Rapport de recherche Innoviris, programme Anticipate, octobre 2021
The category of young Muslims is singularly overexposed as problematic in the public space and in the media. They are only represented as a 'problematic group' in the recent debates on sexism or street violence. This mediatic and political problematisation contrasts sharply with the limited number of reliable scientific materials about this population in Belgium and more specifically, in the region of Brussels where young Muslims are over-represented.
Although this group of young Muslims in Brussels is central to numerous policy initiatives (employment, education, education, prevention of radicalisation, social cohesion, security, etc.), we noticed a remarkable lack of scientific evidence. The aim of the current project is 1) to collect sufficient new and updated data (quantitative and qualitative) on young Muslims from Brussels; 2) to examine, within a specific framework (society after terrorist attacks characterised by processes of polarisation and conflicts over the place of Islam and its "integrable" character), the impact of this on the building of identities; 3) to adopt a participatory approach with young people, in the implementation and dissemination of research; 4) to make the policy aimed at this group in Brussels more effective and efficient.