About our Project
This project seeks to explore political participations and interests among Muslim young people (15-27) in Scotland, and consequently, how this impacts on everyday experiences of being Muslim. The project aims to shed light on the complexity of young Muslim political participation, exploring how Scotland’s political, social and cultural landscape, through its intersections with the global, produces diverse patterns of young Muslim political engagement.
Drawing on the work of O’Toole and Gale (2013), we adopt a broad interpretation of political participation, helping to show the emergence of more informal and everyday activisms, along with more traditional engagements in mainstream politics. First, political participation in electoral politics in Scotland is examined. This will involve analysing how and why young Muslims participate in the politics of the core electoral parties, on both a local and national level. Second, we will examine non-electoral patterns of political participation, such as community involvement, campaigning, social movements, volunteering, political protest, online political actions etc. Through exploring both electoral and non-electoral political patterns we aim to analyse how international, national and local events intersect and shape how Muslim young people in Scotland politically participate. We also examine barriers that limit participation in politics, such as Islamophobia, racism, gender inequalities, media representations etc.
The project has five interrelated aims
· To explore how the distinct context of Scotland influences how young Muslims participate and think about politics.
· To analyse the different and emerging ways young Muslims in Scotland participate politically.
· To detail the core political concerns of young Muslims.
· To examine how global, national and local events influence the political participations of young Muslims.
· To highlight the barriers and challenges young Muslims face when engaging with political issues.
