"Arabic is the language of the Muslims–that's how it was supposed to be": exploring language and religious identity through reflective accounts from young British-born South Asians

Jaspal, R. ORCID: 0000-0002-8463-9519 and Coyle, A., 2010. "Arabic is the language of the Muslims–that's how it was supposed to be": exploring language and religious identity through reflective accounts from young British-born South Asians. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 13 (1), pp. 17-36. ISSN 1367-4676

[img]
Preview
Text
1315943_Jaspal.pdf - Post-print

Download (159kB) | Preview

Abstract

This study explores how a group of young British-born South Asians understood and defined their religious and linguistic identities, focusing upon the role played by heritage languages and liturgical languages and by religious socialisation. Twelve British-born South Asians were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. Interview transcripts were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four superordinate themes are reported. These addressed participants' meaning-making regarding "the sanctification of language" and the consequential suitability of "the liturgical language as a symbol of religious community"; the themes of "ethnic pride versus religious identity" and "linguistic Otherness and religious alienation" concerned potential ethno-linguistic barriers to a positive religious identity. Findings are interpreted in terms of concepts drawn from relevant identity theories and tentative recommendations are offered concerning the facilitation of positive religious and ethnic identities.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Mental Health, Religion & Culture
Creators: Jaspal, R. and Coyle, A.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Date: 2010
Volume: 13
Number: 1
ISSN: 1367-4676
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1080/13674670903127205DOI
1315943Other
Divisions: Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by: Linda Sullivan
Date Added: 20 Apr 2020 07:46
Last Modified: 20 Apr 2020 07:46
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/39682

Actions (login required)

Edit View Edit View

Views

Views per month over past year

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year