This book brings a transnational perspective to the study of immigrant integration in contemporary Western European societies, with a specific focus on transnational Turkish Islam and Turkish integration in Great Britain. It raises significant questions regarding national citizenship models, and offers original insights into the ways in which they can be extended and renewed to cover the cross-border reality. At the theoretical level, Dikici argues that the idea of multiculturalism can be extended to cover immigrant transnationalism without jeopardising its core principles such as equality and recognition of difference, and promises such as a shared national identity and unity in diversity. At the empirical level, the book illustrates that not all transnational Muslim organisations are the same (i.e. militant), and nor do they all hinder Muslim integration, rather they are diverse, with some deliberately contributing to the integration of Muslims into non-Muslim majority societies. The work will be of interest to scholars and students of contemporary integration and citizenship studies, multiculturalism studies, Muslim integration in Western societies, transnationalism and transnational Islam, Civil Society and Diaspora Studies.

Little Turkey in Great Britain by Ibrahim Sirkeci, Tuncay Bilecen, Yakup Çoştu, Saniye Dedeoğlu, M. Rauf Kesici, B. Dilara Şeker, Fethiye Tilbe, K. Onur Unutulmaz. This book is the first comprehensive account of migrants from Turkey in Britain. It covers the details of demographics based on official statistics as well as offering insights into integration, identity, employment and political participation issues drawing on eight different field research carried out recently by 8 competent academics and their teams. Not all but many things you want to know about the Turkish, Kurdish and Cypriot communities in the UK are covered. LITTLE TURKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN is the outcome of a collaborative writing exercise drawing upon a dozen of research projects carried out by authors independently and collaboratively from 2011 to 2015. This book is expected to be the authoritative resource for anybody interested in the contemporary Turkish and Kurdish speaking immigrant community in the UK. Rich material covers official statistics as well as a wealth of narratives built upon hundreds of face-to-face interviews carried out in London and elsewhere in Britain. From the back cover: “Turkish migration to British Isles has a long history but sizeable diaspora communities and enclaves of Turkish origin have emerged only in the last four to five decades. Earlier groups arrived were Cypriots fleeing the troubled island in the Eastern Mediterranean whilst Turks and Kurds of the mainland were not even considering the UK as a destination. This book is about these contemporary movers from Turkey, their movement trajectories, practices, and integration in Britain. Eight researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds and methodological schools came together to do the ground work for the students of this emerging subfield of human mobility studies. Turkey is now at the forefront of accommodating large scale inward mobility mostly due to the crisis in Syria and Iraq. This also brings some attention to Turkey’s own diasporic populations.” CONTENT Introduction Chapter 1. The Numbers about Turks, Kurds and Turkish Cypriots Chapter 2. Identity and integration Chapter 3. Political participation in London Chapter 4. Ankara Agreement and the new wave of movers Annex. Full Text of The Ankara Agreement Chapter 5. Work and social relations in London Chapter 6. Women’s labour in the Turkish ethnic economy in London Chapter 7. Remittances to Turkey Chapter 8. Turkish religious communities Chapter 9. Diasporic identities and ethnic football in London Conclusion

This book explores the arrival and development of Muslim immigrant communities in Britain and Germany during the post-1945 period through the case studies of Newcastle upon Tyne and Bremen. It traces Newcastle’s South Asian Muslims and Bremen’s Turkish Muslims from their initial settlement through to the end of the twentieth century, and investigates their behaviour and performance in the areas of employment, housing and education. At a time at when Islam is sometimes seen as a barrier to integration and harmony in Europe, this study demonstrates that this need not be the case. In what is the first comparison of Muslim ethnic minorities in Britain and Germany at a local level, this book reveals that instances of integration have been frequent. It is essential reading for both academics and students with an interest in migration studies, modern Britain and Germany, and the place of Islam in contemporary Europe.

As the impetus of globalization continues to gather pace, more and more people leave their homes pursuing dreams of a better life for themselves and their families. Muslim immigrants converging on Europe from widely divergent communities scattered throughout North Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia, represent a great variety of local cultures and traditions. Trans-Mediterranean networks form the basis of migration routes and are key factors in the destinations of these migrants and in the overall process of immigration, be this towards Europe or other Muslim countries. South-North fluxes intertwine with South-South fluxes, among which the Gulf Arab countries stand out as a prime destination, not only for low-skilled labour. Different situations emerge, within a variegated discourse on co-existence, integration, assimilation and the preservation of identity. The adoption of this transnational dimension incorporating both destination, and points of origin, enables the investigation of migration to move beyond a purely Eurocentric approach. Thus, different national patterns are analyzed with a focus on a number of significant case-studies. By debating policies and cultural approaches the aim is to add innovative scholarship to the challenge of integration. Cross-cultural pluralism on the part of the nation states comprising the European Union is one avenue for moving the dialogue between different cultural frameworks towards a more compatible form.

In this timely work, Robert J. Pauly, Jr. looks in detail at the impact of Islam’s presence in Europe. He examines five areas of particular importance: the effect of the growth of Muslim communities on the demographics of Western Europe generally, and France, Germany and the United Kingdom in particular; the consequences of the marginalization of Muslims on domestic and international security within and outside of Western Europe in the post-11 September 2001 era; the impact of the issue of Islam in Europe on the European Union’s ongoing deepening and widening processes; the potential correlation between the increased visibility of Islam in Europe and the growth of far-right political parties across the continent; and the broader relationships between the issues of Islam in Europe, Islam and Europe, and Islam and the West.

The process of globalization means that borders between societies are becoming less important, and socio-cultural developments in certain societies are increasingly influenced by events from other parts of the world. This creates two opposing social effects. On the one hand, there is a risk of clashes between different religions, which are present within a social community. On the other hand, these close contacts among different religions may diminish differences among them, and thus reduce tensions and conflicts. This book explores the conflict between particularism and universalism. Particularism emphasizes the importance of the characteristics of particular social groups; ethnic, cultural, religious, and regional. Unlike particularism, universalism emphasizes the importance of similarities among people and systems of values in individual societies. The authors in this collection address some of the important issues at the interface of particularism and universalism, including the role of religion as a mitigator of the influence of global processes; fundamentalism as a form of collective identity; and the idea of ecumenism and neo-ecumenism as myth or reality. An important collection for scholars and researchers in religion and faith, politics, and globalization.