Religious education in the Facebook era in the Moroccan diaspora: Muslims on line, young people off line

Author(s):

Roberta Ricucci(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments

Format:

Paper

Session Information

20 SES 09, Identity and Inclusion for a Deaf Community and (Auto)Biographical Research in Rural Networks and Minority Groups' Pathways into Intercultural Eduction

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-10

11:00-12:30

Room:

665.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Christian Quvang

Contribution

Within a multi-cultural, multi-religious, “wired” society, the use of the Internet for religious purposes has potentially important implications for inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations, policy making and education. Furthermore, Internet has, over the past decade, provided a new platform for religious groups as a new approach and avenue for proclamation, communication and interaction, with both members and non-members of their faiths.

In this framework, little attention has been paid to the use of social network for religious socialization, especially within Muslim families. The paper will be focussed on 1) how young Muslims living in Italy use Facebook for developing, managing and discussing their religious belonging and 2) the effects of this process on the relationship between first and second generations. These issues will be discussed using qualitative data (30 interviews with Moroccans, first and second generations) aimed at both identifying differences and similarities among Muslim generations and outlining how the web changes religious belonging.

Method

In the framework of religious education among immigrant families, Italy is becoming an interesting case study. It is not only a recent immigration country, facing a growing presence of immigrants, but also this growth has taken place in a short period, compared with other traditional migration countries. Of course the migratory flows follow a growing trend, but they are characterized by internal transformations. Among these, a growing juvenile population with a Muslim background can be considered a remarkable challenge in a Catholic country. In this scenario, the paper will be focussed on 1) How young Muslims living in Italy use Facebook for developing, managing and discussing their religious belonging and 2) The effects of this process on the relationship between first and second generations. Should internet (and social networks in particular) be the safe arena in contrast with cities, neighbourhoods and groups where anti-Muslim feelings are in the air and break out frequently? Is online religious identity a good strategy for overcoming stereotyping in the real world? These issues will be discussed using 30 interviews with Moroccans (first and second generations) living in Italy, carried out in 2014, divided equally by sex. The analysis will also be enriched by considering experiences and new practices developed by second-generation Muslims in Italy and by the association Giovani Musulmani d’Italia online and offline (public readings and theatre, Facebook groups…). Respondents were reassured about the confidentiality of information and the ethical uses of the collected interviews. Following Chamberlayne, Bornat and Wengraf (2000), I used a model of open interview, partially structured around certain themes, which combines elements of the ethnographic interview and the life story. Interviews were conducted in Italian and conversations with a number of interviewees also continued during associational activities and social events. Interviews included not only questions on religious belonging, but also various aspects of life and migration experience. All the collected material has been codified and analysed with Atlas.ti

Expected Outcomes

Internet can help Muslim parents in developing religious education to their children. The web links young people born in Italy with religious practices away/distant from their experiences outside the family (in secondary socialization) and encourage the spread of visions which are radical and irreconcilable with the context in which they live, producing situations of isolation and estrangement and bringing them more and more to seek refuge in “protected” environments online and offline with the risk of being recruited to fight for as members of an imagined global community. The groups and their presence on the social networks, on the other hand, also serve to define and redefine positive differences (such as how the group perceives itself) and to combat stereotypes and negative representations. Moreover the spread of satellite TV and internet sites, blogs and social networks where one can follow channels and religious programs is positively evaluated by Muslim families, as new and useful tools for cultural and religious education of their children. Internet is also being utilized to encourage Muslims to advocate gender equality, citizenship and human rights within an Islamic framework and it is used to interact with institutions at local and national levels. Non-conventional media and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming more popular among Muslim youth and society as a whole. These platforms can offer the periphery voices to express their experiences of stereotypes and marginalization. Internet is the virtual place where one can share photos, videos or phrases of the Prophet and become an active member of the groups. These groups become important markers of identity, signals from one side of their religious affiliation and their ethnic pride and, on the other, tools by which to receive recognition and confirmation of being part of a community by the peer group.

References

Hegghammer, Thomas. 2010. “The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad.” International Security Volume 35 Number 3 Winter 2010/11: 53-94. Leurs, Koen. and Ponzanesi, Sandra. 2011. “Mediated Crossroads: Youthful Digital Diasporas.” M/C Journal Vol. 14. No.2 http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/324 Levitt, Peggy. 2001. The Transnational Villagers. Berkeley: University of California Press. Levitt, Peggy. 2004. “Redefining the Boundaries of Belonging: The Institutional Character of Transnational Religious Life.” Sociology of Religion (2004) 65 (1): 1-18. Levitt, Peggy. 2009. “Roots and Routes: Understanding the Lives of the Second Generation Transnationally.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 35 No. 7 August 2009: 1225-1242. Murley, Bryan. 2005. The Mediahood of All Receivers: Blogging as an Extension of the Reformation Concept of the Priesthood of All Believers. http://emergingchurch.bryanmurley.com/wp-images/mediahoodofallreceivers.pdf. Sheringham, Olivia, 2010. “Creating ‘Alternative Geographies’: Religion, Transnationalism and Everyday Life.” Geography Compass Volume 4 Issue 11: 1678–1694. Siapera, Eugenia. 2007. “Transnational Islam and the Internet.” Pp. 97-114 in Reimagining Diasporas: Transnational Lives and the Media. Edited by M. Georgiou, O. Bailey and R. Harindranath. Basingstoke: Macmillan Palgrave.

Author Information

Roberta Ricucci (presenting / submitting)

University of Turin, Italy

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