Seen and Not Heard: Voices of Young British Muslims
Last week I mentioned that I’d been reading the report “Seen and Not Heard: Voices of Young British Muslims.” You can download the full report at the link.
The report raises some interesting points beginning with the premise that young Muslims - the under 25’s make up over half the communities – are in fact seen and rarely heard, and in particular that they feel that other people don’t see them as they see themselves – modern young people who want a voice but are denied one. The report highlights intergenerational experiences and identity as challenges facing young people, and 
that these are exacerbated for women who additionally have to deal with challenges from within and outside the immediate British Muslim population.
Three key issues surface in the report:
Identity: young Muslims are surprisingly class aware, and how they view Muslims in other parts of Britain is shaped considerably by their local life. When looked at in a general way, this seems obvious, but somehow it’s not been stated this way before. No one homogeneous national Muslim profile or psyche exists. In addition, young people do not regards themselves as a contradiction between their religious and national identities, but these are in a state of flux responding to discourses, experiences and pressures such as debates around Muslim women, roles in society and so on.
The report also introduces the idea of ‘intergenerational’ issues, by which it means that some young Muslims face different worlds in their lives, one in the home and one outside and see a communication divide between the two. This is an issue that I address in my book Love in a Headscarf – living multiple lives and not knowing how to integrate them together. However, I think this is a particular issue for teenagers generally and specifically for those from immigrant cultures where finding a way to balance the parental culture with the school/outside environment can be challenging. The report adds that whilst statistical evidence is needed, this split-world is unsurprisingly creating social and emotional disorders.
And finally, ‘disconnection.’ The report says that although much is written about young Muslims, they are aware that they are not the authors and sources of that content. It’s worth noting that this report is compiled entirely of interviews with young Muslims themselves and analysis applied to their comments in order to draw the conclusions. The book itself is peppered with their quotations. What is more worrying is that it’s not just wider society that they feel disconnected from, but also the platform institutions and umbrella bodies that claim access to a large chunk of British Muslim thought and opinion.
So what does the report say needs to be done? Capacity building, upskilling and training in meeting the needs of young people, along with investment in their development. It suggests mentoring schemes and role modelling. Some of this exists already, but if young people are not benefitting, then maybe there is not enough around, and perhaps this ideas need to be institutionalised at a local level so it’s ingrained into community structures. The programme mentions its own next step: a national Muslim heritage programme looking to capture the experiences of 1st generation Muslims to build young Muslims’ sense of local pride and belonging, and to increase their sense of being stakeholders in this society.
