This paper explores the notion that religious texts and the tradition of religious story telling are the content, form or "the movable feast" by which we form and preserve our culture and group identity, and by which we pass them down to the next generations. All these texts are composed of language that is open for analysis and multiple…

This dissertation builds on existing heritage language research (e.g., Albirini 2014, 2018; Benmamoun & Albirini 2018) and examines the complex and challenging practices of an understudied, marginalized, and stigmatized group of Muslim Arabic heritage-speaking children (MAHSC) and their immigrant families in the US. It argues that the…

This paper analyses some key historical developments (from early twentieth century to present) in Bangladesh from a socio-historical and language ideological perspective to explore the social injustice faced by the non-dominant and linguistically diverse population. These developments sparked language debates involving questions of identity,…

This article examines the potential of pedagogical translanguaging in a community/heritage language context. With focus on Arabic as a multidialectal and multiglossic language, the paper primarily examines the function of translanguaging practices in teacher-learner and learner-learner interaction to construct and negotiate linguistic knowledge in…

This paper adopts a transglossic approach to explore the ordinariness of English amongst Muslim communities in South and Central Asia. It thereby maintains that studying English as an ordinary part of these communities' repertoires is contingent upon an approach to religion as situated, discursive, and interactive. This approach to religion is key…

This article examines social practices within classroom discourse in two different Finnish religious educational contexts. The article critically observes the construction of certain positions and identities as part of the school discourse and the inclusive vs exclusive practices of language. The research material consists of classroom…

The Prevent strategy at UK universities is designed to reduce the possibility of university students becoming radicalised and so working against them supporting or directly engaging in terrorist activities. In this study, we were concerned to reflect on our reading of some relevant literature by exploring the views of a sample of British Muslim…

Increasing numbers of Australians identify with a multiplicity of religion groups or have no religious affiliation. Despite this, the representation of religious groups other than Christian--and the implications of this for anti-racist pedagogy in Australian schools--is seldom explored. This article interrogates the ways in which the most…

This paper addresses the issue of identity construction of four young Malay homosexual men in Malaysia. Through narrative discourse of their lifeworlds (Habermas, Theory of communicative action, Polity Press, 1987), this study explores the participants' linguistic repertoire and discursive strategies in the formation, negotiation and establishment…

Negotiating their double identity as Mauritians and Muslims in multilingual and in multiethnic Mauritius, Mauritian Muslims have been socialised into reading and writing in Kreol in madrassahs, while they have never been exposed to Kreol literacy in mainstream education. At the point where Kreol is being introduced as an optional school subject,…

This dissertation explores the incorporation of Facebook into everyday live activities and practices of a group of young Turkish-American women affiliated with a faith-based movement, known as the "Hizmet" (volunteer's service) movement. In particular, I examine the emergent communicative practices and performances of these young…

This dissertation examines how women in the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at the University of Colorado at Boulder respond to the negative stereotypes of Islam and Muslims that have proliferated since 9/11. The media's positioning of Muslim women as "backwards" and "un-American" compels MSA women to construct an extensive…

The perspectives of immigrant youth are important to be aware of because they can reveal the powerful role society has in framing and forming the range of possibilities available to them. Culturally speaking, immigrant youth often face mismatches between home and school values, but they sometimes encounter intracultural struggles as well. This…