The approach of this study is that conversion to Islam leads to stigmatization. Based on that the aim of this study is to examine what reactions and treatment Swedish Muslim converts have experienced from their families regarding their conversion to Islam, how they prepare for revealing their conversion, what strategies they use to handle their families’ reactions and whether this has any significance in their self-perception. The study is qualitative and was made with semi-structured interviews with five Swedish female converts. The theories used are Erving Goffman’s stigma and the concepts of Islamophobia and Swedishness. The results show that the converts prepare the revealing of their conversion by speaking openly and positively about Islam a long time before the revealing. The reactions received indicate reproduced Islamophobic prejudices and aversions and take form of grief, shame, and despair to more far-reaching reactions such as negative violations, distancing, lack of support and exclusion from the family unity and from Swedishness. The women explain that they hide the fact that they pray, and, in some cases, they take off their headscarves when visiting their families. Furthermore, they wear a turban or put on headscarves and clothes with bright colors to look more ‘normal’. Finally, their self-perception is affected by all the negative reactions and treatment, and they clarify that they feel ambiguities about how to perceive themselves: as ‘real’ Swedes or not since their families tell them they areno longer considered as such
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-52577 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Al-Hashimi, Fatima |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Danish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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