Exploration of the lived experiences of young british muslims in wales through a postcolonial and epistemic injustice lens

The catalyst for this thesis were my experiences as a retired police officer volunteering with a charity supporting minority young people, which informed my understanding of Islamophobia and encouraged a desire to challenge social injustice. I examine the role of the UK government's Prevent Strategy and Fundamental British Values in 'othering' Muslims in Britain. I identify a weakened multiculturalism, the print media and the securitisation of Britain's Muslims as factors limiting Muslim voices in society and dismissing them as epistemic agents. Therefore, the aim of the research is to explore the lived experiences of young British Muslims living in Wales, in the light of postcolonial and epistemic injustice theories. The study brings the unique voices of two groups of Muslim men and women living in Wales. This research identifies securitisation for the men and objectification for the women as constructs that impact their lives in public space embedded with Islamophobic assumptions. Using a Community of Enquiry, a collaborative form of purposeful discourse, data collection supported the voices of respondents to construct the research questions for themselves and enabled the voices of all respondents as they created intersubjective meaning together. Data analysis pioneered a 'thinking through theory' approach using postcolonialism, Islamophobia and epistemic injustice to open up ways of thinking with data. Epistemic injustice revealed how injustice occurs. It shifts conversation to universal justice instead of culture and religion which are misrepresented in postcolonial constructs. Testimonial and hermeneutical injustice reveal how the respondents are marginalised for being Muslim. Epistemic injustice prevents non-Muslims from becoming virtuous hearers and giving credibility to Muslim testimony. The study concludes that widespread Islamophobia, notions of securitisation and objectification contribute to postcolonial conditions existing for Muslims. Epistemic injustice may displace the lacuna of Islamophobia in the social imagination of the public for the benefit of Muslims.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Mort, Christopher John

• HN Hanes cymdeithasol ac amodau. Problemau cymdeithasol. Diwygiad cymdeithasol

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:1685