Secular normativity and the religification of Muslims in Swedish public schooling

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article suggests that the secular norms which influence much of the Swedish school system silence the voices and experiences of young Muslims who also attend Islamic supplementary education. It is based on interviews with 20 Muslim students in Sweden who reflected on their experiences of attending supplementary Islamic education in parallel to their secular schooling. Despite the variety of Islamic education reported by the students, they all held in common that they had learned to read and memorise the Quran as part of their Islamic education. A majority of the students reported that they avoid mentioning their Islamic education classes and their memorisation skills in secular schools since the reaction of teachers has proved to be negative. Those who mentioned that they attended supplementary religious education classes were immediately classified as ‘too religious’, a category that most wanted to avoid. The article shows that to memorise a sacred text stands in stark contrast to much of the educational ideals that prevail in Swedish modern schooling, where a discourse of secular normativity prevails. By using an identity economics model I show that what is perceived as prestigious and rewarding in the Muslim context risks being turned into a cost in the setting of a secular school.