دانلود کتاب مسلمانان در جهان غرب – احساس تعلق و هویت سیاسی

Muslims are the fastest-growing major religious group in the world, and the Pew Research Center (2017) estimates that by 2050 they should become the largest religious group worldwide. In 2015, there were 1.8 billion Muslims globally, which equals about 24 percent of the world population. In Western countries, Muslims are also one of the fastest-growing religious groups. PewResearch Center (2017) projects that approximately 10 percent of Europe’s population will be Muslim by 2050, and about 2.1 percent of Americans will self-identify with Islam by then (Vaughan, n.d.). Not only are Muslims a growing group in France, the Netherlands, the UK, or the United States, to name a few countries, they are probably often also viewed as the most controversial group. On the one hand, they identify with a religion confronted with the radicalization of a fringe group of members and in whose name multiple terrorist attacks have been perpetuated. Examples of this would be the events of September 11, 2001 in the United States (US), the November 2015 Paris attacks, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, or the 2017 London Bridge attack. On the other hand, Muslims also suffer from subtle or deeply rooted Islamophobia in the West, characterized by suspicion or outright rejection of the Muslim faith. In some cases, islamophobia has turned into violent acts such as the burning down of Mosques or physical attacks against Muslim believers (Bahia, 2021). In such a climate of growing distrust between Muslims and non-Muslims, which also includes the victimization, as well as the “othering” and alienating of the Muslim community by the local population, we ask the questions: What is Muslims’ sense of belonging and identity? Do they primarily identify with their country of origin, their country of residence or with their religion? How connected are they with their country of residence’s political institutions? For integration purposes, it is crucial to better understand how Muslims with or without an immigrant background adapt to the challenging environment that surrounds them. This applies to the first generation of Muslim immigrants, who have directly experienced migration and whomust adapt to their new society. Integration is equally important for second-generationmigrants, who were born and have been growing up inWestern countries. They must negotiate multiple identity processes; they need to combine feelings of belonging to their ethnic and religious community with those to the host country. The processes of coping with a rather hostile environment might also create identity crises for third, fourth or fifth generation immigrants, as well as converted Muslims. This applies even more so considering that the local population might not make any fine-grained distinctions in their views of Muslims. It is with this context in mind that we have organized this edited volume. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, it consists of one empirical overview chapter on Muslims’ sense of belonging and identity in the West, and seven case studies of the following countries: Austria, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK, as well as Canada, and the United States. Each of these seven chapters engages in three tasks that on first sight seem simple: (1) identify, who the Muslims in the respective country or set of countries are, (2) discuss their sense of identity and belonging, and (3) showcase possible variation in Muslims’ sense of belonging and identity among subgroups.