Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-260).

This study explores the question of religion and ethnicity as a source of family diversity and ideology. An ideal-typical "traditional Muslim family ideology" was developed and tested. Eight Indian Muslim students at Rhodes University were asked about their attitudes and perceptions of marriage and family life, to determine the particular type of family ideology that these students embraced. Family-related issues such as marriage; the division of labour; gender roles; the extended family system; divorce; and polygamy were addressed. On the basis of the research results, it was found that these students largely adopted the "traditional Muslim family ideology". Religion and ethnicity were found to play an important role, in the make-up of these students' perception of marriage and family life, and a strong preference for the extended family was shown.

Building on social psychological theories of identity, social networks, and religion, I developed and empirically tested a social network framework of civic and religious identity development among Muslim adolescents. In Chapter 2, I explore the social networks of Muslim high school students in the classroom in four European countries, finding that Muslim adolescents’ network centrality in the classroom erodes over time, which has an impact on academic outcomes. In Chapter 3, I explore social relationships in an identity-boosting after-school program to understand how Muslim adolescents develop their social connections with other Muslim peers. I found that participation in the event has an overall main effect of increasing civic intentions, enhancing affiliation and communion language, and developing a larger trust radius in a network of other Muslims. I also determined that Muslim girls and boys experience civic engagement differentially and discovered that meta stereotypes about their religious identity and centrality within a civic social network predict greater civic outcomes among Muslim girls. In Chapter 4, I build on the findings from Chapters 2 and 3 to develop a social network framework of religious and civic identity development among Muslim adolescents. In Chapter 5, I take a broader look at existing literature within social psychology studying Muslim populations through a content analysis. I conclude with a discussion of the implications of this work for social and cultural psychology, network science, and intervention science.

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This study examined the perceptions of a sample of female Muslim-American students regarding their socio-cultural accommodation in California public high schools. The research provides insight into the daily lives of female Muslim-American high school students to be available to counselors, teachers, and administrators. It also illustrates female Muslim-American students' struggle in trying to adjust to the school environment. The study used perspectives from the theoretical framework of social and psycho-social development, principles of multi-cultural education, and education in Islam. The research was based on data gathered through focus groups and individual interviews with six female Muslim-American first-year university students. The study findings suggested the following: Stereotypical assumptions among fellow students, teachers, and administrators exist with regards to female Muslim-American students on California public high school campuses. Also, despite the lack of accommodation for their religious and socio-cultural practices and the fact that they are socially marginalized, the female Muslim-American students interviewed during this study were able to graduate from high school and attend university. The students attributed their success in high school to the support of their families and religious life, which prepared them to be resilient and to overcome the challenges presented by common misconceptions during their high school years.

The purpose of this research was to study identity performance among undergraduate Muslim international women on college campuses in the U.S. Identity performance was defined as the way in which these women acted, engaged, interacted, behaved, and situated themselves in their various environments (Goffman, 1959). The conceptual framework for the study was Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (1979) that identifies five environmental systems in which an individual interacts (microsystems, mesosystems, ecosystems, macrosystems, and chronosystems). This study focused on identity performance in microsystems. Narrative inquiry, a qualitative methodological approach, was utilized to pursue two research questions: (1) how do undergraduate Muslim international women describe their experiences of identity performance inside college environments; and (2) how do undergraduate Muslim international women describe their experiences of identity performance outside college environments? Two in-person interviews were conducted with eight participants representing six countries (Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia). Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and data were analyzed with four iterations of coding (narrative coding, refining narrative coding, pattern coding, theming the data) (Saldaña, 2015). Five themes emerged: Muslim identity performance in home country, Muslim identity performance and family, Muslim international identity consciousness, religious engagement on campus, and understandings of new Muslim international identity. The stories shared revealed that identity performance was a complex process; it was ever changing and evolving as Muslim international women navigated their way from a religiously homogeneous environment in the home country to a heterogeneous environment within the U.S. Their microsystems and interactions with various environments influenced their performances of their various identities. These influences were also related to contextual conformity, psychological awareness, agency, resilience, persistence, positivity and appreciation of their experiences in the ever-changing environments. The study has implications for faculty and university administrators who are seeking to create inclusive and encouraging academic and social environments. Findings also have implications for future research on identity performance, contextual conformity, and experiences of Muslim international students. / Doctor of Philosophy / The population in the United States of America is rapidly becoming more diverse in terms of ethnicities, religions, and resident demographics. As a result of this shifting pattern towards heterogeneity, colleges and universities are also becoming more diverse (Seidman, 2005). International students and Muslim students are two such populations that have contributed to the increased diversity of the student body. Among these populations, international Muslim women reside at a unique intersection of gender, religion, culture, ethnicity, and national identities. Literature reveals that Muslim international women are often stereotyped and they experience Islamophobia in gendered ways (Cole & Ahmadi, 2003). The purpose of my research was to study identity performance of Muslim international women on two college campuses in the U.S. Identity performance was the ways in which these women acted, engaged, interacted, behaved and situated themselves in their various environments (Goffman, 1959). I used Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (1979) as the conceptual framework for this study. This theory identifies five environmental systems in which individuals interact (microsystems, mesosystems, ecosystems, macrosystems, and chronosystems). This study focused on identity performance in microsystems, which were their immediate environments. I used narrative inquiry, a qualitative methodological approach, to pursue two research questions: (1) how do undergraduate Muslim international women describe their experiences of identity performance inside college environments; and (2) how do undergraduate Muslim international women describe their experiences of identity performance outside college environments? I conducted two interviews each with eight participants to collect their stories of identity performance. The stories shared revealed that identity performance was a complex process. Contextual conformity, psychological awareness, agency, resilience, persistence, positivity and appreciation of their experiences influenced their identity performances. This study has implications for faculty and university administrators who are seeking to create inclusive, convenient and encouraging academic and social environments for all students. Findings also have implications for future research on identity performance, contextual conformity, and experiences of Muslim international students.

In 2020, over a million international students enrolled at universities in the United States. A significant percent come from Muslim-majority countries whose governments sponsor their education abroad. As overall international enrollments decrease, recruiting this population remains attractive to U.S. institutions. International students face the challenge of entering higher education in a foreign country and culture, navigating their education during a time of political battles over immigration and issues of diversity. Muslim students face prejudice and exclusion due to Islamophobia in the U.S. Universities have a responsibility to understand and fully support students from whom they benefit financially. This study examined the experiences of 11 Muslim international students and alumni at one American Jesuit university, exploring how being at a religiously affiliated institution influenced their university experience. A qualitive approach was utilized to understand their experiences through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Findings confirmed that Muslim international students experience multiple challenges and demonstrated the importance of community and impact of institutional interfaith identity on supporting and shaping their experiences. The framework of Community Cultural Wealth and spiritual capital highlight the tools and strengths students engage to successfully navigate their time at the institution. Findings supported the opportunities universities have to push back against Islamophobia by providing opportunities for all to engage with and learn from one another, and showed Jesuit universities’ institutional interfaith identities and educational pedagogy as critical in helping students fully develop themselves and influence the good of society.

abstract: ABSTRACT This dissertation addresses the question of how participation in an arts-based sojourn influences university instructors’ perspectives and understanding as related to working with international female Muslim students (FMS). It also addresses what participation in a social justice oriented arts-based inquiry reveals about transformation of perspectives and practices of FMS in instructors’ long-term trajectories. Social justice oriented arts-based inquiry is a powerful tool to unearth issues and challenges associated with creating and sustaining equitable practices in the classroom. This type of inquiry provided instructor-participants with a platform that facilitated their use of “equity lenses” to examine and reflect on external phenomena which may influence their classroom practices as related to FMS. Participation in the art-based sojourn facilitated multiple opportunities for the instructor-participants to reflect critically on their practices, understanding, and perspectives of FMS. This study revealed that the most significant shifts in understanding and perspectives about FMS followed from long-term events and moments in the instructor-participants’ teaching careers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2017

The values and beliefs involved in Islam maintain that religion is embedded in everyday life. Students from countries which subscribe to the tenets of Islam may have a difficult time adjusting to the secular society of the U.S. This study is concerned with the interrelationships among events perceived as stressful, the ways of coping with stress that are reported as most often used, and the reported level of satisfaction with living in the U.S. for the Muslim Arab international students in this study. A four page survey questionnaire was used as the instrument. The questionnaire was filled out by 102 Muslim Arab international students regarding the areas of stressors, coping strategies, satisfaction with living in the U.S., and individual descriptors. None of the hypotheses were supported with statistically significant results. Of the subjects, 83% reported that they did not receive any intercultural pre-sojourn training. Presently, pre-sojourn intercultural training does not aid in reducing the stressful situations experienced by these subjects (Hypothesis 1). The frequency of emotion-focused coping does not decrease when the perceived effectiveness of presojourn intercultural training increases (Hypothesis 2). Limited knowledge and standardized research in this area may contribute to the lack of success of intercultural training. Additional time spent living in the U.S. does not reduce the communication-related stressors Muslim Arab students experience (Hypothesis 3). Although research indicates the longer people live in a foreign culture, the more they learn the rules and norms and therefore become acculturated (Samovar and Porter, 1988), the additional considerations a Muslim Arab international student may have to deal with could override the positive effects of time. The frequency of emotion-focused coping does not substantially decrease the longer amount of time a student has lived in the U.S. (Hypothesis 4). stress is a part of any student's life. For Muslim Arab international students living in the U.S., the basic value system provided by the belief in Islam appears to be related to coping with stressful situations (Hypothesis 5). However, the results were not significant. As the variety of coping strategies increases, the variety of stressors does not decrease (Hypothesis 6). Rather, as the variety of stressors increases, so too does the variety of coping strategies. It appears that students who experience more stressors respond by using more coping strategies. Satisfaction was correlated with neither coping strategies nor stressors. One would expect satisfaction to be positively related to coping strategies (Hypothesis 7), but there was no relationship. One would also expect satisfaction to be inversely related to stressors (Hypothesis 8), but there is no relationship. Satisfaction was measured by the extent to which subjects would want to remain in the U.S., and if they would recommend a loved one to study in the U.S. Based on the highly obligatory social structure that exists in many Middle Eastern countries, contemplating remaining away from one's family and friends may not have been acceptable. Difficulties associated with living in the U.S. as an international student may have also led subjects to report they would not recommend a loved one to study in the U.S. In conclusion, there are three important results that can be drawn from this study. First, with respect, at least, to the Muslim Arab international students in this study, there is no way to empirically discriminate between different categories of stressors or different categories of coping strategies. Second, denial and wishful thinking are not effective coping strategies. Third, direct problem solving is clearly the most effective way for the Muslim Arab international students in this study to cope with stressors while living in the U.S.

Im Blick auf die Lerngruppen im Berufsschulreligionsunterricht steht dieser vor einer dreifachen Herausforderung: (1.) die ökumenische Kooperation, (2.) die didaktische Integration von Schüler(inne)n mit einer nichtchristlichen Religionszugehörigkeit sowie (3.) die Teilnahme von Schüler(innen) ohne Konfession und Religionszugehörigkeit. Während es zur ökumenischen Kooperation schon vielversprechende Versuche und zum interreligiösen Lernen im letzten Jahrzehnt viele Publikationen und Unterrichtsprojekte gibt, ist die Frage nach konfessions- bzw. religionslosen Jugendlichen im Religionsunterricht eine bislang vernachlässigte Forschungsaufgabe. Dies ist umso überraschender angesichts der Tatsache, dass die nichtreligiösen Schüler(innen) nach den christlichen Schüler(inne)n die zweitgrößte Gruppe darstellen. Das Institut für Evangelische Theologie der TU Dresden und das bibor der Universität Bonn haben sich dieser dritten Herausforderung gestellt und versucht, durch Gruppendiskussionen erste Erkenntnisse darüber zu gewinnen, wie am BRU beteiligte Gruppen diesen Religionsunterricht in seinem pluralen Kontext empfinden und bewerten. Die besonders im Blick auf konfessionslose Schüler(innen) unterschiedliche Lage in den alten und den neuen Bundesländern ebnete sinnvoll die Kooperation zwischen der TU Dresden und dem bibor in Bonn. Die vorliegenden Analysen und Dokumentationen des Projektes „Der Berufsschulreligions-unterricht in der Pluralität“ präsentieren nun die Ergebnisse dieses Projektes, dessen zentraler Inhalt Gruppeninterviews zum BRU bei Jugendlichen und ihren Lehrern ist. Von daher sind nicht nur die Analysen von Interesse, sondern vor allem die Möglichkeit für die Leser(innen), sich selbst ein eigenes Bild von der Meinung der Jugendlichen in Ost und West zum BRU zu machen.