(Mis)Understanding Muslim Converts in Canada

1
(Mis)Understanding Muslim Converts in Canada

• A Critical Discussion of Muslim Converts in the
  Contexts of Security and Society
• Presentation of Preliminary Findings
• May 30, 2014
• Researchers
• PI Scott Flower, PhD, University of Melbourne
• RA Deborah Birkett, MA, University of Waterloo

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Conversion to Islam
The shahadah (testimony), in Arabic

• There is no God but God
• and Muhammad is the Messenger of God

3
Context why this research is important

• Apparent increase in conversion post-September 11
  in the West?
• No peer-reviewed empirical research on Muslim
  converts in Canada
• Upsurge in media coverage of Muslims and Islam
• Apparent statistical overrepresentation of
  converts in terrorism
• UK, USA, Australia, Canada
• How Western security agencies are framing their
  concern
• Categories of potential threat domestic
  terrorist activity, foreign fighters,
  facilitating/influencing others

Image credits on last slide
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Converts as securitized subjects

• Securitized without evidence
• No dedicated peer-reviewed journal articles or
  books
• Conflation of conversion and radicalization
  themes (disaffection, Islam as social protest,
  act of rebellion)
• Conversion and radicalization fallacies
• Converts to terrorism notion (Uhlmann 2008, et
  al.) unsupported by the data
• For radicalized converts, there are usually long
  time frames
• Kleinmann (2012) while individual processes (for
  example, cognitive function or identity issues)
  play a much greater role in radicalizing
  converts than born Muslims, radicalization is
  largely the result of recruitment by militant
  movements or radical friends and family. Internal
  mechanisms alone are not sufficient for
  radicalization.
• The vast majority of Muslim converts DO NOT
  violently radicalize

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Muslim converts in Ontario

• Methodology of pilot study
• 25 Ontario Muslim converts interviewed
• Methods
• Surveys sent to 124 mosques and Islamic centres
  throughout Ontario
• Snowballing method of participant recruitment
• In-depth, in-person ethnographic interviews
• Basic descriptive statistics

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Some key findings

• Study period
• February-March 2014
• Geographic distribution
• Central and southwestern Ontario
• Educational levels
• Well educated 84 had post-secondary education
• Religious backgrounds
• Roman Catholic, various Protestant denominations,
  Hindu, Bahai, and atheist

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Some key findings (contd)

• Gender breakdown
• 14 women, 11 men
• Age statistics
• Average current age at time of study 35
• Average age at conversion 26-27
• Youngest convert was 12, oldest 69, modal 19
• Average years as Muslim 8
• nearly a third had been Muslim between 14-21
  years
• newest Muslim had converted 10 weeks prior

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Theoretical framework and our data

• 7-stage non-linear process model of religious
  conversion
• (Rambo, Understanding Religious Conversion, 1993)

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Concluding remarks

• Security in the context of society Conversion
  not a predictive indicator
• Implications for policy
• Further detailed empirical research required

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Questions?

• Scott Flower, PhD
• McKenzie Fellow
• School of Social and Political Sciences
• University of Melbourne
• E scott.flower_at_unimelb.edu.au   
• Deborah Birkett, MA
• Department of Sociology and Legal Studies
• University of Waterloo
• E dlbirket_at_uwaterloo.ca  

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Image sources

• John Nuttall http//globalnews.ca/news/748592/all
  eged-canada-day-bomb-suspect-moved-to-a-psychiatri
  c-hospital/ (cropped)
• Amanda Korody http//www.timescolonist.com/news/b
  -c/accused-terror-suspect-amanda-korody-struggled-
  with-mental-health-former-friends-say-1.343503
  (cropped)
• Steven Vikash Chand http//www.nypdshield.org/pub
  lic/SiteFiles/documents/NYPD_Report-Radicalization
  _in_the_West.pdf (cropped)
• William Plotnikov http//news.nationalpost.com/20
  12/08/20/dagestan/ (cropped)
• Aaron Yoon Xristos Katsiroubas
  http//news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/16/canadian-w
  as-a-clear-leader-among-islamist-terrorists-who-ki
  lled-11-workers-in-algeria-gas-plant-attack-report
  /