Collective representation work as stigma management. Young Muslims from Furuset, Oslo

This article discusses collective representation work in the context of territorial stigmatisation experienced by young Muslims in Furuset, a neighbourhood in Oslo, Norway. Collective representation work refers to a shared way of coping with stigma that becomes part of a moral ethos. In Furuset, young Muslim responses to polarised public debates on segregation, youth crime and marginalisation are mitigated by collective resistance in a local community where ethnic minorities, and predominantly Muslims, make up the majority. The discussion is based on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and co-research with young Muslims participating in a local youth leader programme. In the context of this local youth environment, the idealised moral response to stigma is polite and gentle resistance, proving prejudiced categorisation wrong. This article contributes to the research literature on how Muslim youth experience and deal with anti-Muslim hostility by linking discussions on stigma management, social mobilisation and anthropological perspectives on morality.