Abstract
The purpose of this article is to show how a focus on ‘non-organized’
Muslims in Europe can contribute with insights on the everyday lives and
practices of Muslim minorities. The empirical foundation is interviews
conducted in Germany and Denmark. I argue that by focusing on
institutionalized forms of Islam we run the risk of reifying Muslims as
being ‘all about Islam’. The article reflects and discusses the benefits of
adapting the framework of lived religion methodologically to investigate
how Muslim makes sense of Islam on a micro-level. I show how the
interviewees in this study have reconfigured religious practices, or no
practice at all, which is connected to attitudes of privatization,
individualization and pragmatism. The everyday practices and identities
can be seen as expressions of minority identities, and as a type of
individualized religiosity, and I discuss how these identities are different
from the identities of activist and vocal Muslims
Muslims in Europe can contribute with insights on the everyday lives and
practices of Muslim minorities. The empirical foundation is interviews
conducted in Germany and Denmark. I argue that by focusing on
institutionalized forms of Islam we run the risk of reifying Muslims as
being ‘all about Islam’. The article reflects and discusses the benefits of
adapting the framework of lived religion methodologically to investigate
how Muslim makes sense of Islam on a micro-level. I show how the
interviewees in this study have reconfigured religious practices, or no
practice at all, which is connected to attitudes of privatization,
individualization and pragmatism. The everyday practices and identities
can be seen as expressions of minority identities, and as a type of
individualized religiosity, and I discuss how these identities are different
from the identities of activist and vocal Muslims
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Ethnic and Racial Studies |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1134-1151 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| ISSN | 0141-9870 |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2011 |