A lot is at stake: On the possibilities for religion-related dialog in a school in Sweden

Abstract

This article reports the experiences of religion-related dialog among 24 Swedish students and their teacher in religion education. All students had immigrant backgrounds from the Middle East and all of them had strong religious convictions. By using qualitative analysis to reveal their experiences with dialog in school, the concept of "safe space" is critically discussed. The students' educational environment was not a "safe space" when it came to religion-related dialog, in part because historical and political conflicts in the Middle East have an impact on students' willingness to open up. The case study provides an example of the effects of the wider political and societal context on the micro-structure of classroom-interaction.

Conditions for identity development among religious immigrant youth

“…Family and relatives were of great importance for the youths' religiosity, which is in line with earlier research (Gunnoe and Moore 2002;Hyde 1990;Mason, Singleton, and Webber 2007;Kay and Francis 1996;Smith and Lundquist Denton 2005;Vikdahl 2018Vikdahl , 2019. Here, parents, family and relatives functioned as 'promoters' for the youths' I-positioning as religious people.…”

“…Another relevant fact in this context is that it may be uncomfortable to show a religious identity as a young person in Sweden. Studies show that a religious youth can be positioned as odd and different in a negative way, by others (Gunnoe and Moore 2002;Hyde 1990;Mason, Singleton, and Webber 2007;Kay and Francis 1996;Smith and Lundquist Denton 2005;Vikdahl 2018Vikdahl , 2019Zackariasson 2016).…”

“…Other studies focus more on how this process is bound to structures that young immigrants have not chosen themselves and contributes to positioning them in different ways (e.g. Cetrez 2005;Strandbu 2005;Moulin-Stozek and Schirr 2017;Van Meijl 2012;Vikdahl 2019), for example through bodily capitalisation (Strandbu 2005) and intersections of categories such as class and gender (Vikdahl 2017). Moulin-Stozek and Schirr (2017) also highlights what migrant youth have to relate to in the majority culture.…”

“…Such structures impacts on both socialisation and identity development. This concerns for example the difficult process for newcomer immigrant student possibilities to be included and accepted by the other students in a new class and how religiosity is a factor that has to adapt to their new social field (Skronowski 2013;Vikdahl 2019). Lee (2019) study of determinants of identity among migrant youths in Europe shows how second generation, born into the in the host country, does not show clear tendencies as compared with the first generation regarding cultural assimilation.…”

“…Studies indicate that schools with a majority of religious students (including a variety of ethnicities) impact on religiosity regardless of the specific particular composition of religions (Van der Bracht et al 2016). Research show that parents and family are of great importance for young peoples' religious identity (Gunnoe and Moore 2002;Hyde 1990;Mason, Singleton, and Webber 2007;Kay and Francis 1996;Smith and Lundquist Denton 2005;Vikdahl 2018Vikdahl , 2019. It is also shown that a positive development of religious identity can be nurtured through encounters with other young people sharing the same faith (Niens et al 2013).…”