"A Virtual Canvas"—Designing a Blog Site to Research Young Muslims' Friendships & Identities

Authors

  • Orla McGarry National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Brian William McGrath National University of Ireland, Galway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-14.1.1805

Keywords:

blog site, online friendships, Muslim youth, gender, identity performance, participatory research

Abstract

This article is based on research among a group of Muslim youth living in the west of Ireland as part of a study on "social belonging" and identity. One part of the research involved designing a youth centered, participatory research method, in the form of a blog site, to investigate what young people say and do when they are asked to talk about themselves and their relationships, with minimal researcher involvement. Participants were presented with a "blank virtual canvas" where they determined what became discussed. Twenty-two teenaged Muslims—comprising close friends as well as fellow students of the same school and living in the same West of Ireland town—contributed to a time limited, closed blog site over a four month period. The blog site offers interesting snippets of Muslim identification, and how they choose to present themselves to others. In the process of contributing to this exercise, we can also observe subtle means through which inclusion and exclusion co-exist online, refracting young people's offline worlds. The blog affords an opportunity to consciously "do" friendship by presenting to each other images, symbols and statements of friendship that invoke both cohesion and closure. The research unravels certain gendered patterns in online performances. In demonstrating this evidence, we argue that the study of online interactions of youth can provide an alternative window in exploring relationships, identification and social positioning.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs130115

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Author Biographies

Orla McGarry, National University of Ireland, Galway

Orla McGARRY is a Research Associate at the Child and Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland, Galway. She completed a doctoral thesis on identity formation among rurally based migrant youth in the School of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland, Galway in 2012 and was awarded an M.Phil. in Ethnic and Racial Studies from Trinity College, Dublin in 2008. Her research interests include youth agency, identity formation, migration theory, religion and cultural identity.

Brian William McGrath, National University of Ireland, Galway

Brian McGRATH is the Programme Director for the MA in Community Development at the School of Political Science & Sociology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. His most recent research interests are in the areas of immigration; children/young people and social support; intergenerational relationships; and culture and development. He is currently a Research Associate with the NUI Galway Child and Family Research Centre and a Research Collaborator on the Irish Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (HBSC) research programme.

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Published

2012-11-25

How to Cite

McGarry, O., & McGrath, B. W. (2012). "A Virtual Canvas"—Designing a Blog Site to Research Young Muslims’ Friendships & Identities. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-14.1.1805

Issue

Section

Single Contributions