During the 1980s and into the 1990s, theories around identity took a unique yet unexpected turn into exploring forms of religious and faith identities, extending the boundaries of identity theory to also include the relationships between religion, faith, practice, autonomy and identity. (Modood, 2005). There was an appreciation for the ways Asians in Britain were beginning to contemplate their identities within a broader framework of identity politics, further considering the significant role that religion played in their understandings of identity and identity formation (Dwyer and Shah, 2009). As a result, increased scholarly attention has been paid to analysing the contributions of religion to identity, within wider social and political changes in public policy, immigration and citizenship (Abedin and Sardar, 1995). During the mid 1990s, those from South Asian backgrounds, who had begun to assert their Muslim identities and the rights that came with these were doing so within the realms of a much changed political
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landscape (Husband, 1994). Identifying with faith became a new autonomous exercise and Muslims across Britain and indeed Western Europe were using their ethnic backgrounds much less than before to manage their personal identities and more to view them as a means of identifying their cultural practices and values. Instead they were using their religious backgrounds alongside their contemplation of nationality to identify themselves within social situations (Modood and Ahmad, 2007). I use the empirical evidence in this chapter to argue that Muslim women in Scotland are still being racialised or are racialising others, making an ethnic identity as important as a religious or civic identity. Simultaneously, I use Chapter Six to highlight how ethnic and religious differences have led to particular exclusions within Muslim communities and this is further reflected in their use of social spaces as ways to include and exclude other Muslim women. It has been argued that an increased ability to recognise the salience of amalgamating religious identity with national values has led to Muslims in Britain ‘self- integrating’ (Modood and Ahmad, 2007), the process by which one adapts their thoughts and behaviours to not only comprise of their faith values but also doing so without rejecting their relationship with Western culture (Roy, 2004).
The changing focus which saw a turning point from race to religion in which religious identity has been fostered has been home to a unique set of changes, including the coming of New Labour in the 1990s and their climb to political power and government office. Their anti-racist politics and commitment to multiculturalism gained a large degree of loyalty from ethnic and religious minorities in Britain (Back et al, 2002). Modood (2005: 195) considers the relevance of these political transformations arguing ‘identity politics in this political climate are not implicit and private but are shaped through intellectual, cultural and political debates’. Newly created ideas of citizenship were open to debate and arbitration (Modood and Ahmad, 2007) and Muslims who had begun their journey to political power were feeling particularly optimistic with the introduction of strategic guidelines and discourse around faith politics. In Scotland, Maan (2008) describes how the first Muslim organisation (Jamiat ul Muslimin) was set up as a sister organisation to a counterpart in London in 1933 and Maan himself was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in 1968 indicating “the acceptance of the Muslim community in Scotland and a sign of their integration into Scottish society” (Maan, 2008: 202). Political participation began to grow during the 1990s steadily as Muslims were showing more interest in civic participation and social mobility (Maan, 2008). Unfortunately, much of Maan’s work neglects to examine the identity formation of Muslim women in Scotland as a separate
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group, instead focusing upon a collective Muslim identity, one which is often portrayed by the successions of male community organizers or political leaders. This is something I relate to in my thesis quite frequently as I explore how Muslim women are contributing to civic participations and community activism.
The articulation of faith identity comes in many forms and its subjectivities are often diverse (Mohammad, 2005; Dwyer and Shah, 2009). We must consider the dialogue between and from different paradigms such as culture and practice, public and private, conformity and non-conformity to Western behaviours or religious values. Physical signifiers of identity, particularly for Muslim women are often demonstrated through their practice of Islamic dress or the embodiment of Hijab practice (these are further discussed in Chapter Five). The use of the headscarf as a physical signifier takes many forms of analysis, from patriarchal forms of the Islamic religion (Ahmed, 1992) to more postmodern resistance to western dress and dominant cultural western values (Ansari, 2004; Tarlo 2010; Lewis, 2007). Afshar (1994) contends that Muslim women are regularly observed through a discourse of dissemination of cultural values and “the standard bearers of the groups’ private and public dignity” (1994: 130). As a result, Muslim women are made aware of their social conduct, and challenged to behave with a sense of morality and civility as to not tarnish their reputations or that of their families (Modood et al, 1994). Dwyer’s work with school girls in South-East England found that particular transmitters of identity could be recognized within the school as a site of contestation through a range of constructions such “’race’, religion, education and nationalism’ (Dwyer, 1993: 147). She further argues that identities are expressed in a multitude of ways and behaviours (Dwyer and Shah, 2009). These behaviours, which can also be viewed as expressions of cultural and religious identity, can be further examined using practices of national identity, nationality and nation (Hobsbawm, 1992; Jenkins, 2008).