Reluctant pluralists: European Muslims and essentialist identities

Abstract

An emerging consensus among scholars of Muslim political and social identity suggests that Western Muslims live out an anti-essentialist critique of identity construction. Considering this view, this paper examines a cross-national comparison of British Bangladeshis in London and Spanish Moroccans in Madrid that solicits the perceptions of working-class Muslim men. While the results indeed reaffirm respondents' concomitant relationships to a variety of identity paradigms, interview content demonstrates that subjects' multiplicity is complicated by their desire to meet -not reject -the essentialist standards of belonging to the identity paradigms discursively available to them. Rather than defiantly cherry-picking preferred characteristics of religion, ethnicity and nationality, individuals' responses suggest that they are trying to fulfil perceived standards of authenticity. Such a contention helps explain the prevalence of Western Muslims' expressed and well-documented 'identity crisis', suggests the enduring relevance of identity essentialisms, and more broadly, complicates post-modern conceptions of identity formation.

Social Class and Islamic Identity: Chinese Uyghur Students and Working Class in Turkey

“…A sample of Uyghurs was used to investigate the identity formation through a psychological framework employed in the study of Muslims in Europe (Gest 2015). The framework uses a "postmodernist" approach to identity formation.…”

“…Three types of 'personality types' or 'outlooks' were associated with these changes -'traditional', 'transitional' and 'modern'. Postmodernist critics of this approach to 'modernism' claim that this approach to identity, typified by Daniel Lerner (1958) represents a relatively static and 'essentialist' approach to identity that is not consistent with the situation of Muslims (Gest 2015(Gest :1873. The attitudinal feature most associated with modernity was "empathy", that is, the capacity to see oneself in the other fellow's situation.…”

Negotiations on Inclusive Citizenship in a Post-secular School: Perspectives of “Cultural Broker” Muslim Parents and Teachers in Finland and Sweden

“…The problems of the essentialization of Muslim identities are well known. However, new universalist forms of Islamic identification also have stemmed from the diaspora experiences and many young Western Muslims' desire to fulfil some standards of "authenticity" and appeal to Islamic faith as a source of coherence and collective pride (Gest, 2015). The construction of a collective Muslim identity surpassing existing differences is also powered by shared experiences of exclusion (Tinker & Smart, 2012).…”

“…Self-categorization is always multiple and misrecognition can be avoided only by orientating to people's own identity definitionsboth group and individual identities. Misrecognition may increase the likelihood of the formation of religious identities as oppositional and essentialist identities (Gest, 2015). The "over-visibility" of Muslim identity sometimes violates Muslims' feelings of belonging and ability to participate but offence is also caused by the invisibility of Muslim identity in situations where it is relevant and could be positively recognized.…”

“…In particular, the Finnish teachers of IRE deemed it important to teach their pupilsby appealing to the example of the Prophet Muhammadthat even though Muslims experience exclusion, they should not become resentful but remain loyal to society and take responsibility themselves for building grounds for solidarity. The teachers acknowledged the risk of experiences of misrecognition increasing the risk of religious identities being turned into oppositional or protest identities that draw their power from collective experiences of exclusion (see Gest, 2015). To prevent this, the teachers emphasized that teaching about solidarity and responsible citizenship as religious norms should not push children into being silent and thankful; rather, the children should demand active citizenship, show courage in challenging practices that are considered unjust, and participate themselves in developing a more inclusive school community and society.…”