British Muslims’ Discourse of Belonging and Conflict

Abstract

According to the 2011 UK Census, Muslims form the second largest religious community in Britain. The relationship of this community to British society more generally has come under much scrutiny. The current study focused on British Muslim’s constructions of belonging and conflict towards Britain. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using discourse analysis. Findings suggested that for these participants second generation Muslims were more likely to construct themselves as belonging to Britain than first generation Muslims, who show more attachments to their own culture and religion. Both generations produced rationalizations in order to negotiate their sense of belonging to British society and /or other culture. Moreover, their discourse was constructed in such a way that it fulfilled the function of protecting both generations from issues of accountability in social interactions.