TY - JOUR
T1 - Integration, minorities and the rhetoric of civilization
T2 - the case of British Pakistani Muslims in the UK and Malay Muslims in Singapore
AU - Marranci, Gabriele
PY - 2011/5
Y1 - 2011/5
N2 - This article discusses, through a comparative approach, the experience of young Muslims in Singapore and the UK as far as integration is concerned. The paper suggests that one of the main issues faced by young Muslims, in both countries, is how they are represented and understood. Indeed, British South Asian Muslims as well as Malay Muslim Singaporeans are still living in a dynamic of postcolonialism. The heritage of British colonialism still, although latently, works through the creation of categories and classifications of how identity should be defined. In both the cases of British South Asian Muslims and Singaporean Malay Muslims, there is often an unspoken request for the imagined ethnic minority to mimic the 'achiever' majority. It is in this dynamic that we can recognize what I have called a 'rhetoric of civilization'.
AB - This article discusses, through a comparative approach, the experience of young Muslims in Singapore and the UK as far as integration is concerned. The paper suggests that one of the main issues faced by young Muslims, in both countries, is how they are represented and understood. Indeed, British South Asian Muslims as well as Malay Muslim Singaporeans are still living in a dynamic of postcolonialism. The heritage of British colonialism still, although latently, works through the creation of categories and classifications of how identity should be defined. In both the cases of British South Asian Muslims and Singaporean Malay Muslims, there is often an unspoken request for the imagined ethnic minority to mimic the 'achiever' majority. It is in this dynamic that we can recognize what I have called a 'rhetoric of civilization'.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79953838836&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01419870.2010.539702
DO - 10.1080/01419870.2010.539702
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79953838836
VL - 34
SP - 814
EP - 832
JO - Ethnic and Racial Studies
JF - Ethnic and Racial Studies
SN - 0141-9870
IS - 5
ER -