Abstract

Against the background of international conflicts and terrorist attacks ‘in the name of Allah’, many Flemish natives perceive the Muslim population as a threat to our society. At the same time, research shows that Islam serves as an important identity marker for Muslim youth. Despite the stigma, the Islam and the ‘ummah’ are crucial emblems in their identity construction. Hence, they engage in ‘identity’ and ‘boundary work’ to reduce this ‘spoiled identity’, as earlier studies have shown. Contributing to this research area, I show in this study how Moroccan- Belgian youth draw boundaries around their Muslim identity to rebut racist beliefs. Drawing on fourteen in-depth interviews, I describe how (1) they blur and expand boundaries by emphasizing a moral universalism; (2) contract boundaries by distinguishing ‘real’ Muslims from ‘unauthentic’ ones; and (3) try to re-evaluate their identity by showing off good behaviour. Additionally, (4) some of them claim the ‘Belgian identity’ while most others do not.

How to Cite:

Kostet, I., (2019) “Naar een onbegrensde verbeelding?: identiteits- en grensprocessen bij Belgisch-Marokkaanse moslimjongeren in Vlaanderen”, Sociologos 40(1), 24–43. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86999