Muslim Youth in the Diaspora: Challenging Extremism through Popular Culture

225 Pages·2017·1.987 MB·English

by  Pam Nilan

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Muslim Youth in the Diaspora
InaworldwherethetermIslamisever-increasinglyaninaccurateandinsensitive
synonymforterrorism,itisnotsurprisingthatmanyMuslimyouth in the West
struggle for aviable sense of identity.
This book takes up the hotly-debated issue of Muslim youth identity in
Western countries from the standpoint of popular culture. It proposes that in
the context of Islamophobia and pervasive moral panic, young Muslims
frame their identity in relation to external conditions that only see ‘good’ and
‘bad’ Muslims, on both sides of the ideological fence between Islam and the
West. Indeed, by attempting to break down the ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ Muslim
dichotomy that largely derives from Western media reports, as well as poli-
tical commentary, Muslim Youth in the Diaspora: Challenging Extremism
through Popular Culture will enlighten the reader. It illuminates the way in
which diasporic Muslim youth engage with, and are affected by, the radical
Islamist meta-narrative. It examines their popular culture and online activity,
their gendered sense of self, and much more.
This original book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in
the fields of sociology, cultural studies and social anthropology. It offers a
particularfocus onIslamforresearchinyouth studies,youth culture,political
radicalisation and religious identity. It will also be relevant to the sector of
youth and social work, where practitioners seek to build cultural bridgeswith
a new generation.
PamNilanisProfessorofSociologyattheUniversityofNewcastle,Australia.
Youth, Young Adulthood and Society
Serieseditor:AndyFurlong,UniversityofGlasgow,UK|[email protected]
The Youth, Young Adulthood and Society series brings together social scien-
tists from many disciplines to present research monographs and collections,
seeking to further research into youth in our changing societies around the
world today. Thebooksinthisseriesadvancethefieldofyouthstudiesbypre-
sentingoriginal,excitingresearch,withstronglytheoretically-andempirically-
grounded analysis.
Published:
Body Work
Youth, Gender and Health
Julia Coffey
Young People and the Aesthetics of Health Promotion
Beyond Reason, Rationality and Risk
Kerry Montero and Peter Kelly
The Subcultural Imagination
Theory, Research and Reflexivity in Contemporary Youth Cultures
Edited by Shane Blackman and Michelle Kempson
Muslim Youth in the Diaspora
Challenging Extremism through Popular Culture
Pam Nilan
Young People in the Labour Market
Past, Present, Future
Andy Furlong, John Goodwin, Sarah Hadfield, Stuart Hall, Kevin Lowden and
Henrietta O'Connor
Forthcoming:
Youth, Class and Culture
Steven Threadgold
Spaces of Youth
Identities, Inequalities and Social Change
David Farrugia
Rethinking Young People’s Marginalisation
Beyond neo-Liberal Futures?
Perri Campbell, Lyn Harrison, Chris Hickey and Peter Kelly
Muslim Youth in the Diaspora
Challenging Extremism through
Popular Culture
Pam Nilan
c
mi Economic
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Firstpublished2017
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Contents
Preface vi
1 Introduction: Muslim youth in the diaspora 1
2 The meta-narrative of Islamist extremism 23
3 Muslim youth radicalisation 44
4 Online extremism and digital counter-narratives 65
5 Counter-narratives of the new Muslim ‘cool’ 84
6 Gaming and the young Muslim self 104
7 Muslim youth tribalism in popular music 127
8 Australian Muslim youth: A case study 149
9 Conclusion: Neo-theo-tribalism of Muslim youth 173
References 182
Index 213
Preface
This book began at the moment an acquaintance asked me, in a casual way,
why young Muslims conduct terrorism. She asked the question because she
knew I had been researching youth in Muslim-majority Indonesia since 1995.
I replied that I did not know. In the same week, the Australian government
announced a new top-down program for the de-radicalisation of Muslim
youth. During that same period, my nephew, Muslim-born in Australia, was
living near me, and a constant reminderof the challenges faced each day in a
suspicious country. I pondered these political and personal conditions. I
thought I might write a book about the casually-posed question above that
would help me find the answer.
IknewthatinprincipleIwasinareasonablygoodpositiontowriteabook
about Muslim youth in the diaspora. I am quite well acquainted with the
everyday practice of Islam from living at close quarters with Senegalese
people inParisinmytwenties,andfrommanyyearsofethnographicresearch
immersion in Indonesia. I have a track record of research publications on
youth, gender and popular culture in four countries. I have been involved in
an extensive government-funded study of the obstacles facing Muslim job-
seekers in Australia. So I was troubled that, as a university professor in the
right kind of field, I could not give an academically well-informed answer to
the casual question above.
I embarked enthusiasticallyon the quest for understanding by starting on a
book proposal. I quickly forgave myself for not knowing the answer to the
question above. A review of the relevant literature showed that other aca-
demicswerealsosearchinginvainforastraightforwardanswer;areasonwhy
a young Muslim from a Western country would get involved in Islamist ter-
rorist groups or actions. Some researchers had tested or interviewed young
Islamists or convicted jihadis, or returnees from combat, but were unable to
find any common factors that did not also apply to a great number of other
young Muslims who had not taken up that position. In brief, a simple cause
was not evident despite exhaustive research. However, one fact was immedi-
ately clear, and I knew it by heart anyway. The vast majority of young Mus-
lims in the diaspora are not attracted at all by the position of Islamist jihad.
Preface vii
Like young people everywhere they are trying to make good lives for them-
selves, they are looking for life partners, and they are having fun.
So rather than attempt the seemingly impossible task of writing a book
about why a very small number of young Muslims in Western countries
become terrorists, I chose a more lateral journey of authorship. To make a
new contribution to the debate, I turned away from the myriad book titles
thatclaim togiveanswersonthewhyofMuslimyouth radicalism,tothehow
of challenging that position. In other words, I would not look at apparent
blind acceptance of the big story of Islamist jihad by a tiny few. Rather, I
would focus on the everyday activities of the many. I set out to write a book
about how young Muslims of all kinds in the diaspora generate counter-
narratives to the big story, to the narrative of radical Islamism that can inform
terroristevents. I decided thatI would take the approach oflooking atpopular
culture, with much attention to the digital world. I wanted to acknowledge
that Muslim youth themselves are doing this, independent of sometimes
awkward and ill-matched attempts at radicalisation prevention from above.
The resultwasthis book.I still donot haveaprecise answerto the important
question above, but perhaps it will never be answered in plain terms. On the
other hand, through writing this book I know a great deal more about how,
and thereforeperhapswhy, so many Muslimyouth do not become involvedin
radical Islamism and go on to conduct jihad. My hope is that readers will
also benefit from this understanding.
Pam Nilan
Newcastle, Australia, 2016
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Chapter 1
Introduction
Muslim youth in the diaspora
Introduction
This book takes up the hotly-debated issue of Muslim youth identity in Wes-
tern countries. It does so from the standpoint of popular culture. Given the
pervasivemoral panic about Islam in those nations, young Muslims frame up
their sense of self, their identity, in relation to external conditions which
ascribe a distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Muslims, on both sides of an
apparent ideological fence between Islam and the West.
The core proposals of the book are as follows:
(cid:1) First, not only do the prevailing conditions of Islamophobia shape the
positioning of a Muslim youth identity in the diaspora, so too does the
meta-narrative of radical Islamism.
(cid:1) Second, the radical meta-narrative does not just come to them from
Muslim sources, but from Western media reports and opinions, aswell as
political commentary, further driving the ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ Muslim
dichotomy in relation to their subjectivity.
(cid:1) Third, the process by which diasporic Muslim youth engage the meta-
narrative isevident.It is– explicitlyand implicitly– addressed, endorsed,
contested, ridiculed, transformed and transcended in the ‘serious play’ of
Muslim youth culture even as they simultaneously address and contest
the intolerance they encounter every day.
(cid:1) Fourth, the popular culture of Muslim youth in the diaspora is not only
characterised by distinctions of piety, but is implicitly organised in forms
of neo-theo-tribalism that articulate different relationships to the radical
Islamist meta-narrative.
Throughout the Muslim world,1 varying political positions are taken for
and against radicalism. This seems inevitable. ‘Part urban myth, part grim
reality, the Islamic terrorist reconfigures the frame’ (Back et al. 2009: 6). It
affects ordinary Muslim lives, especially since 9/11. On the other hand, it is
possible to sensationalise this impact. All over the world, young Muslims are