Eastern Values; Western Milieu

Identities and Aspirations of Adolescent British Muslim Girls

Tehmina N. Basit

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781859725030
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351942102
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

In this book, Tehmina Basit examines the educational, social and career aspirations of adolescent Muslim girls in the context of their present experiences in contemporary Britain. She gathered data for the study over a period of twenty months, mainly by in-depth interviewing. The book portrays adolescence as a period of hope and expectation, rather than a time of stress, confusion and rebellion. The girls are optimistic about the future and, though largely working class, have middle class aspirations which they hope to realize through the mediums of education and careers. Nevertheless, they also want to get married and have children. While the girls' aspirations are partly being shaped by the views of their parents and teachers, they are not replicating the lives of their parents and teachers. Indeed, they are active participants in shaping their own multiple identities and aspirations by means of a subtle combination of negotiation and persuasion.

1 Introduction

The British Muslims

Britain has a history of immigrant and refugee settlement over a long period. The peoples who have adopted Britain as their home country not only originate from other European countries, but also from various other parts of the globe, notably Africa and Asia. Over the years, the European immigrants have, by and large, become integrated into mainstream British society mainly due to cognate features, such as skin colour and religion, with the exception of Jews who might still adhere to certain aspects of their religion and culture. The African-Caribbeans and Asians, on the other hand, remain conspicuous because of the colour of their skin. Phinney and Rotheram (1987) observe that these groups have a caste-like status based on appearance, which means they can never be completely assimilated.

Nevertheless, appearance is only part of their predicament. Whilst the African-Caribbeans share the language and religion of the indigenous group, the Asian immigrants have a different heritage language and practise a different religion depending on the part of Asia they originate from. They might speak Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu amongst other languages and could be Muslims, Hindus or Sikhs: the main religions practised in South Asia. They may also retain certain features related to their cultural traditions. Consequently, British Asians, even second or third generation, who adhere to their language, religion or culture of origin, might be perceived as foreigners.

Over the years, the descendants of many of the first generation immigrants of Asian origin have gradually assimilated into British society by adapting to various British customs and traditions. However, they only adapt to a certain extent and preserve specific characteristics of their cultural heritage. This phenomenon is referred to as pluralism, whereby the immigrants retain their structural and cultural identity, yet participate in institutions such as education and employment (cf. Verma and Bagley, 1979:8; Anwar, 1985).

Since many Asian immigrants, even second or third generation, adhere to distinct features of their culture of origin, they are, therefore, still recognisable through identifiers such as surnames, something that does not apply to other immigrants. For example, the African-Caribbeans have names similar to those of the indigenous population and some Jews change their names to facilitate integration. Asian immigrants, on the other hand, almost invariably retain their original names since these have religious and cultural significance. This is particularly true of Muslims.

The majority of Muslim population of Britain originates from South Asia. The main Muslim Asian communities in Britain are those of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. There are also East African Asians, who emigrated from their country of origin a few decades ago to settle down in Tanzania, Kenya or Uganda and later immigrated to Britain. There are some isolated Arab and African Muslim groups too, albeit they do not make up a sizeable community in the United Kingdom. To properly understand the Muslim community in Britain, it has to be seen in the wider context of Islam.

Nearly one billion Muslims are dispersed throughout the world (McDermott and Ahsan, 1980). They are multiracial, multilinguist and in some senses multicultural. Yet, they have an overriding unity because of their religion which transcends national and racial boundaries, as various racial cultures become subordinate to an overall Islamic culture. Whilst Muslims of different ethnic origins have independent roots, their culture is predominantly and fundamentally rooted in the same Islamic tradition (cf. Anwar, 1982; Ashraf, 1986). Thus, in spite of their differences, Muslims are, in an important way, united through the common nexus of Islam.

Muslims form the largest religious minority in Britain. However, since the 1981 and 1991 Censuses did not enquire about religion, statistical figures vary as regards the exact number of British Muslims. Halstead (1986) quoting the Central Statistical Office (1985:163) estimates the number to be 900,000. Wahhab (1989), on the basis of surveys and official figures, calculates that there are 652,000 Muslims in Britain and that 46 percent of all British Asian population is Muslim. Nevertheless, the Central Statistical Office (1994:145) estimates the number of British Muslims to be 200,000 (.20 million) in 1975; 310,000 (.31 million) in 1980; and 520,000 (.52 million) in 1992. Despite this disparity, the figures indicate a substantial Muslim presence in Britain.

Most Asians, Muslim as well as non-Muslim, migrated to Britain to fill the yawning gap caused by labour shortages in the post-war years (Brah and Minhas, 1985; Ballard, 1994). Initially for them coming to Britain meant a temporary stay to work, sending their income back home to their families to invest and eventually returning to enjoy a life of prosperity (cf. Anwar, 1979). For this reason, the majority of men came to Britain alone. They did not come as a consequence of spontaneous migratory fervour, but as a result of availability of jobs that offered higher rates of pay than could be obtained in the home country (Brown, 1984). Thus, it was a deliberate decision taken by the Asian migrants who aspired to improve their life-style: something that they felt could not be achieved in their country of birth.

However, the arrival of Asians in Britain is by no means a recent phenomenon. The emergence of a South Asian population in Britain has been traced back to the colonial period (see, for example, Visram, 1986). Many came as servants to the employees of the East India Company or as lascars employed on the ships that carried goods between Britain and countries in the East. Those who were discharged or deserted due to mistreatment had to fend for themselves. In time, they used their resourcefulness to find employment or take up entrepreneurial activities. Gradually, small communities developed in Britain, especially in the East end of London and port cities such as Liverpool (Brah and Shaw, 1992). In 1889, the first Islamic mosque was opened at Woking (Fryer, 1984; Visram, 1986), thus signifying a tangible Muslim population in Britain.

Still, not all Asians who came to Britain during the colonial period were servants or sailors. There was evidence of middle class Asians, such as teachers, doctors, lawyers and businessmen. Clearly, South Asian emergence in Britain, prior to the Second World War, has been significant, albeit numerically small. It was not until the early 1960s that Asians, initially men only, arrived in large numbers (Brah and Shaw, 1992).

When the Asians first came, there were jobs available to which they were welcomed, since the indigenous work force was at that time glad to get out of certain types of jobs (Stopes-Roe and Cochrane, 1991:8). However, the second generation Asians, many of whom are born and brought up in Britain, aspire to jobs similar to those sought by their indigenous contemporaries and are thereby in competition with young people from the majority population. This causes problems leading to allegations of unrealistically high aspirations on one side and prejudice and racism on the other. This is particularly true of young British Muslims whose largely uneducated parents are often believed as having very high ambitions for their children and lacking understanding of what it involves to realise these goals.

Whilst the Muslim population of Britain has increasingly become the focus of inquiry in recent years, most authors have discussed British Muslims along with other Asian or ethnic minority groups and the religious factor has so far been minimised in research. Nevertheless, Murad (1982) emphasises the decisive role of Islam in shaping the needs and aspirations of Muslims, as a result of which even when they live in a non-Muslim society, they wish to adhere to the Islamic way of life. He sees this as particularly problematic for young Muslims born and brought up in a Western environment. He points to the dearth of empirical data needed to devise policies that would enable young British Muslims to face this challenge successfully. The research study elucidated in this book endeavours to provide such empirical evidence, albeit regarding a limited number of adolescent Muslim girls only.

Very little research has been carried out on British Muslim girls. The literature either discusses the aspirations of girls in general or deals with the education of Muslims at large. Male Muslim authors (such as, Hussain and Ashraf, 1979; Anwar, 1982) discuss both Muslim girls and boys together. While this points to the essential egalitarianism in Islam, it minimises the role of gender. Literature by female Muslim authors (such as, Lemu and Hereen, 1978; Minai, 1981, Hussain, 1984), though illuminating, is more of a general nature. Research that has been done on ethnic minority children by non-Muslim researchers (such as, Sharpe, 1976; Taylor and Hegarty, 1985; Smith and Tomlinson, 1989; Stopes-Roe and Cochrane, 1991) deals with all British Asian groups together, thus underestimating the religious dimension. However, some empirical research pertaining to the experiences of British Muslim young women provides useful insight into their lives (see, for example, Afshar, 1989; Shaikh and Kelly, 1989; Brah and Shaw, 1992).

Still, there are misunderstandings and ambiguities regarding the role of Muslim women in the present day milieu that sometimes lead to the stereotyping of female Muslims by British society at large. It is even claimed by some researchers that Muslim girls are bound by religion and culture to the extent that they cannot lead a normal life and have to stay behind four walls. This gives the impression that they cannot be educated in schools and cannot have a career (see, for example, Wade and Souter, 1992).

Education in Britain is compulsory until the age of 16. Muslim parents are, therefore, legally bound to send their daughters to school. It is often thought that they do so reluctantly and in the process create numerous problems with their demands. These range from single-sex schools to segregated PE lessons, exclusion of sex education from the curriculum and the inclusion of ritually slaughtered (halal) meat on the menu. Another area of concern appears to be that some able Muslim girls are not being allowed to continue their education and are sent back to the country of origin to have an arranged marriage.¹

It, therefore, seems important that more in-depth empirical research is carried out to ascertain the extent and nature of misunderstandings that prevail in this under-researched area. If a gap exists between the home and the school, it needs to be scrutinised to see if this incongruity is caused by the fact that the aspirations of the home are moulded by the Islamic religion and Asian culture of the parents, and the aspirations of the school are shaped by the secular Western society. Such research can pave the way for local education authorities to contrive policies to help the religious minorities in Britain, many of whom have high ambitions for their future (cf. Kallie, 1986; Afshar, 1989; Penn and Scattergood, 1992). The empirical research reported in this book was a step in this direction. It aimed to illuminate factors that shape the aspirations of the female population of this minority group.

Nevertheless, high aspirations are not endemic to British migrants only. Glazer and Moynihan (1963), discussing American immigrant society, observe the drive for educational credentials among the many migrant groups in the USA. They note the Jewish passion for education; the Italian concept of social status through the professional occupations of their children; the Puerto Rican capacity for hard work and the value they place on schooling; and the West Indian emphasis on saving, hard work, investment and education. In the British context, the various immigrant groups show a similar ardour for self-improvement, mainly through their children (see, for example, Taylor, 1981; Tomlinson, 1982; Taylor and Hegarty, 1985; Kallie, 1986; Mirza, 1992).

Whilst the parents might start pondering over their children’s future when the children are very young, the main steps that they can themselves take at that time are to ensure that the children receive a good education. Young children can have little or no say in the choice of schooling and related matters. However, with the onset of teenage or adolescence, when the children approach the last few years of compulsory schooling, crucial decisions are made as regards their educational and career destinations, usually through consultation with the young people themselves. Thus, adolescence or teenage is a significant phase in the life of a young person and the experiences and ambitions of this period have implications for an individual’s future identity.

Although this book is primarily concerned with teenage Muslim girls, we need to comprehend the process of adolescence first. In order to understand the experiences and aspirations of Muslim girls, I shall, therefore, put them in the wider context of adolescence. Furthermore, since identity formation is an important feature of the teenage years, I shall examine the development of identity during this period. We have already discussed the presence of Muslims in Britain. The next two sections in this chapter are placed within two existing bodies of research: first, the studies explicating the phenomenon of adolescence; and second, the literature elucidating the process of identity formation during the adolescent years. The final section introduces the empirical research on which this book is based.

Adolescence in perspective

This section provides a theoretical framework for the research project and distinguishes the area of knowledge that the study proposed to advance. It should, however, be emphasised that the research did not commence with any preconceived ideas or hypotheses, nor did it aim to test theories developed by theoreticians. Its purpose was to illuminate a phenomenon by means of qualitative research and, in the process, generate theory grounded in the data.²

The first general theory of adolescence was proposed by the American psychologist G. Stanley Hall in his two-volume work ‘Adolescence’, published in 1904. He is usually credited with the ‘discovery’ of adolescence (Griffin, 1993:11). Adolescence is a process which is spread out over a number of years and is technically regarded as commencing with puberty (Chadwick, 1932:113). However, adolescence cannot merely be perceived as a biological event. This period also has profound sociological and psychological implications.

Hemming (1960:4-12) examines the incipient research into adolescence. He observes that adolescents do not merely react to endocrine changes within themselves; they react in ways characteristic of the society in which they live. He notes that social anthropologists discovered that social expectations about adolescence vary from culture to culture; that adolescents mirror these expectations in the attitudes they adopt and the way they behave. As early as 1896, Knapp and Childe described Alaskan culture where youth, the phase between infancy and maturity, had no place at all. The Samoan girls described by Margaret Mead appeared to pass through a happy uninhibited adolescence, while girls of their age among the Manu of New Guinea had an indulged childhood, yet on attaining puberty were precipitated into a rigorously disciplined adulthood. Thus, the experience of the adolescents was atypical as it varied depending on the society in which they were brought up.

Psychologists and psychoanalysts turned the attention back upon individual development. Freud, Adler and Jung each had a different theoretical stance, but together emphasised that adolescence was a second chance to restore distortions of personality resulting from unfortunate experiences during the highly formative first few years of life. Kurt Lewin saw the adolescent as driven out from many areas of childish activity, yet hesitant about stepping forward into the adult world, and indeed excluded from parts of it. He concluded that the adolescent was lurking uncertainly on the margins of both worlds: this caused conflict and a sense of isolation and accounted for the shyness, sensitivity, ostentation and aggressiveness of many adolescents (Hemming, 1960).

A multidisciplinary approach to the development of adolescent psychology appeared in 1948 in the form of a book by C.M. Fleming entitled ‘Adolescence: its Social Psychology’. Its introduction included recent findings from the fields of anthropology, physiology, medicine, psychometrics and sociometry. This comparative approach revealed rich fields of study, but threatened to become overwhelming with the abundance of material relevant to the study of adolescence.

The concept of developmental tasks introduced by R.G. Havinghurst also formed a basis of synthesising various fields of study of adolescence. He initially listed ten developmental tasks which face the adolescent, but later shortened this list to five. This included learning an appropriate sex role; achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults; getting along with age-mates; developing intellectual skills; and developing conscience, morality and a set of values. Similar lists were suggested by others, such as Luella Cole and R.G. Kuhlen.

Thus, the early literature presents adolescence as a period of conflict, uncertainty, isolation and adjustment. Hemming (1960:13;25) points out that while adolescence itself does not generate problems, it is a period of vulnerability. He argues that much of the conflict that arises between parents and their adolescent children is the direct outcome of the attempt of parents to apply to their children the attitudes and rules which their own parents applied to them.

Anna Freud (1958) views the central characteristic of adolescence to be the renunciation of one’s childhood relationships. She believes that adaptation depends on breaking ties. Bios (1967) carries this line of thought further and proposes that the adolescents’ shedding of familial bonds is necessary for adult involvement in society. These theorists clearly explain adolescence in terms of rebellion and separation.

Even today, turmoil and rebellion are seen as the hallmarks of adolescence in Western society and traditionally the sine qua non of this life stage (Stern, 1990:74). Moreover, individuation and autonomy development are still widely considered the foremost adolescent tasks (see, for example, Josselson, 1980). Rosenthal (1987:157) observes that since adolescence is a time of considerable cognitive and physical development, as well as a time when social expectations change dramatically, this particular life stage may be especially problematic, and fraught with chaos and confusion. She marvels...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The shaping of identity
• 3 The dynamism of family values
• 4 The institution of marriage
• 5 The social dimension of schooling
• 6 The academic dimension of schooling
• 7 Aspiring to a career
• 8 Conclusions
• Bibliography
• Glossary