Navigating Identity, Belonging and Power in Cyberspace

This book explores how young Muslims in the Anglophone West navigate faith, identity, and belonging through digital media. Drawing on 122 in-depth interviews across Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, it shows how online spaces shape religious, social, and political life. Muslim youth use social platforms to share modest fashion practices, build friendships, join virtual Qur'an circles, and engage in hashtag activismwhile also confronting Islamophobia, surveillance, disinformation, and algorithmic bias. Blending insights from digital religion, media studies, political communication, and sociology, the book applies concepts such as networked publics, participatory culture, and third space to examine authority, visibility, and resistance. It reveals how young Muslims create hybrid identities, practice digital citizenship, and foster resilience, offering a fresh perspective on how technology, culture, and religion intersect. This timely study speaks to readers interested in youth culture, religion, digital politics, and twenty-first-century social change.

Highlights new digital citizenship reshaping authority, identity, and cross-border ties Reveals social media's dual role: empowering community yet exposing users to risks Shows how Muslim youth turn everyday online acts into faith-building and resistance

Autorentext

Ihsan Yilmaz research chair and professor of political science and international relations at Deakin University’s Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. Previously, he worked at the Universities of Oxford and London. He has research on digital politics, digital technologies and authoritarianism, populism, civilisationalism, transnationalism, Muslim diasporas, nation-building, citizenship, securitisation, and intergroup emotions. Presently, he leads two Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery projects: “Civilisationist Mobilisation, Digital Technologies, and Social Cohesion: The Case of Turkish & Indian Diasporas in Australia” and “Religious Populism, Emotions, and Political Mobilisation: Civilisationism in Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan.” Additionally, he co-leads a 3-year Gerda Henkel Foundation project: “Smart Digital Technologies and the Future of Democracy in the Muslim World.”

Inhalt

Chapter 1 : Understanding Public Sector Reforms in Kazakhstan : Context and Challenges.- Chapter 2 : Administrative Law Reform in Kazakhstan.- Chapter 3 : Subnational Executive Elections in Kazakhstan : Administrative Ritual or Step Toward Liberalization?.- Chapter 4 : Public Councils in Kazakhstan: Partial Co-production of Public Services and Outcomes.-Chapter 5 : Building a Digital Government in Kazakhstan : Opportunities and Challenges.- Chapter 6 : Anti-Corruption Agenda and Building Trust in Kazakhstan.- Chapter 7 : Kazakhstan's Welfare Reforms after January 2022 : Between Productivism and Social Justice.- Chapter 8 : Primary Health Care and Addressing Urban-Rural Health Disparities in Kazakhstan.- Chapter 9 : Understanding the Role of Nazarbayev University in Higher Education in Kazakhstan.- Chapter 10 : Public Policy for Entrepreneurship: Institutions, Interventions, and Progress in Kazakhstan.- Chapter 11 : Assessing Well-being: Kazakhstan's Path to a Listening and Just State.