Islamic Traditions and Muslim Youth in Norway Muslim Minorities
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Islamic Traditions and Muslim Youth in Norway Muslim Minorities Editors Jørgen S. Nielsen, University of Copenhagen Felice Dassetto, University of Louvain-la-Neuve Aminah McCloud, DePaul University, Chicago VOLUME 10 Islamic Traditions and Muslim Youth in Norway By Christine M. Jacobsen LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Financial support was received from Th e Norwegian Non-fi ction Writers And Translators Association (NFF) and Th e Research Council of Norway (NFR). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jacobsen, Christine M., 1971- Islamic traditions and Muslim youth in Norway / by Christine M. Jacobsen. p. cm. -- (Muslim minorities, ISSN 1570-7571 ; v. 10) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17890-8 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Islam--Norway. 2. Muslim youth--Religious life--Norway. 3. Muslim youth--Norway--Social conditions. 4. Children of immigrants--Norway. 5. Muslims--Cultural assimilation--Norway. 6. Multiculturalism--Norway. I. Title. BP65.N8J325 2011 297.0835’09481--dc22 2010041726 ISSN 1570-7571 ISBN 9789004178908 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. CONTENTS Acknowledgements ......................................................................... ix A note on language and sources ............................................... xi Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 Issues and perspectives ................................................................ 3 Outline of the book ...................................................................... 11 Chapter One Situating Islam in Norway: ethnographic context and theoretical perspectives ........................................ 15 Muslims in Norway ................................................................. 15 Religious pluralism and the Norwegian state church system ................................................................................... 18 Nation state, religion and secularism .................................... 22 Towards an anthropology of Islam in Europe .......................... 25 Muslim roots and routes ......................................................... 25 Social imaginaries, the nation state and the politics of identity ............................................................................. 32 Islam as discursive tradition .................................................. 35 Individualization, authority and self-formation .................. 40 Some epistemological and methodological concerns ............. 47 Naming ‘them’ and the ‘not them’ ......................................... 49 Chapter Two Envisioning unity, coping with diff erence ......... 53 Th e Muslim Youth of Norway (NMU) ................................. 54 Th e Muslim Student Society (MSS) ...................................... 59 Th e revivalist infl uence ............................................................... 62 New forms of Muslim cooperation ............................................ 67 Promoting Muslim unity ........................................................ 70 Being a Muslim youth ................................................................. 78 A new generation ......................................................................... 85 Th e gender division ..................................................................... 88 Th e rural /urban distinction ....................................................... 94 Th e importance of having an education ................................... 96 Creating new Muslim spaces ................................................. 102 vi contents Chapter Th ree Who are ‘we’? Social imaginaries ...................... 105 A global community of Muslims ............................................... 107 Th e global imagined umma .................................................... 107 Sisters and brothers in Islam .................................................. 112 Global imaginaries in religious practice ............................... 117 Situating Islam in Europe and Norway ..................................... 122 Euro-Islam and European Muslims ...................................... 122 Norwegian Muslims ................................................................ 129 Th e ‘vernacularization’ of Islam ............................................. 133 Islam and national symbols .................................................... 138 Family, kinship and the ‘ethnic diaspora’ .................................. 142 Journeying through social imaginaries ................................ 147 Multiple imaginaries: heterogeneous spaces ........................ 150 (Re)imagining Muslim identity ............................................. 155 Chapter Four Th e politics of recognition: (re)constructing identity/diff erence ........................................................................ 157 Th e faces and logics of misrecognition in the Norwegian context ....................................................................................... 160 Culturalism and neo-realism in contemporary social imaginaries ................................................................ 163 Th e emergence of Muslims as the Other .............................. 168 Constructing and contesting ourselves as the Other .......... 176 Th e NMU, the MSS and the politics of recognition ................ 181 Identity politics and the problem of essentialism ............... 184 Religious practice in identity politics ........................................ 187 Jihad and dawa in identity politics ........................................ 188 Th e hijab in identity politics .................................................. 193 Gender and generation in the quest for recognition .......... 198 Engaging the Norwegian public sphere .................................... 204 “Th ey do not speak for me” .................................................... 204 Citizenship and human rights ............................................... 214 Identity politics and socio-economic inequality ...................... 217 Th e politics of recognition and the emergence of new political subjects .................................................................. 222 Chapter Five Th e quest for knowledge: individualization and religious authority ................................................................ 225 Religious knowledge and refl exivity .......................................... 227 Intergenerational disputes: Umar disagrees with his father ............................................................................... 227 contents vii Th e objectifi cation of Islam .................................................... 231 Coming to know Islam: the family, the mosque and the school ............................................................................. 234 From person to print: new arenas of Islamic education ..... 240 Th e normativization of Islam ..................................................... 247 Normativization and gendered knowledge .......................... 249 Individualization and authority ................................................. 251 Young Muslim voices ‘speaking Islam’ .................................. 251 Th e contestation and reassertion of authority ..................... 257 Th e imam as an authority fi gure, prayer leader or good shepherd ............................................................................... 260 Interpreting Islam .................................................................... 265 Feminist interventions ................................................................ 270 Debating Islam and gender .................................................... 274 Exemplary models and authority in marriage ..................... 278 Knowledge and belief .................................................................. 282 Th e signs of God: Islam and science ..................................... 286 Th e quest for knowledge: a refl exive adherence to Islamic authority ................................................................. 291 Chapter Six Becoming Muslim: working on the self ................ 295 Who are you? Muslim by nature: returning to Islam .............. 297 Noor’s return to Islam ............................................................. 301 Becoming Muslim: continuities and ruptures ..................... 304 Gendering the return: hijab stories ....................................... 306 On identity, exteriority and interiority ................................. 314 Th e formation of pious selves ..................................................... 318 Th e gender of desire ................................................................ 322 Diff erent forms of self-realization ......................................... 325 Ibadat as techniques