In the UK, there is an increased focus on social cohesion and integration (Casey, 2016; DCLG). Young people from minority ethnic communities experience a great deal of pressure in order to fit in with the national narrative of ‘Britishness’, and often feel that they should conform outwardly in their dress and physical appearance, and adopt British sociocultural practices. Those individuals who maintain their faith, language and cultural identity are seen as segregating themselves and living parallel lives (Miah, 2012). However, racial harassment can have a ‘corrosive effect on [the] lives of minority ethnic households, impacting on attitudes and behaviour and restricting opportunities’ (Cole and Robinson, 2003, p.22).

Young people from minority ethnic communities will spend a lifetime on self-exploration and negotiating their contested identities. Paul Ward argues, ‘British identity has never been static or fixed but has fluctuated in meaning as different Britons have made claims upon it’ (Ward, 2004, p.172). Identity is fluid and changeable over time and space.

I focus here on the identities of British Muslim young women who I worked with in a writing group, and share some of the themes that emerged during our writing sessions. Three specific themes related to identity came out of the girls’ writing group: place and globalisation; religion; and language.

Identity, place and globalisation

When I was a teenager in the 1970s, my identity was strongly attached to my neighbourhood. The street where I resided was home to me and others from the same Pakistani cultural background as my parents. This allowed us to maintain the strong traditions from Pakistan of community networks and collective responsibility. The street where I lived as a child was also home to a few Irish, Italian and Polish families, who were immigrants like us. At the end of the street, there was the epitome of British culture, a pub, as well as a fish and chip shop and a corner store that sold everything from milk to shoelaces.

Christensen (2003) argues that children ‘map personal biographies and engage with place as a simultaneously located and physical location, describing how they come to inhabit and belong to a place through their experiences and use of it’ (Christensen and O’ Brien, 2003, p.15).