GSE Publications

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

8-5-2011

Comments

Suggested Citation:
Ghaffar-Kucher, A. (2011). The religification of Pakistani-American Youth. American Educational Research Journal. Advance online publication. doi: 10.3102/0002831211414858.

The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal,American Educational Research Journal,© 2011 SAGE Publications, Inc. Available at: http://aer.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/08/02/0002831211414858

Abstract

This article describes a cultural production process called religification, in which religious affiliation, rather than race or ethnicity, has become the core category of identity for working-class Pakistani-American youth in the United States. In this dialectical process, triggered by political changes following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Muslim identity is both thrust upon Pakistani-American youth by those who question their citizenship and embraced by the youth themselves. Specifically, the article examines the ways in which schools are sites where citizenship is both constructed and contested and the roles that peers, school personnel, families, and the youth themselves play in this construction/contestation of citizenship.

Keywords

citizenship, immigrant youth, Muslim, working-class, post 9/11

Date Posted: 15 November 2011

This document has been peer reviewed.