Birmingham's Muslims: in the city, of the city

Bold and unique, this three year programme will be delivered in partnership with Birmingham's Muslim communities, the city's elected representatives and political leaders along with other influencers and institutions, including Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Police and the new West Midlands Combined Authority.

Led by Dr Chris Allen, Lecturer in Social Policy, Birmingham's Muslims will consider the story of the city's Muslim communities - their past, present and future - to better understand their contribution to the success of the city. 

Overview

Recent events across the city and country have significantly impacted cohesion and the way in which people engage and interact on a day-to-day basis. Often misrepresented or misunderstood, the city’s Muslim communities deserve a safe space where they have the opportunity to have open and honest conversations with leaders, institutions and policymakers among others. As a leading Russell Group institution, the University of Birmingham occupies a singular niche to facilitate these conversations – some of which will be necessarily difficult and challenging. 

Building on our links across the political sphere, state apparatus and the city, we aim to broker these conversations through bringing together diverse groups of people to engage them in a variety of activities from which the outcomes and findings will be shared in order to try and catalyse further debates and discussions.

Birmingham - as a city and as a University - has a strong commitment to fairness, tolerance and co-operation. This project aspires to generate new ideas to support and encourage others to understand Birmingham's Muslim communities as both 'in' and 'of' the city as a means of better understanding how we can all live together – irrespective of our differences - in a more cohesive and fairer city.

Aims and objectives

This project sets out to: 

  • Help shape language, discourse and the way ‘we talk’ not only about our city’s diversity and who ‘we’ are;
  • Help inform a better understanding of how ‘we’ talk about and duly support Muslim communities to find a way of expressing themselves comfortably and authentically around such issues as identity, place, belonging, belief, culture, patriotism and more;
  • Influence and impact policy at the city and national levels, for instance in terms of integration and cohesion among others;Inform and influence discussions about counter-narratives to extremism at the local and national levels as also with the Council of Europe; and,
  • Establish a cultural event in Birmingham which has the potential to become a regional, national and potentially international celebration that comprises activities, performances and more which span the social, political and theological. 

Outputs

  • Make specific and meaningful recommendations to local and national Government and its agencies and institutions on matters of integration, cohesion, security and other relevant policy areas;
  • Make specific and meaningful recommendations to local and national Government and its agencies and institutions on approaches to counter-extremism and counter-radicalisation and the de-securitisation of safeguarding work for example in relation to Prevent;
  • Create a library of different products and outputs to help develop an authentic sense of identity in relation to Birmingham’s Muslim communities in relation to being ‘Brummie’, English, British and so on;
  • Directly contribute to reports and publications from the Council of Europe and others where appropriate; and,
  • Establish a dedicated website that will explain the programme through providing information about those involved, events being undertaken, news articles and updates, and a resource page where all outputs be that in the form of videos, briefings, policy documents, articles and more can be housed.

Research team

Lead: Dr Chris Allen

Academic partners: Ms Özlem Ögtem Young, Research Associate and Doctoral Researcher – Department of Social Policy, Sociology & Criminology

Non-academic partners: Liam Byrne MP, Shabana Mahmood MP, Steve McCabe MP; Birmingham City Council; West Midlands Police; West Midlands Prevent Team; Citizens UK Birmingham (Saidul Haque Saeed); UoB Islamic Society.

Podcasts and videos

On 9 November 2017 as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, key social scientists including Dr Chris Allen, Dr Arshad Isakjee and Mrs Ozlem Young spoke at an event intended to consider the history and diversity of Birmingham’s Muslim communities and reflecting on notions of belonging, inclusion and ‘home’ among others.

Unlike traditional academic events where research is 'presented', this event adopted a ‘conversational’ approach whereby specialists and audience members will be able to freely engage in discussion and debate as opposed presentations and powerpoints. 

 

VIDEO: MOHAMMED ALI
THE POWER OF NARRATIVE

Mohammed Ali | The Power of Narrative
A short film shot in Sparkbrook, Birmingham.