Young, Brummie and Muslim in the Problematised City: Investigating Identity and Belonging Among Muslim Youth in Birmingham, England

This article investigates how the identity and sense of belonging evident among young Muslims in Birmingham, England are effected by city’s ‘problematisation’. To do so, this presents findings from new empirical data gathered 125 respondents aged between 18 25 all whom identified as Muslim were resident Birmingham. Having contextualised problematisation, British ‘politics belonging’, adopts a threefold approach. First, relation to city identify with it something an abstract entity, unproblematically identifying ‘Brummie’. Second, ‘home’ ‘Muslim areas’. Third, perceived risk victimisation due their multicultural spaces centre. In conclusion, suggests that while problematisation has little detrimental impact on identity, internalisation necessitates changes performance identity.