Lived Religion, Lived Citizenship: The Everyday Experiences of Young Muslims in Italy Between Religion, Morality and Civic Engagement

In recent years, both religious studies and citizenship studies have developed research approaches grounded in the everyday experience of social actors, leading to the concepts of lived religion and lived citizenship. The convergence of these approaches has fostered innovative research exploring the interplay between citizenship and religious experience, particularly among migrants and their descendants. Building on these theoretical developments, this paper explores how the lived experience of religiosity intersects with and reinforces that of citizenship among young Muslims with migrant backgrounds in Italy. The research is set in Italy, where Islam is often portrayed as the ultimate form of otherness and focuses on young migrants’ descendants, who have frequently articulated claims to citizenship in relation to their religious belonging. The paper draws on 40 biographical interviews and 4 focus groups conducted with young Muslims with migratory backgrounds living in Italy, collected in the framework of the project ‘Growing old, feeling like citizens?’ (Universities of Padua and Milan-Bicocca). The paper illustrates how the everyday experience of Islam among the young participants entails the upholding of religious and moral values that closely align with the notion of being ‘good citizens’. This convergence between lived citizenship and religion is particularly significant, as it is strategically employed by the interviewees to assert their legitimacy in participating, as Muslims, in Italian civic life.