Muslim Men, Racialised Masculinities and Personal Life

Abstract

This paper contributes to the study of Muslim men and masculinities by drawing attention to the usefulness of exploring the under-researched relational, emotional and intimate dimensions of Muslim men s lives. It argues that exploring personal life facilitates critical examination of Muslim men s affective ties by casting light on their emotional and intimate lives, beyond a narrow focus on negative emotionality. It highlights the private sphere as a domain of social life that has been neglected in understanding Muslim men s lived experience The paper presents findings from research exploring the impact on Muslim men of a child sexual exploitation crisis in Rotherham. Drawing on interviews with men to foreground their accounts, it shows how focusing on personal life enhances understanding of changing gender and generational relations in Muslim families and shifting masculine roles and identities. It highlights the impact of experiences of racialisation on men s personal lives within the private domain. IntroductionThe study of Muslim men and masculinities has paid little attention to personal life, including relations, emotions and intimacy. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the usefulness of exploring the profoundly under-researched relational, emotional and intimate dimensions of Muslim men s lived experience. It argues that exploring personal life facilitates critical examination of Muslim men s affective ties by casting light on their emotional and intimate lives beyond

Being an insider and outsider: whiteness as a key dimension of difference

“…My reflexive consideration of the ethics and politics of knowledge production illuminates the relevance of whiteness to assessing the balance between advancing the interests of the researcher, and the institutions researchers represent, and those of research participants. In carrying out the project, I arguably utilised my racialised advantages as a white academic to draw attention to hidden, under-explored aspects of Muslim men s lives in a way that challenges dominant problematizing accounts (Britton, 2018(Britton, , 2019. My experiences bring to light an important tension that requires more critical attention from white researchers.…”

“…I was surprised at the extent and type of disclosure in interviews. Participants talked frankly and at length about the relational, emotional and intimate dimensions of their lives and their responses to different forms of racism experienced in the town following the scandal (Britton, 2018(Britton, , 2019. It was unusual for local Muslim men to have an opportunity to express their views about the scandal s impact and for someone to listen with compassion and sympathy.…”

“No More Apologies”: Violence as a Trigger for Public Controversy over Islam in the Digital Public Sphere

“…This illustrates the racist nature of the whole incident as white Finnish people guilty of similar acts are not accused of terrorism #Turku #Turkuattack [translated from Finnish] Furthermore, racialisation of terrorist violence in the context of Islam has become fused with racialised masculinity (see Britton, 2018)…”

Challenging the racialization of child sexual exploitation: Muslim men, racism and belonging in Rotherham

“…On-street grooming is one of a range of issues, including forced marriage, female genital mutilation and veiling, that have become associated with Muslims, prompting questions about how to manage the apparent Muslim problem (Samad and Eade, 2003;Razack, 2004;Meer, Dwyer and Modood, 2010). As well as reinforcing problematizing ideas about Muslim masculinities, these are seen to take the form of discrete moral panics, which contribute to an on-going, cumulative process of producing Muslim men as contemporary folk devils (Morgan and Poynting, 2012;Britton, 2018).…”

“…The paper draws on interviews with Muslim men that I conducted as part of a wider study exploring the impact of Rotherham s child sexual exploitation scandal (Britton, 2018). The conceptualisation, design and execution of the study emerged over two years through my collaboration with local Muslim women, who acted as gatekeepers in accessing Muslim men.…”