Interviewing the Embodiment of Political Evil

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To Cite: • McGarry, O. (2012) '“Sometimes it's tough just fitting it all in”: Identity. Formation and Social Membership among Teenagers in an Immigrant Community ...
To Cite: • McGarry, O. (2012) ‘“Sometimes it’s tough just fitting it all in”: Identity Formation and Social Membership among Teenagers in an Immigrant Community in the West of Ireland’ in McGarry, O. & Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, A. (eds.) Landscapes of (Un)Belonging: Reflections on Strangeness and the Self [E-book]. Oxford: Interdisciplinary.Net Press.

‘Sometimes it’s tough just fitting it all in’: Identity Formation and Social Membership among Teenagers in an Immigrant Community in the West of Ireland Orla McGarry Abstract The experience of growing up as an immigrant poses a series of challenges for youths in contemporary society. Due to daily school attendance and exposure to the media, immigrant youths are heavily influenced by the norms and expectations of the host society. However they are simultaneously expected to conform to, and to uphold the values of the immigrant community. Based on empirical data gathered from qualitative research with 32 teenaged members of a Muslim community in the west of Ireland, this paper examines the manner in which balances between conflicting social and cultural expectations are negotiated. Structuration theory is used as an analytical prism in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of teenaged members of an immigrant community. Treating the immigrant community and host society as separate, yet co-existent social systems, the structures of each are examined. As each structure is composed of a separate set of normative rules and values, the task of negotiating a symbiotic relationship with both systems can constitute a challenge. Taking agency as the ability to apply knowledge of different social norms and rules across diverse contexts, this paper analyses the manner in which teenaged community members adapt and extend the normative rules and values of the immigrant community to accommodate integration into the host society. The analysis is illustrated by a discussion of sports and dress as crucial arenas in the formation of an identity consistent with the norms and expectations of both the host society and the immigrant community. Young people are placed at the front line of multicultural society, subjected to social and cultural expectations of both the immigrant community and host society. By locating teenaged immigrant community members as agents, who actively negotiate a balance between these expectations, this paper extends current understandings of contemporary multicultural society. Key Words: Youth, immigration, identity, structuration.

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__________________________________________________________________ ***** The experience of growing up as an immigrant poses a series of challenges for youths in contemporary society. Due to daily school attendance and exposure to the media, immigrant youths are heavily influenced by the norms and expectations of the host society. However they are simultaneously expected to conform to and to uphold the values of the immigrant community. The negotiation of a balance between these competing and often conflicting expectations and norms can pose a particular challenge during the formative teenage years. 1 This paper examines the de facto experience of growing up in an immigrant community by discussing data gathered from qualitative research with 32 teenaged members of a Muslim community in the west of Ireland. The day-to-day experiences of these research participants are viewed through the analytical prism of structuration theory, 2 to achieve an understanding of the active role which they play in the negotiation of an identity which allows for a symbiotic relationship with the immigrant community and the majority society. The discussion highlights in particular the adeptness of youth in adapting, and adapting to, social norms and conventions and unravels the gendered differences in the process of identity formation among immigrant youth. 1. Theoretical Framework This paper views identity as a process of social location; identity consists of ‘knowing who we are, knowing who others are, them knowing who we are, us knowing who they think we are etc.’ 3 The actions of the individual are embedded within a social context, and largely determined by social systems and structures. 4 A system is a social grouping denoted by shared characteristics and norms, termed structures. It is largely through adherence to these structures, that individuals, as social agents, appropriate their membership of a particular system. While agents are shaped by the structures of their social system; through their actions they simultaneously replicate and reify these structures and the system itself. 5 W. H. Sewell develops an effective framework for understanding the manner in which agents whose lives are situated within more than one social system reconcile the differing structures which affect their daily lives. 6 Social structures consist of patterns of behaviour or schemas; ‘generalizeable procedures applied in the enactment/reproduction of social life.’ 7 Agency is posited as the knowledge of, and the ability to apply, these schemas in relevant social contexts. By positioning social actors as agents acting through the schemas which make up the structures of various systems, Sewell’s theory allows for an understanding of the manner in which agents participate across multiple social systems. 8 Three tenets of this theory are especially pertinent to understanding the experience of growing up in a multicultural environment.

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__________________________________________________________________ The multiciplicity of structures: The structures which characterise social systems exist on various levels and may be classified as being deep or shallow. Structures which are deep, such as sacred or moral codes, will have a more profound effect on the actions of social agents and are likely to generate many more shallow structures and schemas. The intersection of schemas alludes to the fact that while certain schemas may be characteristic of one social system, they may also be inherent to another. For individuals, adherence to such schemas may lead to a positive process of social location across multiple social systems. The transposability of schemas: Social structures are generaliseable or transposable. The structures and schemas of a particular social system may be applied by agents in a different context or in a different system. The ability to extend and transpose such schemas enables agents to resolve inconsistencies between the structures of the systems in which they are socially located. 9 2. Research Background In-depth qualitative research on the experience of growing up in an immigrant community was carried out with 16 male and 16 female teenaged members of the Muslim community of Ballyhaunis, a town of approximately 1,700 people in the west of Ireland. The Ballyhaunis Muslim community is one of the longest established immigrant communities in Ireland, having been founded in the early 1970s when a Pakistani entrepreneur purchased a local abattoir in order to export halal meat to the emergent European market. The Muslim community grew steadily with further immigration, mainly from Pakistan, and Ballyhaunis became the site of Ireland’s first purpose-built Mosque in 1986. In 2008, the Ballyhaunis Muslim community accounted for 20% of the population of the Ballyhaunis area and 34% of the population of the town centre. 10 Research was carried out from January to August 2010 in the local secondary school and consisted of participant-led interviews and visual narratives, focus groups and the creation of an interactive blog site. These research methods afforded an in-depth perspective into the daily experiences of participants. Viewing this data through the analytical prism of structuration theory affords an understanding of the de facto processes through which youth members of immigrant communities, as agents, negotiate identities which are simultaneously consistent with the values of the immigrant community and of the majority society. 3. Discussion Teenaged members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community live in two separate, yet co-existent systems. Their daily lives are embedded within the immigrant community (henceforth community system) through their familial relationships and friendships. However as they have grown up in Ireland, attend the local school and participate in the life of the wider Ballyhaunis community (henceforth majority

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__________________________________________________________________ system) to a greater or lesser extent, they interact and participate within the majority system on a daily basis. Through their contributions to the research, participants described the most prominent characteristics and norms affecting their lives as members of both the community system and the majority system. Applying the analytical framework of structuration theory to these contributions, these characteristics and norms have been equated with structures and schemas, some of which are graphically illustrated in Figure 1 (below). This analytical perspective affords a thorough understanding of the day-to-day processes through which the formation of an identity consistent with membership of both systems is negotiated. Dual membership of the community system and the majority system is shown to be complex and challenging as the two systems are characterised by a complex, and often conflicting, set of structures and schemas:

Ovals: Systems Black Arrows: Structures Figure 1 – Systems and Structures 11

Red Arrows: Schemas

The community system was described as being characterised by the deep structure of religion which generates further structures such as female modesty and schemas such as Islamic dress codes. Participants reported that they believed the ethos of individualism to characterise the majority system while the structures of sport and education intersect with both systems. The following section illustrates the manner in which teenage members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community, as agents, capitalise on intersecting structures, and adapt and transpose schemas in order to negotiate identities consistent with membership of both systems.

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__________________________________________________________________ A. Identity and Sport As illustrated in Figure 1, the structure of sport is an intersecting structure common to both systems. For many male members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community the ability to capitalise on this intersection plays a vital role in the negotiation of an identity consistent with membership of both systems. Cricket is a schema which is central to the collective identity of the community system. The schema of cricket has been inherited from the older members of the community many of whom are from Pakistan and regard cricket as a national passion. The ideological importance of cricket to the community system was illustrated by 5 separate videos of Pakistani cricketing heroes which were posted by male participants to the research blog site. Regular cricket matches are central to a sense of solidarity and inclusiveness among members of the system: If we do a picnic we call everyone, if we do a birthday [sic.], we call everyone. We don’t mind if they’re cousins or not. Just everybody [...] we came home from school and then a half an hour after we were having a picnic, playing cricket and everything. 12 Female participants also describe cricket as an important feature of membership of the community system: We have our own little [female] team [...] we have a cricket game every week or so. We practice most days and we might have a match then sometimes. 13 Adherence to the schema of cricket is an essential means through which male and female participants appropriate their membership of the community system. The structure of sport is also central to the majority system. Ballyhaunis like most rural towns in Ireland has a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club. The GAA plays a central ideological and social role in Ireland, typically dominating the sporting and social calendars of rural areas. The Ballyhaunis GAA club fields teams in the traditional sports of Gaelic football and hurling. 14 In spite of the differences between the schemas of cricket and GAA, male members capitalise on the intersecting structure of sport to negotiate an identity consistent with their position within both systems. 9 of the 16 male research participants are members of local hurling teams and take part in club training sessions after school 3-5 evenings a week: ‘We play hurling and we know all the people who play hurling and they’re all our friends and they stick up for you.’ 15 Taking part in GAA activities and events allows these male members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community to situate themselves socially within the majority system. Indeed, the

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__________________________________________________________________ centrality of hurling to a sense of membership of the majority system was illustrated by the pride displayed by participants at being given specifically Irish nicknames on the hurling pitch: ‘They’re really sound [nice] like. They have all kind of nicknames for us when we’re playing. Like you know Haider, they call him Setanta.’ 16 For these male participants, participating in sporting events and on sports teams organised by the local GAA club is an important means of forging friendships. These friendships and use of nicknames related to the sport are central to a sense of belonging in the majority system. However, due to the structure of female modesty which arises from the deep structure of religion, female participants are precluded from participating in sporting activities outside the community and therefore cannot capitalise on this intersecting schema to socially locate themselves within the majority system. Male participants emphasised the consistency between their identities as members of the community system and their participation in hurling. Their decision to play hurling was portrayed as a transposition of cricket skills, learnt through the community system, to the majority system: ‘I’d say I prefer hurling [to football], cos it’s kind of a bit like cricket d’you know? Catching the ball or hitting it.’ 17 In addition to this, male participants transpose the linguistic schema of the community system to the hurling pitch of the majority system. In situations where there are many members of the Muslim community playing together, they speak to each other in Punjabi rather than in English: He’s in goals and Ghaffar is the other defender and I’m a defender so we just talk in our own language [...] and we just tell each other like to go in to the other position and like to pass the ball and all that. 18 As agents the male members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community transpose the schemas of cricket skills and linguistic schema of the community system to the majority system. This transposition of schemas allows male participants to express their identities as members of the community system while participating within the majority system. B. Dress, Agency and Identity Females are often seen as the moral representatives of immigrant communities and are, therefore, subject to more intra-community regulation than their male counterparts. 19 Female members of the Muslim community of Ballyhaunis are expected to adhere to different structures and schemas to their male counterparts. However, they play an equally pro-active role as agents in negotiating an identity consistent with membership of the community system and the majority system.

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__________________________________________________________________ The deep structure of religion, which is central to the community system, generates the structure of female modesty which is realised through the schema of dress. Once they have reached puberty, female members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community are expected to dress modestly in public, covering their hair and wearing loose clothing. However, the structure of education, which characterises both systems, also generates a conflicting schema of dress; school rules state that all students must wear the official uniform of a (knee-length) tartan skirt or trousers, a shirt and a jumper. Female participants resolve this conflict by transposing the schema of modesty to the majority system. The schema of the school uniform is adapted accordingly. Trousers are worn rather than the skirt chosen by the vast majority of female students of the school and jumpers are worn in an unusually loose style in order to comply with structure of modesty ensuring that these garments do not reveal body shape. This adaptation allows participants to comply with the structure of modesty while simultaneously adhering to the schema of school dress. The Islamic duty of veiling is a divisive schema in the community system. 9 of the 16 female participants transpose the schema of veiling to the majority system, wearing the veil in addition to the school uniform. These female participants emphasised that this transposition of the structure of modesty allows them to express their membership of the community system while adhering to the intersecting structure of education (see Figure 1). For these female participants, the choice to wear the veil while participating in the majority system is both a religious act and an expression of their individualism: It’s like oi, this is our clothes! You should wear them, people should know. Why should we wear Irish clothes, they don’t wear our clothes! Why should we wear their clothes? 20 By transposing the schema of veiling to the majority system, female participants act in a manner consistent with both the deep structures of religion and individualism. This allows them to negotiate an identity which is compatible with their membership of both systems. Female participants who do not adhere to the schema of veiling also expressed this decision as a reconciliation of the deep structures of religion and individualism. It was clear from heated debates during focus groups that these female participants face pressure from other members of the community to adhere to this schema. They are bad [unveiled] girls [...] It’s only by wearing it [the veil] that you’re going to get used to it. If you don’t wear it you won’t get used to it! 21

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__________________________________________________________________ No, that’s your opinion. I don’t want to start fighting over it! 22 Non-veiling female participants similarly addressed the topic as an issue of individual responsibility. Veiling is seen as an act of religious devotion which should only be undertaken when the individual feels ready: So it’s kind of hard not wanting to do it but at the same time I’m not ready to do it. It has to be a personal choice. 23 Well you have to cover your head, you should. But some of us are not there yet [...]. Well it is a really important part of our religion so it is important. But, when you get to that stage! 24 By refusing to conform to pressure from within the community system to adhere to the schema of veiling before they feel that they are sufficiently mature, these non-veiled females treat their religious identities as a matter of individual responsibility. This transposition of the deep structure of individualism, which characterises the majority system, to the community system allows these female participants to negotiate an identity consistent with their dual membership of both systems. 4. Conclusion The reconciliation of social and cultural differences in a multicultural environment is one of the most elusive and challenging processes of contemporary society. The Ballyhaunis Muslim community, as one of the longest established immigrant communities in Ireland, provides an example of the grass roots processes through which cultural and social differences are actualised and addressed. An application of structuration theory allows for an insightful perspective into how social and cultural conflicts are resolved on a day-to-day basis through the agency of youth members of immigrant communities. The lives of teenaged members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community are lived within two separate, yet co-existent systems. As agents, they negotiate a balance between the structures of these systems to forge identities which allow for symbiotic participation within both. For male members this can be achieved by capitalising on the intersecting schema of sport. The transposition of the schemas of language and cricketing skills to the sports fields of the majority system allows for the expression of their membership of the community system while participating within the majority system. Female members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community are subject to different structures to their male counterparts which prevent them from capitalising on the intersecting structure of sport. Instead they locate their dual identities through their choices of dress. These choices allow them to express both their individualism and their religious affiliation in a manner

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__________________________________________________________________ consistent with their identities as members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community and as members of Irish society. The processes of identity formation outlined by both male and female members of the Ballyhaunis Muslim community exemplify the pivotal role played by younger members of immigrant communities in the formation of a cohesive, multicultural society.

Notes 1

Jean S. Phinney, ‘Ethnic Identity in Adults and Adolescents: Review of Research’, Psychological Bulletin 130 (3): 449-514. 2 Anthony Giddens, The Constitution of Society (Oxford: Polity Press, 1984). William H. Sewell, Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 124-151. 3 Richard Jenkins, Social Identity (New York: Polity Press, 2008), 12. 4 Giddens, The Constitution of Society, 9. 5 Ibid., 25. 6 Sewell, Logics of History, 131-142. 7 Ibid., 131. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid., 140-141. 10 ‘Central Statistics Office- Press Releases’, last modified 17 September, 2008, Viewed 19 May, 2009, . ‘Numbers of Persons by Religion’, last modified 15 November 2006, Viewed 19 May, 2009, 11 Figure 1- Systems and Structures: Image created by Orla McGarry. 12 Hadi: male participant, aged 15 (interview excerpt: Ballyhaunis Community School, 03 April 2010). 13 Haleema: female participant, aged 18 (interview excerpt: Ballyhaunis Community School, 03 April 2010). 14 Gaelic football: A traditional Irish field game where 2 teams of 15 members attempt to score points and goals by kicking and punching a large leather ball. Hurling: An ancient Irish field game which features the same number of players and objectives as Gaelic football, and is played with sticks (hurls) and a small, hard leather ball (sliothar). 15 Hadi (interview excerpt). 16 Ibid. Setanta, also called Cuchulainn, is a legendary figure from Irish folklore renowned for his supernatural hurling skills. This is possibly also a reference to Setanta O’Hailpin, a renowned hurler of mixed ethnic origin.

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__________________________________________________________________ 17

Ghaffar: male participant, aged 14 (interview excerpt: Ballyhaunis Community School, 13 April 2010). 18 Haider: male participant, aged 17 (interview excerpt: Ballyhaunis Community School, 03 April 2010). 19 Yen Le Espiritu, ‘“We Don't Sleep Around Like White Girls Do”: Family, Culture and Gender in Filipina American Lives’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 26 (2) (2001): 417-440. 20 Aan: female participant, aged 18 (interview excerpt: Ballyhaunis Community School, 24 March 2010). 21 Aan: female participant, aged 18 (focus group excerpt: Ballyhaunis Community School, 26 February 2010). 22 Parasa: female participant, aged 19 (focus group excerpt: Ballyhaunis Community School, 26 February 2010). 23 Bashira: female participant, aged 16 (interview excerpt: Ballyhaunis Community School, 09 March 2010). 24 Haleema (interview excerpt).

Bibliography Ajrouch, Kristine J. ‘Race, Gender and Symbolic Boundaries: Contested Spaces of Identity among Arab American Adolescents’, Sociological Perspectives 44 (4) (2004): 371-391. Central Statistics Office. ‘Press Releases’. Last Modified: 17 September, 2008. Viewed?????????. . Central Statistics Office. ‘Numbers of Persons by Religion’. Last Modified: 15 November 2006. Viewed???????.