The concept of superdiversity reframes diversity beyond ethnicity, highlighting the multiple variables that shape contemporary social identities. It offers a framework for examining whose identities remain unacknowledged in schools, yet it has largely been developed within a migration paradigm. This article responds to the perception that this demographic focus constrains recognition of the epistemological variation through which Muslimness is lived and understood. Using adolescents from post-Soviet Central Asia as an illustrative example, the article introduces an epistemological dimension to conceptualisations of superdiversity. This extends beyond migration history, generation, and socioeconomic status, by examining how Islam, intertwined with pre-Islamic traditions, historical trajectories, and Soviet national policies on religion, shaped distinctive expressions of Muslimness. Among Central Asian Muslim communities, Islam functions primarily as a social identity grounded in moral values, cultural belonging, and ethical practice rather than visible religiosity. Drawing on Erikson’s psychosocial theory and Social Identity Theory, the article argues that the misrecognition of epistemologically distinctive Muslim identities, and the imposition of homogenised models of Muslimness in schools, can negatively affect adolescents’ identity formation. It demonstrates the interdependence of personal and social identity within superdiverse contexts and calls for recognition within RE that accommodates multiple ways of being and knowing Muslimness.
Ilaha Baghirova (Tue,) studied this question.