Securitized Citizens: Canadian Muslims' Experiences of Race Relations and Identity Formation Post-9/11

by Baljit Nagra

Overview

Uninformed and reactionary responses in the years following the events of 9/11 and the ongoing ‘War on Terror’ have greatly affected ideas of citizenship and national belonging.

In Securitized Citizens, Baljit Nagra, develops a new critical analysis of the ideas dominant groups and institutions try to impose on young Canadian Muslims and how in turn they contest and reconceptualize these ideas. Nagra conducted fifty in-depth interviews with young Muslim adults in Vancouver and Toronto and her analysis reveals how this group experienced national belonging and exclusion in light of the Muslim ‘other’, how they reconsidered their cultural and religious identity, and what their experiences tell us about contemporary Canadian citizenship.

The rich and lively interviews in Securitized Citizens successfully capture the experiences and feelings of well-educated, second-generation, and young Canadian Muslims. Nagra acutely explores how racial discourses in a post–9/11 world have affected questions of race relations, religious identity, nationalism, white privilege, and multiculturalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442628663
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Baljit Nagra is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The Loss of National Belonging: Experiences of young Canadian Muslims post 9/11

3. States of Exception: Canadian Young Muslims’ Experiences of Security and Surveillance

4. ‘Our faith was also hijacked by those people’: Reclaiming Muslim Identity in a Post 9/11 era 

5. Choosing Religion over Culture: How Canadian Muslims make sense of their Cultural Affiliations in the Post 911 era

6. ‘I am Canadian’: Reshaping Canadian Identity in the Post 9/11 era 

7. Conclusion

Appendix:
Description of the Interviewees

Tables
1.1 Age Distribution of Interviewees 
1.2 Number of years living in Canada for the 30 Interviewees not born in Canada
1.3 Education Status of Interviewees 
1.4 National Origin Distribution of Interviewees

References
End Notes

What People are Saying About This

Enakshi Dua

"Drawing on existing literature, original empirical research, and fifty in-depth interviews, Securitized Citizens offers rich insights into the daily impact of Islamophobia on Muslim-identified subjects in Canada."

Gillian Creese

"Securitized Citizens addresses the important topic of how Muslim youth in Canada negotiate the post-9/11 environment. The book will be of interest to scholars of immigration as well as those interested in issues of racialization, ethnic identity, and social inequality in Canada."

Editorial Reviews

‘Nagra effectively captures the experiences, perceptions, and feelings of young Canadian Muslims in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001. Securitized Citizens is a critical addition to the field.’

—Maleeha Iqbal, Reading Religion, April 27 2018

‘This timely book makes an outstanding contribution to the disciplines of religion, race-ethnicity, and public policy.’

—D. A. Chekki, Choice Vol 55:12: August 2018

"Drawing on existing literature, original empirical research, and fifty in-depth interviews, Securitized Citizens offers rich insights into the daily impact of Islamophobia on Muslim-identified subjects in Canada."

—Enakshi Dua, Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, York University.

" Securitized Citizens addresses the important topic of how Muslim youth in Canada negotiate the post-9/11 environment. The book will be of interest to scholars of immigration as well as those interested in issues of racialization, ethnic identity, and social inequality in Canada."

—Gillian Creese, Department of Sociology and Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, University of British Columbia.

From the Publisher

'This timely book makes an outstanding contribution to the disciplines of religion, race-ethnicity, and public policy.'

Choice Vol 55:12: August 2018 - D. A. Chekki

'Nagra effectively captures the experiences, perceptions, and feelings of young Canadian Muslims in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001. Securitized Citizens is a critical addition to the field.'

Reading Religion, April 27 2018 - Maleeha Iqbal