ISET Working Paper Series: Identity in transition. Connecting online and offline internet practices of Moroccan-Dutch Muslim youth

ISET aims to bring an interdisciplinary approach to research questions
arising from transformations taking place across Europe and in Europe’s
relations with the wider world. The ISET Working Paper Series presents works in progress, and key ideas and findings, relating to ISET’s main research interests in the transformations taking place across Europe and in Europe’s relations with the wider world.

My paper Identity in transition. Connecting online and offline internet practices of Moroccan-Dutch Muslim youth, has been published on their website:

In the last 5 years the Internet has become the principal platform for the dissemination and mediation of the ideology of Islamic movements, ranging from purist (non-violent) to politically engaged movements to Jihadi networks. Certainly in intelligence and security circles the Internet is considered the single most important venue for the radicalization of Muslim youth. On the other hand the Internet is seen as a means for people to transcend ethnic and religious divisions that are pervasive in other spheres of life.

In this paper I will argue that both premises seem to result from a lack of understanding of the relationship between online and offline realities and still more from the difficulty of ascertaining the extent to which websites influence wider audiences and users. In order to understand the reception of Internet messages the local context and the way global narratives are appropriated in the local context, should be taken into account.

My argument will be based on my empirical study of the practices of Muslim youth with regard to the Internet; I will explore how they act simultaneously as performers and observers in these virtual spaces.