Scottish Muslims Through a Decade of Change: Wounded by the Stigma, Healed by Islam, Rescued by Scotland. Issue 1 (February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bonino, Stefano
• Is Part Of: Scottish affairs. Volume 24:Issue 1(2015)
• Page Start: 78
• Page End: 105
• Publication Date: 2015-02
• Subjects: Scotland -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 320.941105
• DOI: 10.3366/scot.2015.0054
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0966-0356

Abstract

<abstract xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>This paper explores the emergence of self-conscious Muslim identities a decade after 9/11 within a generally inclusive Scottish context. Qualitative fieldwork conducted among Muslims in Edinburgh between 2011 and 2013 suggests that Islam has come to the foreground of Muslims' multiple identities as a force that unites an ethno-culturally diverse community in a historical moment of perceived threat and exclusion. Muslims challenge the global post-9/11 negative climate and find in Islam a powerful tool of individual and collective survival. The global stigmatization of Muslimness has local ramifications in, but is not a specific function of, Scotland. Instead, Scotland generally appears to be a place of relative tolerance in which proudly Scottish Muslims can express their Muslimness with a certain degree of freedom. Scotland promotes a uniquely Scottish experience to be Muslim and acts as a conduit for positive, rediscovered religious experiences.</p> </abstract>