To be Muslim and Swiss: Children of Muslim Immigrants from South east Europe and the Politics of Belonging

Abstract

Recently Annalisa Frisina has outlined two dominant frames (Goff man, 1974) concerning the role of Muslims in Europe’s multicultural states. On one hand, we have the security frame – Muslims are subject to broad suspicions of terrorism. On the other hand, there is the culturalist frame – Islam is portrayed as the religious and cultural opposite of the West, both are seen as uniform blocks existing outside of history (Frisina, 2010, 560). Talal Asad has emphasized this second frame by characterising Europe as a narrative that excludes Islam, with liberal and reactionary political voices largely coinciding in this regard (Asad, 2003, 164). Since the ban on minarets – introduced by way of a referendum in November 2009 – the crescendo of anti-Islamic voices in Switzerland can’t be ignored. Pimarily responsible in the process is the SVP (Swiss People’s Party), who even added a section about religion in their party platform, entitled “Our Values are Challenged.”16 We have pointed out elsewhere the extent to which this debate is dominated by a mono-identity discourse, i. e. Muslims are essentially Muslims (cf. Allenbach & Sökefeld, 2010). Since other affiliations and identifications are not represented, differences among Muslims and similarities with non-Muslims are kept largely hidden. This chapter draws attention to the children of Muslim immigrants, growing up in Switzerland, and to their sense of multiple belonging. It aims to investigate the negotiation of belonging as an active process. What affiliations and identifications are important? What role do family and peer relationships play? Can the effects of Islamophobic discourse be discovered in interviews with Muslim teenagers?