Análisis de la ecuación AC-3

One question explored in my research, which is also a focus for Contractor (2012), is whether a supposedly pluralist British society will recognise the compatibility of ‘Muslim’ and ‘British’ identities (Contractor, 2012: 148). For young Muslim women, Contractor argues, the process of negotiating between different identities is made more complex by the need to take account of the various meanings that have historically been inscribed on the figure of the Muslim woman, so often been perceived as ‘the mutely suffering representative of her faith and her culture’ (Contractor, 2012: 2). Contractor’s research, which involved interviews with Muslim women in a range of contexts, suggests that young Muslim women living in Britain consider themselves to be ‘inherently and completely British’ (Contractor, 2012: 146), but are still in the process of

developing a coherent ‘British Muslim identity’ (Contractor, 2012: 147). This process is further complicated, she argues, both by issues of gender and by the contested nature of Britishness. The development of British Muslim identities is

therefore an ongoing and evolving process, ‘where multiple players must enter into negotiations in order to establish their positions in communities that they share’ (Contractor, 2012: 147).

The complex negotiations in which young ‘South Asian’ women are involved, as they navigate issues of faith, culture and identity, are also central to Hussain’s (2005) research, which does not focus solely on young Muslim women but does nevertheless explore issues relevant to my research. Hussain argues that, while possibilities of existence for the first generation of South Asian migrants to the UK were largely determined by the (post)colonial context, both in terms of the experience of imperialist domination and of resistance to it, the second and third generations are engaged in an active process of (re)forming and (re)defining culture and identity (Hussain, 2005: 1-2). Rather than emphasizing ‘cultural con- flict’ or the need for young British South Asians to choose between a ‘Western’ and a ‘South Asian’ way of life, Hussain argues that young British South Asians are engaged in an ongoing process of identity formation and the creation of hy- brid and multiple identities (Hussain, 2005: 2). She argues that there may be advantages for ‘British South Asian’ students in being educated in mainstream British schools, since this provides ‘exposure to the integrating services of the majority society’ (Hussain, 2005: 26); as a result, she suggests, they are more able to ‘join the established social order and gain access to better qualifications and lifestyles’ (Hussain, ibid). Hussain’s research does not, however, involve interviews with South Asian young people; instead, she analyses a range of ‘creative works’ produced by South Asian women living in Britain (Hussain, 2005: 3).

2.2.3 Community and ‘belonging’

As part of the ‘Contextualising Islam in Britain’ report (Suleiman 2009), Sulei- man argues that young Muslim women living in Britain often face conflict be- cause of the extent to which the traditions in which they have been brought up, including particular ideas about ‘modesty’ in relation to women’s bodies, conflict

A common consequence, she argues, is that they tend to end up ‘on the fringe of the community and liable to leave it’ (Suleiman, 2009: 49). This seems logi- cal, though it is not an inevitable conclusion; other research (e.g. Smart and Rahman 2008) suggests that even though young Muslim women sometimes find it difficult to reconcile their parents’ values with those of Western society, this does not necessarily lead them to reject their community or their faith but rather encourages them to find creative and innovative ways of reconciling their different affiliations and discovering spaces within which they can find a sense of belonging.

Thomas, meanwhile, argues that discourse around Muslim identities and com- munities in the UK, particularly after 7/7, has tended to view them as ‘discon- nected from, and even antagonistic to, ‘British’ identity’ (Thomas, 2009: 1). Thomas’s research found, however, that young Muslims living in Britain do not perceive their affiliation with Islam as incompatible with ‘Britishness’, with the majority of young Muslims who took part in his research happy to identify them- selves as ‘British Muslim’ or ‘British Asian’ (Thomas, 2009: 4). This resonates with Gilby et al’s (2011) research, which found that Muslim students appeared to place more value on the importance of family and faith than other students but did not perceive a conflict between ‘loyalty to Britain and the Ummah’, even though many had experienced Islamophobic discrimination and anti-Muslim prejudice (Gilby et al, 2011: 6).

For the participants in Thomas’s research, being Muslim seemed to bring ‘a strong and positive sense of identity’ (Thomas, 2009: 5), while being British was more problematic, owing to issues relating to foreign policy (e.g. the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) as well as their experiences of Islamophobia. Thomas argues that the strong affiliation which young Muslims living in the UK appear to have with the idea of ‘Britishness’ may not have a positive effect, in terms of develop- ing a shared national identity, since white Britons are increasingly rejecting the notion of ‘Britishness’ in favour of a more narrowly defined ‘English’ identity (Thomas 2009).

post 7/7 response, including the 'Prevent' agenda, exacerbated the problem by the way it ‘addressed and problematized Britain’s young Muslims as a whole through an anti-terrorism prism’ (Thomas and Sanderson, 2011: 1035). Since that time, Muslims have been under huge pressure to demonstrate allegiance to British identities, while at the same time experiencing increased levels of Islam- ophia in their daily lives (Allen 2010). The implication for Muslim students in Brit- ish schools is that the process of developing coherent and meaningful identities may be even more complicated, difficult and potentially controversial now than it ever has been (Thomas and Sanderson 2011).