I’m reading Europe’s Angry Muslims: The Revolt of The Second Generation, and it’s really good. There is very impressive research behind it, I’m spotting no idiocies at all, and I’m learning some really eye-opening stuff. The author makes it very clear that different Muslim communities in different European countries are, in fact, very different, and it’s absolutely crucial not to generalize. And there is not a single whiff of “Islam makes people violent” or, actually, “Islam makes people anything” crap, which is rare and hugely refreshing.
I’m only about 15% in at this point, but one curious insight I want to share in order to create some suspense for my forthcoming Book Notes post on the book is the following. The author argues (based on a plethora of information) that one big reason why the young European Muslims are getting radicalized, turning towards fundamentalist trends in Islam, putting on head-coverings, etc. is because this is their way to try to break the patriarchal hold their families have on them. Before it becomes a revolt against the European societies where they find themselves, it is a revolt against their religiously more lax and secularized parents. For instance, one girl in France who made a huge scandal with her hijab and with how crucial it was for her to have it on is a daughter of a Jewish man and a non-veiled Muslim woman. And there are many more cases of young people who became fundamentalist terrorists after growing up in families who practice Islam in as lax a way as the rest of the French, for instance, practice Catholicism or Judaism.
Clarissa's Blog 
Interesting! Have you read Fadela Amara’s Breaking the Silence? It speaks to these issues specifically with immigrants living in the French housing projects/suburbs. Amara ties problems that the third generation (she’s second generation) to frustrations with economic insecurity and continued social marginalization in spite of being undeniably French at that point.
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“Before it becomes a revolt against the European societies where they find themselves, it is a revolt against their religiously more lax and secularized parents.”
Why the switch of focus? Is the patriarchal family too strong?
Close adherence to a primitive inflexible version of a middle eastern religion (any of them) seems like a poor choice if one wants to free oneself from patriarchy……
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The goal of teenage rebellion is always to stick it to the parents, even if that sticking takes bizarre forms. 🙂 Remember that woman, the daughter of a famous feminist mother who keeps acting out the “I hate feminism” drama? The point is obviously not about feminism. If her mother were a vegan, a Republican, an Orthodox Jew, etc., the daughter’s response would be based on the rejection of those beliefs.
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I am eagerly waiting for the post. Hope you’ll tell us about the differences in Muslim communities in France, England and Germany. (And other countries, if the author mentions them.)
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It’s mostly France, England and Germany because those are the biggest community. Spain will be mentioned in passing. Well, what else is new?
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This makes no sense, joining the most hardcore fundamentalist group makes no sense. If I was from a secular family, I’d secular or join a pagan group, they don’t have so many rules or treat women like complete shit. Maybe this is the Muslim equivalent of reading 50 Shades, they must be masochistic
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See clarissa’s post on following a restrictive religion as a way of compensating for a perception of lack of parental love and acceptance.
Plus, generally converts are more likely to go for the ‘purest’ form of whatever they’re converting to (and these angry young muslims are converts).
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If you are looking for both something that will serve as a reproach to the parents and exercise strict control over you, nothing will work as well as a fundamentalist religion.
For Christians it doesn’t work this way because Christianity smashed the patriarchal family model of the kind I’m describing.
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Patriarchal families are families where patents are convinced that their children are their body parts. And I don’t mean in a metaphorical sense. I mean literally. Children who are raised in this environment are very likely to seek out a new entity that will enslave them because they simply have no other model.
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Now that makes sense, but I have the bad habit of thinking logically in illogical situations. My folks are old fashioned Cubans so I rebelled y listening to punk and metal and watching sports specifically to annoy my mother, guess I was lucky in that regard
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I congratulate you on a very healthy teenage rebellion. 🙂
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Spasibo ma’am 😆
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