Skip to main content
Article
Becoming 'Holistically Indegenous': Young Muslims and Political Participation in Canada
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (2013)
  • Kathy Bullock
  • Paul W Nesbitt-Larking
Abstract
While media and the government often focus on the supposed "radicalization" of Muslim youth in Canada, our research explores the more complicated and nuanced political identities among 20 young Canadian Muslims. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews with these youth in the Greater Toronto Area and in London, Ontario, we explore these young citizens' concepts of political participation; conceptions of the self as a political actor; formal, informal, and civic political involvement; and the relationship between their religious and Canadian identities. Our research is grounded in a positive and pluralistic politics of care, respect, and engagement. We treated Muslim youth as similar to other Canadian youth and designed our study guided by other contemporary research into Canadian youth and political participation. While our interviewees noted the impact of negative public discourse about Muslims and some experiences of racism, the research results revealed an overwhelming commitment to Canada and political engagement among Muslim youth, evidenced most fully by a high level of civic engagement.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2013
Citation Information
Kathy Bullock and Paul W Nesbitt-Larking. "Becoming 'Holistically Indegenous': Young Muslims and Political Participation in Canada" Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs Vol. 33 Iss. 2 (2013)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/paul_nesbitt-larking/34/