It has long been argued that Islam has been covered in the 'western' media in oppositional terms - with events such as 9/11 playing a pivotal role in this. In the British context, a form of stereotyping also exists which ensures that people of South Asian ethnicities (specifically Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian ethnicities) are also included in this process. Misunderstanding between different ethnic 'groups' of citizens in the UK is an important issue, and in 2001 led to violence in a number of towns / and ci!ies.This thesis provides an original contribution to knowledge through a mixed-methods analysis of three case-studies based on UK national press content, and considers the way in which the 'groups' identified above are covered. The three cases - The Satanic Verses incident (1989), Bradford Riots (2001), and Gillian Gibbons incident (2007) - are chosen because their varying characteristics enable some telling comparisons of similarity and difference. The study finds a dearth of 'ordinary' voices from within the groups noted above in British press coverage, with a heavy reliance on the voices of religious and community 'leaders' instead. This was true in cases where minority voices tended to be dissenting (1989, 2001), as well as where they were more supportive of the status quo (2007). While events such as 9/11 and 7/7 undoubtedly had an effect on coverage of British Muslims and people of South Asian ethnicities - meaning that already negative coverage was exaggerated - this study concludes that this effect may not have been as great as previously thought outside of the specific context of terrorism. This is evidenced by coverage sampled concerning the 2007 Gibbons incident.

The past four decades have witnessed a tremendous amount of change and development in the area of British Muslim identity politics. From the establishment and growth of local and regional community groups, to international Islamic movements taking root in the VK and making an impact on the attitudes and aspirations Muslim communities. From the Rushdie affair and its legacy, through to the impact of international terrorism (9/ 11), and terrorism on home soil (J /7), all of these events have left their unmistakeable mark on Britain's Muslim communities. While there has been much recent academic study on British Muslims, there has been a lack of in-depth focus given to critically charting the development of a formal identity politics through official representative organisations, in the context of the rationale for claims that have been put fOlward towards government, their evolution and refinement over time and the impact of factors such as multiculturalism, Islamophobia and securitisation. With this thesis, I aim to contribute towards filling this gap in the literature. I first examine how formal Muslim identity politics 'scene' developed into the current familiar form. I look at some of the theory that has been used both to explain and to justify it. This includes examining aspects of British culture, and that of immigrant Muslim communities, which have informed and complicated approaches to engagement and dialogue at one and the same time. It also involves looking at notions of equality as recognition, and the idea of misrecognition. I propose that ever since the Rushdie affair of 1989, political claims put forward by Muslim organisations have been driven by the existence of an 'equality gap', and a keen desire to close this gap has informed and motivated their identity politics. Freedom of expression is a theme of particular interest. In the form of the Rushdie affair, it was a major trigger for the coming together of disparate Muslim groups to collectively engage with the govermnent. Since then it has consistently been a site of much sensitivity, contention and debate. Deploying examples relating to freedom of expression, I illustrate how Muslim identity politics has evolved over the years and how priorities as well as tactics for Muslim groups and successive governments with whom they have engaged have both shifted and changed. Comparing and contrasting Muslim identity politics with the experiences of Britain's Jewish communities, I draw out salient points of commonality and difference in their respective communal organisations. By pointing out how similar Muslim claims towards government have been to those made by Jews in the past, I show not only how Muslim identity politics has comciously benefited from the prior experiences of Bricish Jewry, but, importantly, that Muslim political claims are not as exceptional or unreasonable as critics might suggest. Finally, r take stock of how British Muslim identity politics has progressed over this period, assessing the extent to which the 'equality gap' has been closed. I argue that while it has been considerably narrow, the events of recent decades have led to a change in its focus. I present projections and recommendations on the future of Muslim identity policies in the VK. I argue that whereas in the past period, Muslim organisations were overwhelmingly preoccupied with lobbying of the state, the future of identity politics lies in harnessing the potential of civic partnerships based on shared interests between diverse communities. Tlus approach, when supplemented with the traditional lobbying role played by representative groups, can more effectively address the 'equality gap'.

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This dissertation investigates how Muslim youth in the West tell the story of the war on terror. It analyzes how news narratives shape political understanding and mediate identities. My research participants, between the ages of 12-18, were asked to produce 1-3 minute videos that explained the war by using iconic still and moving images. Between July 2004 and February 2006 I conducted twenty-three focus groups in London and in New York. The majority constructed chronological stories that sought to explain the genesis and the reasons for war in terms of cause and effect. In this sense I am considering the narrative as literal, not metaphorical. I argue that the spectacle of the Islamist has produced new political discourses, which have re-written the rules of Muslim belonging in the West. To be able to identify these 'rules' is one of the competencies ofcitizenship. News narratives serve a crucial role in political education in two distinct ways; first they are the gateway to participation in political discourse, and second they provide resources that define belonging to liberal democracies. For Muslims living in the West, news discourses and Muslim identities have become mutually constitutive. My discussion of the research participants' videos analyses the visual and verbal elements of the war on terror narratives. My analysis focuses on how news narratives of the war on terror have produced a semiotic landscape, which has led to dissemination of some ideas and the silencing of others. Like other recent approaches to studying audiences, the methodology of this research looks at identity using media production. I use news making to look at how participants represent themselves in relation to an imagined public audience. Rather than offering a descriptive set of categories on political positions held by Muslim youth, this research looks more broadly at how media functions in the circulation of political and identity discourses.

An increasing number of Muslims in the Arab world are being exposed to new ideas and questioning the beliefs of the community into which they were born. Several of these are choosing to embrace a Christian faith, a decision which can affect every aspect of their lives. Religious conversion usually entails a rejection of one's past: conversion out of Islam to a Christian faith can be construed by fellow Muslims as a betrayal not only of their religion, but also of family and of community. This thesis investigates the lives of converts from a Muslim background to a Christian faith, considering the strong social forces opposed to that decision. The difficulties of living as a religious convert in an Arab Muslim community can be understood in light of Arab cultural values which place community solidarity and reputation on a high level of importance. Muslim communal values, which usually have strong roots in the doctrines of unity and community, make apostasy from Islam especially problematic.

This thesis investigates the emergence and development of Muslim Chaplaincy at Princeton and Rutgers universities. It seeks to answer three questions: (1) How did university-based Muslim Chaplaincy develop? (2) What roles did Muslim Chaplains play? and (3) Why did university administrators hire and sanction Muslim Chaplains? The thesis explores these questions by examining the decision making processes of administrators through in-depth case studies based on observations, document analysis, and 64 interviews with current and former Muslim Chaplains, University Chaplains, Muslim student leaders, faculty members, alumni, and other administrators. The case studies are prefaced by a description of the national context for campus Muslim Chaplaincy based on 36 interviews with religious life professionals at 21 other colleges. My research suggests that Muslim Chaplaincy at Princeton emerged through the advocacy of Christian University Chaplains; in contrast, at Rutgers the role was created by a local community organisation and sanctioned by student affairs professionals. Campus Muslim Chaplains played a variety of roles. For Muslim students, they provided religious, pastoral, advisory, educational, programmatic, and liaisonal support. They also served other university constituents and local community members. Administrators at both institutions had multiple rationales for hiring and sanctioning Muslim Chaplains: to advance social justice for Muslim students, to provide an educational benefit to non-Muslim students, to remain competitive with peer institutions, to overcome histories of exclusion, and to avoid potential crisis situations. The goal of this study is to make two contributions to knowledge. In terms of its subject, this thesis provides the first empirical case studies of Muslim Chaplaincy in American higher education and frames these cases within the national context. In terms of theory, this study aims to develop an understanding of the administrative rationales behind the creation of Muslim Chaplaincies. It does this through the application of the political, cultural, and adaptive sociological models of the university. In particular, it draws on the concepts of institutional isomorphism and risk mitigation/management as explanations for the emergence of Muslim Chaplaincy.

Dans cette thèse, j'ai cherché à comprendre comment, à l'échelle d'une agglomération de province, la structuration d'une aspiration collective à transmettre l'islam en vient-elle à générer des offres et expériences différenciées du "'ilm"entendu comme l'ensemble des pratiques et discours en lien avec la transmission des savoirs islamiques. Ce travail vise à contribuer à la question de la transmission de l'islam en France par le biais d'une observation empirique des structures et pratiques d'enseignement confessionnel de l'islam dispensé aux adultes au sein de l'agglomération rouennaise. L'enquête, de type ethnographique, a été menée de 2013 à 2018 de façon participative, ce qui permet de mieux rendre compte des expériences et trajectoires des acteurs de la transmission. Pour cela j'ai circonscrit le terrain à l'agglomération rouennaise située en Normandie. Ce choix vient à contre-pied de la prévalence souvent accordée aux structures les plus visibles ayant une portée nationale. J'ai réalisé des entretiens par récit de vie auprès de plus d'une vingtaine d'enseignant-e-s et d'apprenant-e-s, ainsi que des entretiens semi-directifs auprès de responsables d'associations et de lieux de culte. Toutefois la majeure partie des données est avant tout constituée d'observations d'enseignements et de situations informelles au quotidien. / In this dissertation, I tried to understand how, in a medium-sized city such as Rouen, the collective aspiration to transmit islam, as it is given a structure, generates in turn different offers and experiences of the "'ilm". In this work "'ilm" refers to the whole of the discursive practices related to the transmission of islamic knowledge. The goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the question of the transmission of Islam in France by observing the range of structures and practices of Islamic teaching to adults in the Rouen area. This ethnographic study, which is a participatory assessment, was led between 2013 and 2018, allowing the experiences and lifepaths of the actors of transmission to be accounted for in a more thorough way. In order to do so, I have restricted the scope of the survey to the Rouen area in Normandy. My choice offsets the dominant trend that extends more attention to structures with nationwide visibility and reach. I have interviewed over twenty teachers and learners in life-story interviews and I conducted semi-structured interviews of leaders of religious associations and places of worship. Nonetheless, most of my data consists of participant observation in teaching contexts and in informal day-to-day situations.