Negotiating citizenship and reforging Muslim identities: the case of young women of Japanese-Pakistani Parentage

Drawing on longitudinal research, this article investigates the processes of citizenship negotiations by the daughters of Japanese mothers and Pakistani fathers. The respondents’ narratives indicate a disjuncture between their full citizenship and their sense of belonging. While they are treated as others in schools and local communities in Japan, within the family, the daughters feel deprived of freedom due to their migrant fathers’ patriarchal control. Yet they claim rights and freedom by reconfiguring their Muslim selves. By bringing the family to the fore of the analysis, I show that the daughters’ religious journeys are interwoven with power dynamics between citizen mothers and migrant fathers who, as their life cycle progresses, reposition themselves in families, communities, and nation-states. In conclusion, I argue for the importance of combining a family lens and multi-tiered approach to conceptualize identity formation as an integral part of citizenship struggles.