restricted in their freedom of worship. That hurts me in my identity. Adding to the unjust things, that are happening abroad, it has an effect in radicalising me.”238 The French context reported this concern in different ways with a narrative of cultural hegemony denying the difference of interviewees. The following quote highlights one interviewee noting how the denial of their differences had a negative impact on the experience of immigrants in the education system: “I felt even more Algerian because there was racism, they put us all together amongst ourselves in corners, they did not look after us, there was no support. Whether it was sport or education they could have supported us better, they know very well that we were from immigrant families, that we had differences and that we weren’t like the others.”239 In the UK the narrative of a hostile society was reported as being directly and prominently broadcast by the media with totalising and negative representations of the Muslim faith in the media frequently hooked on negative incidents: “I am really sick of the reporting going on in the media representing young Muslims, it’s so negative and in the news too much”240 For interviewees the relationship with what was described as a hostile society should not be characterised as a passive one. The hostile contexts described are continually being interpreted and assessed by interviewees and a range of personal responses developed. Such responses can be seen to be manifested in the politics and political awareness evident among almost all the interviewees, including a desire to engage in critical self reflection and to interrogate their own history and culture when understanding their position in western European societies. In particular this hostile context has a clear and powerful role in the simultaneous ascription but also personal construction of faith based identities among many of the interviewees. Disenfranchisement and heightened political consciousness Perhaps the most pervasive theme of this study and across interviewees was the acute political awareness of all those interviewees interviewed, including those interviewed with no immediate or direct personal or professional connection with the subject matter. The political awareness described ranged from world affairs and religious debate through to a highly critical self awareness of their own culture, their place in society and their relationship with the majority society and prevailing socio-economic context. However, there was also a clear pattern and concern among interviewees that their concerns were not represented or shared, and even actively opposed, by the mainstream political systems in which they lived. These concerns were not confined to cultural identity but included public policy developments and reactions that encompassed universal political issues such as civil liberties, foreign policy and social justice concerns.
238
Germany interview with a 27 year old female student, born in the Lebanon and living in Germany since 1990. 239 France interviewee #11 240 UK interviewee 19
100