Religion and Negotiation of the Boundary between Majority and Minority in Québec: Discourses of Young Muslims in Montréal CÉGEPs

Abstract

In Québec, tensions between youth immigrants’ identification and the perceived identity of the “majority group” is evident in greater Montréal-area schools, where a plurality of ethno-cultural or religious affiliations often converge and where racism and Islamophobia are becoming major social issues (Benhadjoudja 2014; Baubérot 2014; Bilge 2013). This paper aims to explore the discourses of “minoritized” Muslim youth pertaining to their perceived boundaries with respect to the majority group, considering the power relations at play. Ten qualitative interviews with Muslim youth born to immigrant parents and studying in colleges (CEGEPs) of the Montréal region will be analyzed. A typological analysis will reveal their main positions with regard to the majority group, which encompass ways of negotiating the border between the “Us” and “Them,” influenced by the process of secularism, arising from acceptance, contestation, or even a sort of exacerbation of racializing categorization. In conclusion, the social and political implications of these findings will be discussed.

Preserving the values of cultural negotiation through social learning: ‘Two Religion Community Life’ case study in Phattalung, Southeast Thailand

“…Dialogue between monotheistic religions in Asia requires initiative from moderate monotheism (Swasgita 2017). When the dialogue reaches an agreement, the task of the community is then to preserve it through social learning by creating various activities together to maintain peace and advance civilisation (Tremblay, Magnan & Levasseur 2018).…”

“…Both before and after negotiations, multireligious communities continue to provide space to meet each other and learn from each other's identities, so that it will be easy to be open to change (see Figure 1). The process of mutual understanding of these differences is referred to as formal and informal socialisation (Tremblay et al 2018).…”

“…The model to be imitated is not necessarily a person, but also the other symbolic model (Blute 1981). Therefore, it can be said that there are direct socialisation and negotiation processes in social learning, especially to solve problems in daily life (Tremblay et al 2018). Oman (2013) argued that social learning must be considered among the major candidates for explaining why and how people become spiritual or religious, and why their spirituality or religion assumes a form.…”

“…In the process of interaction among humans, there is often a condition of imbalance or disharmony between the two parties, especially in daily life, as a result of the complexity of life. The condition of disharmony can be natural because of different characteristics of each person, although sometimes there are also parties trying to create a bad atmosphere which disturbs harmony (Tremblay et al 2018). This is still considered reasonable if they do not harm the public in general.…”

“…comm., 08 November 2017). In their research in Quebec,Tremblay et al (2018) gave recommendations to make a learning arena of 'living together' for wider and stronger socialisation and negotiation for young people.In Tamot and its surroundings, there are health volunteer activities participated in by young Muslims and Buddhists.Health volunteers called Asa Sama'This form of collaboration between young men and woman also includes sports, such as soccer and sepak takraw. These sports are played together in the district centre building and are participated in by Muslims and Buddhists.…”