Encountering the Other: everyday Embodied Othering Experiences of Young Muslims in the Netherlands

Whilst the phenomenal growth in ethnic and religious diversity in Western world cities has in recent years been extensively researched and debated within academia and beyond, there is one dimension that is notable for the limited attention it has received to date: the human body. This PhD dissertation sets out to contribute to the emerging study on encountering urban diversity as an inter-corporeal process through Othering. Perhaps the most problematised body in the European context is that of the Muslim, often framed in public discourse and debate as Europe's ultimate Other. Through an urban ethnography in Amsterdam, the study aims to understand how ‘difference’ is lived on the ground by addressing how young Muslims sensorially, corporeally, and affectively experience, feel, and respond to the Othering attached to their bodies within everyday urban spaces of encounter. It will do so by addressing two core questions: how do young Muslims experience Othering?; and how do they respond to Othering? The main contribution of the project lies in its focus on the intersection between religion, race, culture, urbanism, and the body by exploring the ways through which the Muslim Other is (re)constructed and responded to in everyday urban spaces and through mundane urban practices. Focusing on the lived embodied experiences of young Muslims and urban geographies of Othering, the study sheds light on the body-society relationship and provides a better understanding of what it means to be a Muslim in the urban West today.