*Call for proposals for papers and discussants*
*Making European Muslims:*
*Islam and the Struggle over Beliefs, Perceptions and Identities among
Children and Young People in Western Europe*
* *
*Two-day conference in Copenhagen, Denmark*
*Friday 28 to Saturday 29 October, 2011*
* *
*Organized by the Arab and Islamic Studies Unit and the Child and Youth
Unit, Aarhus University*
As states and politicians in North-Western Europe focus more and more on
the “integration” of Muslim populations, the religion of Islam becomes
ever more controversial. While the focus of attention is often
elsewhere, it is among children and young people that the struggle over
the making of Europe’s Muslim citizens is most intense. Although some
European Muslim children attend private schools catering to students of
Muslim background, most attend public schools operated by the states in
which they reside, and it is in these schools, above all, that religious
beliefs, perceptions and identities are contested and constructed. The
conference explores the processes and interests involved and their outcomes.
Previous studies have pointed out the importance of Islam as an identity
marker and as a common point of reference for schoolchildren with
minority backgrounds. Less attention, however, has been paid to ways in
which Islam is constructed in changing social, intellectual and cultural
contexts, and how boundaries between religion and culture are negotiated
and shifted. These, along with the construction of identities, are among
the focal points of the conference. For further information, see
http://teo.au.dk/en/schoolislam/mem/ .
