Conclusions: Intersecting Nation, Religion and Gender

Abstract

This chapter draws together the main conclusions of our analyses of four country case studies that set out to ‘trouble’ Muslim youth identities. Our cases, Pakistan, Senegal, Nigeria and Lebanon, all in the Global South, provided contrasting contexts in which to explore how youth constructed and performed their identities along the intersecting axes of nation, religion and gender. We begin by revisiting the key arguments and theorisations that provided the basis for the empirical work on youth identities. We elaborate our theorisation of identity as a fluid, dynamic and discursive process of becoming, constituted within local places and replete with reference to particular histories and cultures. This identity work involves the constant reiteration of the inclusions of ‘us’ as well as the difference and distinction from ‘others’. Our theorisations resist and trouble homogenised and essentialised understandings of identity and attend to the intersections and sutures of different identity discourses in a located way. This provides the theoretical backdrop for our synthesis of the four country case studies. Our analyses illustrate the complexities of youth identity narratives and the ways these are infused by historical and contemporary discourses of belonging. Importantly, these provide nuanced explorations that challenge the dominant constructions of nation, religion and gender of the West. While acknowledging the limitations of our research, our analysis confirms the centrality of women to imaginaries of nation and religion. Nevertheless, we highlight gender as a site of struggle and draw attention to the particular tensions this produces for the achievement of gender equality within postcolonial nation‐states.