way to belong to society.

At programme group meetings, it also became clear that the public disqualification parents feel is further experienced through its socio-political implications as they take form in parenting support services. One of these implications entails the risk to be stereotyped and targeted as ‘migrant in need of parenting education’, as articulated by mothers at a parent group meeting of group 12. A discussion emerged among participants about the programme materials. Watching DVD sketches of problematic parenting situations with Moroccan-Dutch families, participants criticised the indication that Moroccan parenting is something that needs ‘fixing’, as reflected by following fieldnotes:

One mother says she's very much against these clips. In Moroccan-Arabic she talks about another time she saw similar clips. [Another mother] says: ‘This clip is about the first and second generation. This doesn't happen anymore’. [A third mother] says: ‘But it does exist’. The trainer explains that this clip does not imply that this only occurs among Moroccans. The [group] coordinator replies that this is a course for Moroccans specifically. [The third mother] says that what happens in the clip occurs very rarely. [Another mother] says: ‘Not all Moroccans are bad!’. A discussion rises in the group about the image that exists of Moroccans.’

The above observational notes show how participants perceived the programme materials as confirming stigmatising representations of Moroccan-Dutch families and their parenting, with which they confronted the programme trainer. The discussion also accounts of how criticism (‘very much against’) and self-criticism (‘But it does exist’) are alternately brought to the table, as parents resisted stereotypes and negotiated the space to be accorded competency as a parent in face of dominant discourses about Moroccans in the Netherlands. The discussion also shows that, although the programme originates from self-criticism within the Moroccan-Dutch community and serves as a platform to express and define parenthood and citizenship collectively, it cannot escape being part of public negotiations over minority parenting. This exemplifies the complexity of parents’ negotiations over ‘good’ parenthood, accountability and implications at boundaries of power relations in face of educational efforts.

Parents’ Domestic Claim as a Civic Contribution: How Parents Counter and Co-build Parenting, Parenthood and Citizenship as Child-Rearing Citizens

The previous section illustrates how participants negotiated citizenship and parenthood in face of public experiences that contest their belonging to society as ‘desired’ citizens as well as ‘competent’ parents. When elaborating on participants’ experiences of parental disqualification, analysis points out that participants actively resisted dominant parenting discourses portraying them as parents who ‘do not meet’ competent parenthood standards. As reflected in Fadi’s and Zubaidah’s narrative, participants grounded themselves in migratory citizenship and parenthood perspectives. Furthermore, programme group meetings appeared to be an important platform for parents to express discontent and discuss the disqualification of parents with a migration background. A discussion among mothers of group 2 about being schooled or unschooled sheds light on participants’ perspectives of class in the negotiation over competent parenting. Confronted with stereotypes of the ‘unschooled migrant mother’, these parents rejected notions of school as measurement for ‘good’ parenthood, by stating ‘school is not the only thing through which one can develop’ and discussing ‘benefits of being unschooled’ by referring to ‘life experiences outside of it’ and ‘learning from one another’. As such, these mothers scrutinised conditions for ‘good’ parenthood and how specific locations in society, in this case being (un)schooled, affects parenthood experiences. In fact, they rejected the denial of parental competency for unschooled parents and claimed how lack of school experience can be a resource through specific experiences coming with it. This illustrates how parents assert their place of belonging to society as competent parents in face of dominant parenting discourses.

Besides migratory and classed perspectives, participants positioned themselves also by using their ethnocultural heritage in diverse ways to navigate their context and define how to parent children for belonging, as well as to shape their own civic engagement. When asked about changes in parenting practices in relation to socio-political tendencies, some participants said not to perceive dominant discourses as a threat and therefore did not adjust their parenting. For example, participants spoke of relativising perspectives, as illustrated by following field notes of an informal talk with father Amrou (48, married with three children and living in the Netherlands for 27 years; group 14). He toned down the situation by offering a historical perspective on the issue, grounded in his faith:

Amrou agrees it's a difficult time for Muslims. He immediately adds that it has been worse and that it is in fact a religious task to have patience as a Muslim and endure the time. According to him patience also means that Muslims don't have to take any action to influence the time era and social developments. Undergoing it and living as good Muslims is what he and other Muslims ought to do.

Amrou’s narrative displays how he positions himself as belonging to a group that has known hardship in different time eras and contexts. While referring to religious virtues of patience and acceptance, this perspective gives direction to his civic engagement in relation to socio-political tensions in which his community finds itself today.

Other participants, however, account of yet more intensified parental investments inspired by their ethnocultural heritage. Talking with mother Meissane (group 1) she answered to the question whether she practices parenting differently because of what is said about Moroccans:

I say in advance things will happen. My son goes to a Dutch [white] school and feels good. I tell my children: ‘How can you eliminate negative things? By language, by studies, by behaviour? Go ahead and show to someone else. Give someone the feeling, we aren’t like that’.

This quote reflects how this mother pro-actively stimulated her children with moral instructions about how to be a ‘good human being’ in the public domain, like at school. Her instructions can be interpreted as an assimilating attempt, however, parents’ efforts to morally guide their children as part of their parenthood and citizenship were often grounded in faith-based perspectives. Referring to their religion and Moroccan descent as resources to define socialisation goals and means, participants inform decisions on how to raise children in a context of sociopolitical tensions. Their narratives of ‘good’ citizenship illustrate how the meaning of showing ‘good’ behaviour to others as to counterbalance stereotypes, as Meissane said, is not just merely a move towards ‘Dutch’ behaviour; it also refers to being a morally just and faithful person.

Yet again, the programme group meetings served as a platform to discuss how parents could connect their ethnocultural heritage to navigate current context in relation to their position as a minority parent. Often incited by trainers, participants engaged in explorations of ‘global citizenship’. At a meeting of group 11, the trainer discussed this ‘globalised’ perspective with parents, as means to transcends the sociocultural dilemma of belonging parents and children face:

Trainer: ‘When our youngsters become teenagers, they will navigate between the two. Am I Moroccan? Or Dutch?’ [ … ] A parent [asks]: ‘But how should we do it?’ The trainer says: ‘Explain how it is. For them, both are ideals. Explain to your children how it is, when you are on holiday [in Morocco]. Refer to the Qur’an.’ Another mother adds: ‘Teach them to adjust here and there. So you’re always able to adjust.’ The trainer replies: It is our duty to not raise our children as Dutch or Moroccan, but as world citizens instead. They should to be able to fit in anywhere; if their norms and values are right’.

The above discussion illustrates how participants, by exploring the ideal of ‘world citizens’, find a suggestion to escape the experienced dual choice between ethnocultural communities tied to nationalities. As such, the parent groups created a space to (re)construct parenting, and parenthood and citizenship. Moreover, by connecting this globalised perspective to their religion to define the meaning of that reconstructed citizenship, participants use their ethnocultural heritage to affirm children’s belonging to society, despite socio-political tensions they find themselves in.

Discussion

By presenting a study with Moroccan-Dutch parent groups in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, this article provides insight into how minority parents experience and negotiate parenting, parenthood and citizenship in a context of increasing socio-political tensions. Social dynamics in the public sphere, such as political discourses contesting minority Muslims belonging to society as well as stereotypical representations of migrant parenting in parenting discourses and social services, enter these families’ domestic lives in sometimes pervasive ways. Facing threats of exclusion from ‘good’ citizenship, parents and children feel questioned about their residential rights and sense of national belonging. Facing threats of exclusion from ‘good’ parenthood, parents experience a disqualification of their parental investment and civic intentions. Concurring with previous studies (Erel 2011; Elliot and Aseltine 2012; Longman et al. 2013; Raffaetà 2016; Salvaterra Trovão 2017), this indicates the specific quest minority parents face in raising children as new members of society; constructing a sense of belonging as citizens and parents at boundaries of power relations. The presented study leaves us with some important insights.

First, by drawing the analytical lens to parenthood as a domain of experiences of in- and exclusion in society, this article brings to the fore the political dimension in parenting. Beyond an encounter of cultures, this study shows how minority parents face an encounter of power imbalances in the public domain. As such, I link up with an emerging body of literature that takes interest in making visible the politicised nature of parenthood that is often overlooked by traditional parenting and migration studies (Erel 2011). By bringing together parenting, parenthood and citizenship studies to scrutinise belonging as a component that is at stake in the political arena, I brought to the surface how parents’ practice to initiate a new generation into society is intertwined with their own social place in that society. Findings show how the socio-political context in which minority Muslims raise their children directs their practices, for example by having family conversations in which belonging is explored and the intensification of children’s moral education in order to navigate the public domain. Concerning their own social place in society, parents take a stance as a child-rearing citizen in confrontation with and reject of their exclusion from civic belonging and parenting competency.

Second, by investigating citizenship from the perspective of parents, this article sheds light on the intergenerational component of civic engagement. So far, parents’ parenting and parenthood perspectives as notions that shape civic ideas and engagement seem to be an underexamined area in the field of (Muslim) minority citizenship. Departing from recent socio-political tendencies that intensify a negotiation over the belonging of minority Muslims to Western societies, this study indicates parents’ urged investment as active, intentional citizens socialising for subsequent generations in society. In line with other studies, the presented findings exemplify how the negotiations and practices of Moroccan-Dutch parents can be understood as a form of socio-political participation taking place at the intersection of their politicised place in society and cultural identity (Erel 2011; Elliot and Aseltine 2012; Salvaterra Trovão 2017; Erel and Reynolds 2018). Findings of this study explicate how parents connect their social role as a parent to their social role as a citizen, as they engage in ‘civic family-work’ to nurture a sense of social belonging of their children. Findings furthermore show how parents demand recognition of their parental investment as a migrant citizen. This perspective reflects the migratory intentions of these particular parents, by which they aim for prosperity for their children as well as for the society of which their family became a part. Reflecting a ‘strong commitment to civic responsibility and participation’ as found in other studies about minority Muslim citizenship (Mustafa 2016: 454), too, parents’ stance as child-rearing citizens also reflects a sense of civic duty to ‘deliver’ to their immigration country. This observation further emphasises the particularities of migrant citizenship experiences from a parental standpoint at the boundaries of power relations.

Third, this study accounts for a diverse range of perspectives in which Moroccan-Dutch parents ground themselves as they define their parenting, parenthood and citizenship. Besides the above addressed migratory perspective, parents employ classed, historical and globalised notions of belonging as they counter the disqualification of unschooled mothers, find refuge in their ethnocultural history and transcend dualist notions of nationality and belonging by explorations of parenting for global citizenship. As indicated by studies about young minority Muslims (Patton 2014; Johns et al. 2015; Mustafa 2016; Eidoo 2018), parent’s faith was found to be an important source of inspiration. Finding direction in Islamic heritage to define how to relate to the social and teach children norms and values, parents’ narratives also indicated how religion as a way to belong or not belong is complicated, diffuse and paradoxical in the current political climate. In face of Islamophobic as well as Jihadist ideologies, minority Muslim youth find themselves in ‘a highly diverse Muslim religious landscape where competing religious discourses are struggling to attract and support Muslim youth facing social dislocation and identity crises within increasingly contested social milieus.’ (Andre, Mansouri and Lobo 2015: 296). An interesting study by Salvaterra Trovão (2017) reveals how parents’ ‘religious care-work’ enhances children’s civic integration and can serve a protective function in face of ‘undesired affiliations’. Reaching beyond the scope of current analyses, Salvaterra Trovão’s indicates interesting directions for further study.

Conclusion

As mapped out by postcolonial as well as critical citizenship studies, societal processes of in- and exclusion are inherently present along axes of race, socioeconomical status and gender, amongst other (Pratt 1991; Longman et al. 2013). The study presented in this article articulated the particularities of recent socio-political tendencies for minority Muslim mothers and fathers in a European context. As Islamophobic discourses increasingly enter mainstream discourses (Mondon and Winter 2017; Peucker and Ceylan 2017), inclusion of minority Muslim families’ experiences and perspectives as part of the multiple narratives in the arena of belonging is much needed in research as well as social policies and services. In current descriptive study with self-organising minority parent groups I sought to bring to the surface family and community efforts outside of institutional borders. Besides parents’ individual narratives, this particular study context sheds light on collective dialogue and parental and civic self-determination taking place within minority communities. This invites to include a collective-oriented approach as opposed to predominant individual-oriented approaches in issues of parenthood and citizenship. Translating the findings to research and practice, I propose to take example in parents’ perspectives by understanding the continuation of families’ well-being as related to the continuation of societies’ well-being. This demands to recognise and hold space for people’s diverse ‘lifeways as part of their citizenship, as the very mode of their membership in the national collectivity’ (Pratt 1991: 5).

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all the participating parents for sharing narratives and spaces and to the Attanmia Foundation and research assistants for our collaborative efforts. I am grateful, too, for extensive feedback on previous manuscripts by Prof. Marian JongmansERNAPE Conference 2017 and ISCAR Congress 2017 discussants and this journal’s anonymous reviewers. SLvB co-designed and executed the fieldwork and data analyses, and initiated, conceptualised and wrote the article. MdH initiated the study, co-designed and collaborated with the fieldwork, and supervised and edited the writing of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

S. L. van Beurden (Spark) is doctoral student at Utrecht University as well as trainer in the educational and social domain. Her work locates its interest in transcultural and collective learning among families and professionals, in relation to issues of diversity, self-organization, parenthood, citizenship and social power dynamics.

M. de Haan (Mariette) holds a Chair on Intercultural Education at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Her work focuses on processes of learning and socialization in both formal and informal educational settings with an emphasis on cultural diversity and the dynamics of processes of socialization in changing social worlds.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by ZonMw [grant number 729111012].

Notes

1 The ‘West’ in this article refers to societies and regions that are strongly embedded in beliefs, norms and values as well as the political and economic organization of European heritage. Though debated and not perceived as ideal by the authors, this choice is made by lack of better alternative and in reference to its popular use in migration discourses in which this article locates its interest.

2 ‘I’ is used in this article, specifically referring to the first author when discussing fieldwork, though both authors are responsible for its content.

3 For Analytical Framework, see Online Supplement.

4 For original Dutch data excerpts and translations, see Online Supplement.