University Of Birmingham

Graduate Student, School of Education

College of Social Sciences

Thesis Title: Youth, Culture and Identity: Young Muslims in Britain and Germany

About

I am interested in issues of race and identity, and am doing a PhD as part of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) 1+3 programme.

My research focuses on young people from Muslim backgrounds in Britain and Germany. I am investigating prevalent depictions of Islam and Muslim youth in media and political discourses. Furthermore, I am exploring how young Muslims themselves respond to these often negative representations.

Debates around integration, community cohesion, radical Islam and citizenship predicate upon ideas of the nation, how ethnic minorities are positioned in relation to it, and who is or is not included in mainstream society. I am interested to understand how young Muslims negotiate their identities in the light of negative representations by the non-Muslim majority: How do they make sense of these portrayals and position themselves in relation to them?

I grew up in Berlin and moved to Britain nine years ago, and enjoy having access to two different cultures and languages. I am looking forward to getting in touch with people who have similar research interests. It would be particularly nice to get to know researchers whose work focuses on Germany, as well as those also undertaking pan-European comparisons.

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