3 Young people as cultural critics of the monocultural landscapes that fail them
-
Rick Bowler
Abstract
This chapter examines the experience and views of young British Muslim women and their solutions to the limitations embedded in the monocultural mindsets organising the public spaces of their Sunderland cityscape. The narratives of the young ‘Mackem’ women clearly identify how long-standing racialised ideas connecting whiteness as belonging, which were pervasive in the local monoculture, act as an impediment to solution-focused opportunities for a multi-vocal intercultural present. The chapter draws on empirical data to foreground the voice of young women, offering a counter-narrative to dominant constructions of young British Asian Muslims whose experiences have been publicly articulated through the prism of continuing British racism and Islamophobia. The young women involved in the research articulated themselves as cultural critics of the dominant monocultural white imaginary of Britishness, nationhood, and belonging. Their nuanced understanding of British identity illustrated an orientation of their life-world beyond the confines of monocultural imaginaries, offering hope for intercultural belonging.
Abstract
This chapter examines the experience and views of young British Muslim women and their solutions to the limitations embedded in the monocultural mindsets organising the public spaces of their Sunderland cityscape. The narratives of the young ‘Mackem’ women clearly identify how long-standing racialised ideas connecting whiteness as belonging, which were pervasive in the local monoculture, act as an impediment to solution-focused opportunities for a multi-vocal intercultural present. The chapter draws on empirical data to foreground the voice of young women, offering a counter-narrative to dominant constructions of young British Asian Muslims whose experiences have been publicly articulated through the prism of continuing British racism and Islamophobia. The young women involved in the research articulated themselves as cultural critics of the dominant monocultural white imaginary of Britishness, nationhood, and belonging. Their nuanced understanding of British identity illustrated an orientation of their life-world beyond the confines of monocultural imaginaries, offering hope for intercultural belonging.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- Notes on contributors vii
-
Race, racism and social policy
- Race and social policy: challenges and obstacles 5
- ‘Race’: the missing dimension in social policy higher education? 25
- Young people as cultural critics of the monocultural landscapes that fail them 51
- Returnees: unwanted citizens or cherished countrymen 71
-
Social policy and young people
- The family welfare source and inequality in liberal welfare states: evidence from cohort studies 97
- Economic hardship in young adulthood: a cause for concern or a matter of course while settling into the Swedish labour market? 135
- Cultural education and the good citizen: a systematic analysis of a neoliberal communitarian policy trend 163
- How geographical and ideological proximity impact community youth justice (in)accessibility in England and Wales 183
-
Austerity
- After a decade of austerity, does the UK have an income safety net worth its name? 211
- A new page? The public library in austerity 227
- No way home: the challenges of exiting homelessness in austere times 249
- ‘Everywhere and nowhere’: interventions and services under austerity 271
- Index 291
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- Notes on contributors vii
-
Race, racism and social policy
- Race and social policy: challenges and obstacles 5
- ‘Race’: the missing dimension in social policy higher education? 25
- Young people as cultural critics of the monocultural landscapes that fail them 51
- Returnees: unwanted citizens or cherished countrymen 71
-
Social policy and young people
- The family welfare source and inequality in liberal welfare states: evidence from cohort studies 97
- Economic hardship in young adulthood: a cause for concern or a matter of course while settling into the Swedish labour market? 135
- Cultural education and the good citizen: a systematic analysis of a neoliberal communitarian policy trend 163
- How geographical and ideological proximity impact community youth justice (in)accessibility in England and Wales 183
-
Austerity
- After a decade of austerity, does the UK have an income safety net worth its name? 211
- A new page? The public library in austerity 227
- No way home: the challenges of exiting homelessness in austere times 249
- ‘Everywhere and nowhere’: interventions and services under austerity 271
- Index 291
