British [Muslim] Values: Conflict or Convergence?

In the UK today, there is a widespread perception of a fundamental conflict between 'British values', and the values and practices of minority - frequently Muslim - communities. In a March 2015 survey, for instance, 55% of British voters believed there to exist 'a fundamental clash between Islam and the values of British society'. A much trumpeted July 2015 speech by the UK Prime Minister set out the need to challenge, 'extremist ideology by standing up and promoting our shared British values. Taking on extremism in all its forms - both violent and non-violent'. This construction of conflict - which is augmented by public and policy discussion of 'Jihadi brides', 'radicalisation', 'Muslim self-segregation', etc. - contributes to the demonisation and infantilisation of British Muslims. It also has real socio-political significance, for as David Cameron had argued in June 2014: 'We need to be far more muscular in promoting British values and the institutions that uphold them'.

This project will explore how this construction of conflict impacts upon Muslim individuals and communities living within the UK. It focuses on four locations in Eastern England which are home to significant and distinct - yet, frequently neglected - Muslim populations: Bedford, Ipswich, Luton and Norwich. Three research questions motivate the research.

1. How are discussions of British values, and their relationship to Islam, understood, experienced, negotiated and contested by Muslim individuals and communities?
2. How important are geographical or demographic factors such as gender, age, ethnic origin, or sect in these understandings, negotiations and contestations?
3. How would Muslims in the UK recast political and public discussion around the place and role of Islam and Muslims within the UK?

To answer these questions, the project employs an innovative methodology organised around three chronologically ordered work packages. Work Package 1 involves the production of eight auto-ethnographic videos by local individuals acting as participant researchers within the project's four research sites (one female, one male). Although the content, focus and style of these videos will be left to the direction of each participant, each will focus on the relationship between Islam and 'British values', with full training and guidance provided by the academic team. Work Package 1 will be directed by Dr. Eylem Atakav, an expert in media studies with an established research profile in Islam, gender and the media.
Work Package 2 involves three focus groups in each of the four locations (1 Muslim, 1 non-Muslim, 1 mixed), each of which will begin with a screening of the auto-ethnographies. The focus groups will include discussion of the themes raised in the films, and whether these resonate more widely with the experiences of local communities.This will lead to a broader conversation around the above three research questions. Package 2 is directed by Dr. Lee Jarvis, an expert in critical security studies, who has considerable experience of focus group research.
Work Package 3 completes the project, and involves semi-structured interviews with two sets of interviewees: i) selected focus group participants, and, (ii) the participant researchers. The first allows for a more detailed investigation of particularly interesting or surprising insights from the focus groups. The second provides opportunity for reflection on the value and limits of this collaborative research project. Work Package 3 will be directed by Prof. Lee Marsden, an expert in religion and politics.

Upon completion of the empirical research, data from the focus groups and interviews will be transcribed and written up for academic publications, media commentary and policy briefings. The academic researchers and participants will also subsequently screen the films in a range of educational, religious, and other venues.

This project involves direct collaboration with two types of non-academic partner. First, are members of Muslim communities within the East of England, who will work as participant researchers on the project. Their work will include producing, editing and subsequently discussing their own personal experiences through the use of video autoethnography, focus groups and interviews. These individuals will be recruited via existing connections the project team have with community organisations and mosques in the region, with agreement in principle already having been secured from the Ihsan Mosque of Chapelfield East and the Anglian Community Centre in central Norwich.

Second, are BBC Voices - a media workshop and production unit located in Norwich. In line with their public service mandate, BBC Voices have agreed to provide the relevant training to our participant researchers without charge. BBC Voices also have extensive connections with regional and other media outlets who they will contact on the project team's behalf. By working with these two categories of non-academic partner at all stages of the research project - from design to dissemination - British [Muslim] Values will have a potentially transformative impact on four audiences.

The first audience are local Muslim communities in the East of England region. Impacts here will include capacity building, via professional training in media production, as well as the skills developed via sustained participation in a research project such as knowledge of research ethics, methods, and so forth. Because our participant researchers will be recruited via community organisations and mosques, this knowledge and these skills will extend beyond our eight researchers, not least because we will hold focus groups and screenings of these films in venues owned by, or familiar to, these organisations. This audience will also be part of potentially transformative discussions centred around the experiences of British Muslims in the region.

Second, are wider communities in the East of England who will be impacted by the project in two ways. First, a number of non-Muslims will be invited to attend focus groups and interviews organised around the video auto-ethnographies. This will increase public understanding of issues raised by debate around British Values and their relationship with Islam. Second, we will host screenings and discussion events of the auto-ethnographies at religious and educational venues across the East of England, providing opportunity for wider regional audiences to participate in these discussions.

Third, our research will impact on national and international communities beyond the East of England via an ambitious dissemination strategy including: the sharing of video auto-ethnographies on our university website and relevant social media channels; the authoring of accessible publications for print and online media outlets; and related interviews on television and radio media. As detailed on our pathways to impact document, the research team has extensive experience of engaging with the media, and will work in collaboration with UEA's excellent Press Office and Media Relations Managers to fully capitalise on the project's potential to shape public understanding.

The project's fourth audience are a range of relevant political and non-governmental stakeholders, for whom we will produce policy relevant reports from our research. These include organisations with whom the project team already have significant professional relationships such as The Leadership Foundation and Lady Butler-Sloss' House of Lords Commission, as well as a large number of related bodies including the Muslim Council of Britain, the Department of Communities and Local Government and Theos Think Tank. As detailed on the pathways to impact document, the project team have considerable experience of contributing to public policy debate in the areas of religion, citizenship and security.