Citizenship and Belonging in an Age of Insecurity: Pakistani Immigrant Youth in New York City

Abstract

Much like the Iran hostage crisis of the late 1970s and the Rushdie affair of the late 1980s, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil are a flashpoint for a particular generation, once again bringing Muslims into the limelight and reifying the position of Muslims as the Other. In tandem with increasing xenophobia across the United States (Vlopp 2002; Yuval-Davis, Anthias, and Kofman 2005), the events of September 11 have resulted in a resurgence of patriotism within the United States (Abowitz and Harnish 2006). Exacerbated, perhaps, by the war in Iraq and media attention to al Qaeda, Muslim immigrant youth are increasingly constructed as “national outsiders” and “enemies to the nation” (Yuval-Davis, Anthias, and Kofman 2005; Abu el-Haj 2007, 30). While there has been some popular press regarding the effects of September 11 on Pakistani/Muslim communities in the United States, until very recently, the ramifications of this event and subsequent developments on students in public schools have not been adequately explored (Abu el-Haj 2002, 2007; Maira 2004; Sarroub 2005, Sirin and Fine 2008). Yet what happens within the four walls of a school is a vital part of the larger picture of changing social relations: Public spheres such as schools often reflect and shape the relationships and tensions that exist in society at large.