The September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States have liberated an encompassing rhetoric globally which designates all that is 'Muslim' or perceived to be such as a threat. The securitizing perspective, intertwined with debates over Muslims' integration and increasingly visible religiosity has led to growing suspicions regarding Muslims' loyalties in Europe. This analysis seeks to characterize this securitizing perspective and considers on the one hand, the inherent equalisation of increasing Muslim identity awareness with disloyalty and on the other hand, the depiction of Muslims in Europe as a homogenous block which facilitates constructing them as the 'Other'. As an illustration, this paper focuses more particularly on France and Great Britain.

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Abstract:Drawing on a framework that goes beyond the usual securitization lens and that includes other neglected sociological dynamics, namely consumerism and individualization, this article explores an overlooked form of dress in the research on Islamic dress in the West which is Islamic street wear. This analysis interrogates what Islamic street wear reveals, in terms of identity, about the experience of young Muslims living as a minority in secular spaces. Various messages collected from message T-shirts are deconstructed to precisely highlight the effect of these different dynamics on the articulation of identities by young Muslims. A theoretical framework grounded in the notion of hybridity guides a systematic content analysis of the messages. The analysis of these messages reveals the strong individualization of faith deriving from consumerist patterns, the rather limited expression of the controversial "ummatic" loyalty to Muslims worldwide and the assertion of pride in Muslim identity.

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