Abstract

PARELLA RUBIO, Sònia; CONTRERAS HERNANDEZ, Paola  and  PAMIES ROVIRA, Jordi. The Reconstruction of the Muslim Identity of Young Women of Moroccan Descent with Higher Education in Catalonia. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2022, n.81, pp.39-57.  Epub July 12, 2022. ISSN 0123-885X.  https://doi.org/10.7440/res81.2022.03.

The purpose of this article is to analyze how the daughters of Moroccan families living in Catalonia re-signify their identity as young Muslim and Catalan women, by presenting their own (re)construction of Muslimness. This is the result of the tendency to identify “Muslim” people and “the Muslim” as a paradigm of “the irreducible,” sustaining monolithic and static discourses and social representations that result in more deeply rooted forms of discrimination and exclusion in Europe. The methodological design of the research is based on a qualitative approach that, through life stories, makes it possible to identify the subjective meanings of social practices and lived experiences. The starting point was a sample of young -so called “second generation”- women (born in Catalonia or arrived before the age of twelve); daughters of Moroccan parents, with associative experiences and who are or have been in higher education, in order to show the specificity of the role played by educational levels in the configuration of religious identity. The results show the strategies developed by the young women to manage the tensions within their families and communities, resulting from living in a context where Islam is a minority, which presents challenges and dilemmas when it comes to redefining their religiosity and identity as Muslim women. Indeed, this suggests that the second generation do not follow a linear model of cultural assimilation. Instead, they reinforce their self-image as “bearers” of a transformed religiosity that they construct in their daily lives. This is precisely where the originality of this article lies.

Keywords : gender; identity; Islam; youth.

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