Leaders and the Blessed: Student Religious Identity Negotiation at the University of Michigan

Higher Education;Religion;Religion & Higher Education;Spirituality & Higher Education;Religious Diversity;Diversity & Higher Education;Education;Social Sciences;Higher Education

Joslin, JessicaOverton-Adkins, Betty J ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Higher Education;    Religion;    Religion & Higher Education;    Spirituality & Higher Education;    Religious Diversity;    Diversity & Higher Education;    Education;    Social Sciences;    Higher Education;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/149939/jyjoslin_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Colleges frequently espouse a commitment to diversity; however, religious diversity remains on the sidelines of diversity conversations on many secular campuses. Actively supporting religious diversity on a secular campus appears counter to the secular commitment of the public university and complicates its purported religious neutrality. Yet, large numbers of religious students call their campuses home, and religion plays a particularly crucial role in the lives of students who are often marginalized on college campuses. Failing to recognize the importance of this essential resource in these students’ lives limits a university’s ability to engage fully with its students. Scholarship on intersectionality and feminist conceptions of identity have long argued that different aspects of a person’s identity are deeply integrated. Yet, research on religious college students rarely considers how students’ religious lives intersect with other aspects of their identities. Recently, scholars have begun to question secularism’s professed neutrality toward individuals with religious identities, observing that often the forms of religious expression that are most critiqued are those with other marginalized identities. This leads to the following research questions: •How do students understand their religious selves, and how do they say that understanding influences how they perceive, and interact with others in the campus environment?oHow might religious students describe aspects of their categorical identities, such as race, class, gender and sexual orientation, as influencing how they present their religious selves on campus? oHow might religious students describe the ways in which the campus environment influences how they present their religious selves on campus?This dissertation discusses the results of a qualitative study of the experiences of religious students at the University of Michigan. Within the study, I focus on the experiences of students in four student groups: 1) a Muslim group, 2) a Jewish group, 3) a predominantly white Christian group, and 4) a predominantly students of color Christian group. I collected data through a combination of interviews and group discussions. The diversity of these research sites highlights the ways in which different aspects of identity influence how students describe their experience of religion and their strategies for interacting with the secular environment. In all of the groups, students used their faith as a tool to help them navigate college life. Students were strategic in their choices regarding when and how they shared their faith with others. Their faith was influential in how they approached their coursework, thought about dating, experienced campus social life, and found friends and community. The intersectional nature of the participants’ identities had profound impact on how they related to others both in and outside of their respective groups, and their perception of and hope for inclusion on the campus environment. Across the groups, students appreciated the support they received in their religious community.Overall, this research highlights the fact that religion is critically important to many students and should be seen as a fundamental part of the diversity of higher education. Many avenues for further research remain to help us learn more about how religious students negotiate secular university environments. Interviewing students from different religious sects and denominations would enhance our knowledge of the experiences of religious students on secular campuses. Additionally, more research is needed regarding the relationship between religious identity and other aspects of identity, including how those relationships shape student experience.