Islamophobia, conflict and citizenship

Abstract

This article discusses some preliminary findings of the English part of a European Commission Fundamental Rights and Citizenship funded project 'Children's Voices' (20112013) concerned with exploring and understanding children and young people's experiences of interethnic conflict and violence in primary and secondary schools. This is a comparative study of England, Slovenia, Cyprus, Austria and Italy and the English focus is on Islamophobia. The research comprises a review of literature, legislation and good practice in race equality in England; a quantitative study of 8 primary schools (year 5/6) and 8 Secondary schools/sixth form centres (year 12/13) in 4 regions of England; a qualitative study of pupils and adults in 4 schools in one region and interview material from semi structured interviews with a range of 'experts' in the area. The article outlines some of the research findings from the first quantitative stage of the research. It argues that in schools with a strong citizenship ethos, where different religions are respected and where there are strong institutional processes and procedures against discriminatory practices, Islamophobia and conflict are not likely to be an issue, however, the same cannot be said for the wider society

Keywords

• Religion, Islamophobia, conflict, citizenship