CFP: Muslim youth

The Eighth Nordic Conference on Middle Eastern Studies will take place in Bergen, Norway, 24-26 September 2010. The conference Middle Eastern Connectivities is organised by The Nordic Society for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (NSM).

We are seeking papers for the panel:
Muslim Youth in Europe: “individualisation” and “secularization”?

This workshop encourages a critical assessment of current research perspectives on Muslim youth in Europe. Frequently, youth with migration background from a Muslim country are viewed as modernized and as expressing a ‘Muslimness’ which is a ‘new’ form of religiosity shaped by the European sphere. The recurrent impression is that Muslim youth has an individualized religious identity – often explained as a result of growing up in an individualised Europe. Muslims youth are consequently undergoing a ‘secularization’ process. Are these research perspectives a result of researches’ effort to ‘normalize’ Muslim youth, a misrepresentation of the research topic, or empirical ‘facts’? What factors are overlooked in such approaches? What alternative perspectives in the discussion of young Muslims and their religiosity in Europe can be promoted?

Both theoretical discussions as well as empirical founded papers are welcomed.


Please submit paper abstracts by March 15th 2010 to: bergen2010@smi.uib.no

For more information, see conference homepage: http://www.uib.no/smi/en/activities/conference-middle-eastern-connectivities