Mitt syfte är att undersöka ”vita” svenska muslimers självbild i relation till omvärldens bild av dem i Sverige. Centrala frågor är: Hur identifierar sig de intervjuade? Hur beskriver de omvärldens bild av dem som muslimer? Hur hanterar de den beskrivna omvärldsbilden? Jag har intervjuat fyra män, varav tre är uppväxta i Sverige och en är växelvis uppväxt i Japan och Sverige med svenska föräldrar. Jag använder mig av ett postkolonialt teoretiskt perspektiv och använder mig av verktyg från detta fält. Jag har kommit fram till att informanternas identitetspositioner varierar situationellt och att de intervjuade förhåller sig till diskurser både hos den icke-muslimska omgivningen, diskurser hos andra muslimer och gentemot mig som intervjuare. Jag har sett att klädsel är en viktig markör för muslimsk identitet. Ett annat resultat av min studie som jag har sett är att de intervjuade använder sig av olika strategier för att bemöta stereotypa föreställningar från omvärlden. Det framkommer kritik mot media för att de inte utför sitt arbete vid skildringen av islam och muslimer och även kritik mot andra delar av samhället. / <p>HT 2015</p>

Utgångspunkten i vårt arbete är att undersöka hur två svenska skolor i Skåne upplevs av några elever med muslimsk bakgrund. Även två modersmålslärare ger sin syn på saken då dessa utgör en bro mellan skolan och hemmet och kan se problematiken som kan uppstå. Hemspråkslärare och modersmålslärare används i texten och dessa har samma funktion. Som underlag till undersökningen har vi en litteraturgenomgång, där vi tar upp aspekter som är viktiga för vår undersökning. Islams historia är tillsammans med föräldraperspektivet något som vi tycker är mycket viktiga, men enligt oss får det för lite plats och utrymme i samhället. Religionsundervisning, sim och idrottsundervisningen är områden vi har fördjupat oss i och dessa anser vi kan utgöra problem om man inte har en bra dialog med inblandade parter. Matfrågor och klädeskoder är områden vi berör då dessa frågor enligt oss är saker som måste finnas med, eftersom dessa utgör en stor del av elevernas religiösa tillhörighet. Kvalitativa intervjuer har genomförts med fem elever och två modersmålslärare på två olika skolor i Skåne. Resultatet visar på att eleverna är nöjda med bemötandet av de berörda skolorna, med vissa undantag. Flexibiliteten och anpassningen från elevernas håll är stor men skolorna kan bli bättre. Nakenheten bland muslimer kan i vissa fall vara känsligt eftersom man inte ska visa sin nakna kropp för okända. Skolan kunde vara bättre på att exempelvis ha duschdraperi där man kan skyla kroppen.

This essay examines how young Muslims, with connection to the coalition Sveriges Unga Muslimer, handle their Muslim identity. The essay examines strategies the young Muslims use in the meeting with the Swedish society and how they construct a functioning and secure identity. Six Muslim youths, who were members of two local associations connected to SUM, were interviewed. The results of this essay showed that democratic rights and liberties, a Muslim community and a self-constructed identity, freed from the stereotype media picture, are important in the development of a functioning and secure Swedish Muslim identity. The young Muslims in the study did not handle their identity in a conservative way, by way of isolation. Neither did they use a secular strategy, where they completely adapt to Swedish society. Instead these young Muslims have succeeded in finding a path between isolation and assimilation, a path where they consider themselves faithful to Islam and at the same time interact in a functioning way with their Swedish surroundings and actively participate in the society as self-assured Swedish citizens. Thus the young Muslims used a third type of strategy in their meeting with a western society. They also seemed to have constructed a sort of new European interpretation of Islam, a so-called euro-Islam.

We live in a society where preconceived notions about religious schools and indoctrination are many but the rules regarding a non-denominational education are strict. It is of great importance to get a better understanding of religious schools and their effect on the pupils that attend them. The aim of this study is to analyze whether or not the compulsory religious education on a private religious school in the south of Sweden is non-denominational. In order to get a greater understanding of the impact on the pupils’ religious identity, Henri Tajfel’s theory of social identity is used. A total of eight observations, three interviews and collected materials such as previous tests regarding Islam, Christianity and Judaism have been gathered and discussed with the help of Tajfel’s theory and other previous research. The results show that some denominational elements could be found in the compulsory education and that the school at hand had an impact on their pupils’ Muslim identities. With these results, my ambition is that teachers that read this study will be more reflective and critical of their own teaching. It is possible that some teachers do not notice that their own religion or beliefs are shining through their teaching and could potentially effect the pupils. However, if teachers start to reflect upon their teaching and the impacts it could have on a pupil these denominational elements could be prevented.

Muslims and islam are unquestionably a part of European social life. In recent times, however, different events, such as the enlargement of the EU and the fact that muslims to a higher extent demand their rights, have brought a number of questions to the fore concerning muslims and islam in Europe. Moreover, we can see an increasing level of islamophobia in contemporary Europe, but also that the EU has launched several programs to increase both the diversity and the unity throughout the Union and to combat islamophobia. However, most of these programs focus on islam as religion and muslims in general, and such a narrow viewpoint runs the risk of missing important issues. In this new context it would be interesting to widen the scope and ask what place not only the muslim community and islam, but also sharia (an important element in islam), may have in future Europe – especially when it comes to muslim identity? My main objects are to see how the concept of sharia is constructed in the debates in the European Parliament, how that discourse relates to a social practice – the increasing islamophobic ideas in Europe – and what effect this may have on muslim identity in a European context. The results shows that the Parliament constructs sharia as, for example, something archaic, threatening, inhuman and misogynistic. In that sense, the discourse fits in with the predominant order of discourse regarding islam and muslims (in Europe) – and strengthen it. Though my results are neither absolute nor uniform, they show, persuasively enough, that sharia (as it is seen by the Parliament) is not consistent with and can not be included in or accepted by “European norms and values”. However, this must be said with one reservation: sharia is not always excluded as a whole. Still, it is not difficult to maintain that it is sharia as such that activates the (negative and) excluding connotations. Thus, an “approved” European muslim identity, as it seems, can not have too close connections with sharia, if (any) at all. Moreover, there is a risk that muslims themselves take on a restricting practice concerning their identity. In all, this will to a large extent circumscribe the possible muslim identities in Europe. To form a substantial and really pluralistic diversity in Europe, the EU, and others, must liberate itself from the logic of these discourses. But this is not an easy thing to do. One way that might be profitable, is to challenge the prevailing discourse with new narratives – narratives and voices that for the most part must come from the muslims themselves. Despite the fact that these voices do exist, as has been shown, the question is how and under what circumstances they can be seen – or rather heard. Unfortunately the answer is not to be found in this thesis; the need of further research is obvious.

Muslims and islam are unquestionably a part of European social life. In recent times, however, different events, such as the enlargement of the EU and the fact that muslims to a higher extent demand their rights, have brought a number of questions to the fore concerning muslims and islam in Europe. Moreover, we can see an increasing level of islamophobia in contemporary Europe, but also that the EU has launched several programs to increase both the diversity and the unity throughout the Union and to combat islamophobia. However, most of these programs focus on islam as religion and muslims in general, and such a narrow viewpoint runs the risk of missing important issues. In this new context it would be interesting to widen the scope and ask what place not only the muslim community and islam, but also sharia (an important element in islam), may have in future Europe – especially when it comes to muslim identity? My main objects are to see how the concept of sharia is constructed in the debates in the European Parliament, how that discourse relates to a social practice – the increasing islamophobic ideas in Europe – and what effect this may have on muslim identity in a European context. The results shows that the Parliament constructs sharia as, for example, something archaic, threatening, inhuman and misogynistic. In that sense, the discourse fits in with the predominant order of discourse regarding islam and muslims (in Europe) – and strengthen it. Though my results are neither absolute nor uniform, they show, persuasively enough, that sharia (as it is seen by the Parliament) is not consistent with and can not be included in or accepted by “European norms and values”. However, this must be said with one reservation: sharia is not always excluded as a whole. Still, it is not difficult to maintain that it is sharia as such that activates the (negative and) excluding connotations. Thus, an “approved” European muslim identity, as it seems, can not have too close connections with sharia, if (any) at all. Moreover, there is a risk that muslims themselves take on a restricting practice concerning their identity. In all, this will to a large extent circumscribe the possible muslim identities in Europe. To form a substantial and really pluralistic diversity in Europe, the EU, and others, must liberate itself from the logic of these discourses. But this is not an easy thing to do. One way that might be profitable, is to challenge the prevailing discourse with new narratives – narratives and voices that for the most part must come from the muslims themselves. Despite the fact that these voices do exist, as has been shown, the question is how and under what circumstances they can be seen – or rather heard. Unfortunately the answer is not to be found in this thesis; the need of further research is obvious.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur nyanlända elever ser på religion utifrån två teman. Det första behandlar hur dessa elever positionerar sig till religiösa traditioner, samt på vilka sätt dessa positioner kan ha förändrats i diaspora. Det andra temat behandlar hur de nyanlända eleverna upplever religionskunskapsundervisningen i Sverige. Studiens resultat är baserat på kvalitativa intervjuer med sex nyanlända elever och deras lärare i religionskunskap. Intervjuerna har analyserats utifrån kritisk diskursanalys och ett postkolonialt perspektiv. Studiens resultat på det första temat visar hur de flesta av eleverna inte ser sig som religiösa, utan benämner sig som troende, och deras religionsutövning präglas av en stor variation. Av de sex eleverna kommer fem från en muslimsk bakgrund, och hos flera av de fem finns ett språk som tyder på stereotypisering av muslimer. Samtliga muslimska elever beskriver en förändring av tro och minskad praktik som ett led av att befinna sig i diaspora. Resultatet av det andra temat visar hur elevernas upplevelser av religionskunskapsundervisningen i Sverige generellt sett är positiv, men en elev har en negativ bild av undervisningen och menar att undervisningen leder till ateism. Undervisningen och läromedel upplevs som bra eller neutrala på att skildra islam, vilket inte stämmer överens med tidigare forskning, samtidigt som några av de muslimska eleverna anmärker på felaktigheter. / The aim of this study is to explore how recently immigrated pupils perceive religion based on two themes. The first theme deals with how these students position themselves in regard to religious traditions, and how these positions might have changed in the diaspora. The second theme deals with how the pupils experience Religious Education (RE) in Sweden. The results are based on semi-structured interviews with six recently immigrated pupils and their RE teacher. Critical discourse analysis and postcolonialism are used as theoretical and analytical approaches. The findings on the first theme indicate that most of the pupils do not see themselves as religious, and instead refer to themselves as believers, and their religious practice is characterised by a large variation. Five of the six pupils come from a muslim background, and the language these pupils use show signs of stereotyping muslims. All the muslim pupils describe a change in belief and a decrease in practice as a result of being in diaspora. The findings on the second theme indicate that the pupils generally have a positive experience of their RE in Sweden. One pupil had a negative view of the education, which was seen as a leading factor in becoming an atheist. The teaching and study materials used in the classroom were perceived as good or neutral in their depiction of islam, which does not match the findings of previous research, although some of the muslim pupils remarked on a few inaccuracies.