5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

The study of the religious identity and religiosity of Muslims living in Muslim minority countries constitutes an area of research still partially developed in the field of sociology. While several works have been published on particular aspects, such as, for example, religious transmission within the family or the intersection between the religious and gender dimensions in the construction of identity, there seems to be a shortage of projects that attempt to give a more comprehensive and composited image of the identity and religiosity of particular national Muslim communities. Moreover, these studies seem to pose major challenges concerning the methodological approaches, both quantitative and qualitative, to be adopted and the consequent choices to be made, regarding the selection of research methods and techniques and the operationalisation of the concepts under study: how to identify the Muslims who are the 'object' of the study (i.e. how to define the population and the sample)? Which dimensions of religiosity and which aspects of religious identity to consider? How to control the pressure of social desirability and reaction to widespread prejudice in eliciting narratives or responses to the researcher's questions in a Muslim 'minority' country?

Both presentations of findings from research related to particular national case studies and papers with a more methodological slant, investigating the challenges and critical issues encountered in the research process, will be accepted.

The panel will be organised as a paper presentation session and will accommodate a maximum of five presentations of approximately 15-20 minutes followed by a collective discussion.