Across the world, Muslims in non-Muslim majority countries are seen as alien humans, relegated to the margins of citizenship, permitted tenuous forms of belonging as long as they follow the “Good Muslim” script assigned to them by the majority. In the U.S., youth from Muslim American immigrant communities have awakened to, and are rejecting, this conditional citizenship. Drawing on a nation-wide qualitative study with youth from diverse Muslim immigrant communities, we argue that, since 9/11, there have been significant changes in young Muslim Americans’ self-perceptions and attitudes toward their rights, citizenship, and feelings of belonging. These youth recognize themselves as people of colour and are more likely than their parents’ generations to link their struggles with those of other racially minoritized communities, thus suggesting a more radical politics of belonging in the United States.

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, Thea Abu El-Haj, Arshad Ali, Michelle Fine and Roozbeh Shirazi, “Muslims are Finally waking up”: post-9/11 American immigrant youth challenge conditional citizenship, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2021.