GÖÇMEN/MÜSLÜMAN GENÇLİK KİMLİĞİ ÜZERİNE SOSYAL BİLİMSEL SÖYLEMLER

Year 2018, , 1 - 29, 29.06.2018

Fahri Çakı

https://doi.org/10.31679/adamakademi.359791

Abstract

Gençlik dönemi diğer özelliklerinin yanı sıra bir kimlik edinme dönemidir. Bu dönemde inşa edilen kimlik sonraki yaşam evrelerinde güncellense ve hatta tamamen yenilense bile kalıcı izler taşımaya devam eder. Bu dönemde inşa edilen kimlik ayrıca çok yönlü ve çok boyutludur da. Cinsel kimlik, mesleki kimlik, ulusal/etnik kimlik ve siyasal/ideolojik kimliğe ek olarak dini kimlik de bu çeşitlilik içerisinde en derin etkileri olan kimlik türleridir.

Müslüman genç bir istisna değildir elbet. Tıpkı gayri-Müslim benzerleri gibi Müslüman genç de çeşitli faktörlerin etkisiyle ergenlikten hatta çocukluktan itibaren kendini belli kimlik öğelerinin içinde bulur ve/veya bunları inşa eder. Ne var ki gayri-Müslim benzerlerinden farklı olarak Müslüman genç, başka bir gezegenden geliyormuş gibi, genellikle ve çoğunlukla dini kimliği ile karakterize edilir. Öyle ki Müslüman gençliğin kimliği üzerine Batılı ve Müslüman akademisyenler tarafından şaşılacak derecede benzer söylemler üretildiği gözlenir. Dolayısıyla, Müslüman gençlik kimliklerinin sosyal bilimciler tarafından nasıl inşa edildiğini analiz etmek, Müslüman gençlerin kendileri tarafından nasıl inşa edildiklerini analiz etmek kadar önemlidir.

O halde bu söylemlerin ana karakteristik özellikleri ve argümanları nelerdir? Müslüman gençlik kimlikleri sosyal bilimciler tarafından hangi kuramsal/siyasal kaygılar ve amaçlar çerçevesinde, nasıl (yeniden) inşa edilmektedir? Bu makale, zikredilen bu sorulara odaklanmakta ve özellikle 21. Yüzyıl’ın başından itibaren bir uzmanlık alanı haline gelen Müslüman gençlik kimliği üzerine literatürün eleştirel bir değerlendirmesini yapmayı amaçlamaktadır.

Her ne kadar diğer dillerde birçok benzer örnekleri görünse de İngilizce yazılmış materyaller bu analizin ana veri kaynağını oluşturmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, göç, azınlık ve gençlik literatürlerindeki Müslüman gençlik kimliği teması çalışmanın kapsam ve sınırlarını çizmektedir.

Keywords

kimlik inşası, Göçmen Müslüman gençlik, kimlik inşası, ötekileştirme

SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSES ON IMIGRANT/MUSLIM YOUTH IDENTITY

Abstract

In addition to its other features, the period of youth is one in search of identities. Even if the identities constructed in this period are updated or completely renewed, it continues to hold everlasting imprints in the rest of life. It is also a multidimensional period. Like sexual, occupational, national/ethnic, political/ideological ones, religious identity too are among the most effective types of identity.

Muslim youth, of course, is not an exception. Just like non-Muslim counterparts, Muslim youth find him/herself in various identity-related factors, or construct ones, since adolescence or even childhood. However, unlike his/her non-Muslim counterparts, s/he is usually characterized mostly with his/her religious identity as if s/he is coming from another planet. This trend is so common that one can observe surprisingly so similar discourses ˗produced by both Western and Muslim scholars˗ on Muslim youth identities. Thus, it is important to analyze how Muslim youth identities are constructed by social scientists as much as how they are constructed by Muslim youth themselves.

Then, what are the major characteristics and arguments of those discourses? How, and under which theoretical/political concerns and aims, is Muslim youth identity (re)constructed by social scientists? This paper will focus on these questions and try to critically evaluate the literature on Muslim youth identity, which has been emerged as a field of expertise especially from the beginning of the 21st Century.

Although it is possible to see similar work in other languages, the main data source for this analysis comes from materials written in English. In this context, the content and boundaries of this analysis is drawn by three fields of literature, which are immigration, minorities and youth.

Keywords

Immigrant Muslim youth, construction of identity, othering

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