The internal debates (among other things), as I've suggested in a recent post, have had the effect of producing refugees, migrants and exiles to most parts of the world over many decades. In the West, this 'Diaspora' has been viewed with some suspicion, particularly since 9/11. Nevertheless, as discussed, they are not the threat they may appear and in some cases they have lived in their new homes now for an extended period of time.
Turkish Cypriots mostly arrived from the 16th to the 19th Century, for example. Muslims in Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Bulgaria and Bosnia have for the most part lived there since Ottoman times and minorities exist in several other Balkan states.
In more recent times, a group of Muslim mainly economic refugees have arrived in the West (as citizens of former Western colonies). The countries most affected include France (mainly North Africans), the Netherlands (mainly Indonesians), Spain (mainly Moroccans), Italy (mainly North Africans) and the UK (mainly South Asians). There are also hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis in Norway, Turkish Gastarbeiter (guest workers) and other Muslim asylum-seekers in Germany and Muslims generally in Denmark.
Migrants to the US tend to be relatively well off before their migration when compared with the experience in many of these other countries.
Efforts have been made in countries of the West to study the experiences of these and other migrants and their children and grand children. Young people in this group (aged 10 and less) commonly lose the language of their parents relatively quickly as they replace it with the language of their host country unless special efforts are made to ensure they retain it. This often creates some difficulty with the older age group who tend to be slow to learn the new language.
Migrants tend to first assimilate into their new culture by adopting the local dress to some extent, the local language as much as possible and local food consumption patterns and preferences and local names to some extent. Integration tends to follow this superficial beginning as new migrants become more familiar with the local culture and this might be indicated by an interest in participation in local sports, for example.
The phenomenon of blocs of a particular nationality initially settling together in particular neighbourhoods has also been studied, as well as the tendency for migrants who attain a certain standard of living or level of 'novel acculturation' to eventually settle in new neighbourhoods in a fashion that is somewhat more integrated into the population as a whole.
The role of schools, clerics, community organisations and home governments is also studied. Interestingly, the secularist Turkish government plays a more significant role in the religious institutions of the Turkish diaspora including in Australia than any other Muslim government plays in the affairs of their diasporas.
Tariq Ramadan, a grand son of Muslim Brotherhood founder al-Banna and born in Switzerland, is an interesting example of integration by education of the son and grandson of a Muslim Brother. He has written on the role of Islamic reform in the position of Muslims in Europe and is usually considered a moderate Muslim. He has also been denied a visa to the US and is a controversial figure in both the West and the East.
India contains such a large minority of Muslims that there are more Indian Muslims there than there are Muslims in the entire Arab world. They have tended to be concentrated in specific areas in the largest numbers.
Minorities also exist in the south of the Philippines (called Moros (Moors) by the Spanish colonists - naturally all Muslims looked the same to them). Southern Thailand and West and North West China (virtually all throughout China there are actually significant numbers both urban and rural) also have large numbers of Muslims though they form a minority in the countries as a whole. All of these groups may be considered virtually indigenous to the regions they occupy today. There have been recent migrations, also, to Japan and Korea.
Ghana and several east African states, while they have contributed significantly to the European populations of Muslims, also continue to contain large minorities within their borders.
The dynamic experience of Muslims in the US (which is likely to be similar to the experiences in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and some South American countries) has been studied especially extensively and intensively. Most Muslims (besides the virtually indigenous African American Muslims, whose ancestors, many of whom were likely Muslims, arrived as slaves) arrived in a large surge in the last four decades and the new arrivals were mostly 'people of means' on arrival. Among them have been professionals and academics that have significantly influenced the US political class and intelligentsia as well as comparable groups in their home countries.
They tend to form part of the middle class and settle in cities. Modern Islamic organisations have formed in areas of concentration which also still have an influence in the originating countries some of which cooperate well with the US government. Many African Americans have converted (or possibly in some sense reconverted given their history referred to above) to Islam forming some separate organisations. There are also, of course, recent African arrivals that are also Muslim. Reprisals following 9/11 and consequently further alienation and disaffection of Muslims have produced a significant (and ongoing) cycle in the US.
On the other hand, in our northern neighbour, Indonesia, as well as in Central Asia, the uncompromising Hizb ut-Tahrir that originated in the Middle East and South Asia and promises a return to the formerly ‘unbroken’ Caliphate continues to have a significant following.
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