This dissertation is based on two multiple case studies through which I examined the intersection of identity, religion, citizenship and agency. The first chapter of the dissertation explains the theoretical framework and why I rely on postcolonial theory and Foucault's theory of power/knowledge in order to interrogate the cultivation of Muslim students' religious and civic identities. The same chapter includes the methodological part of my dissertation. The second chapter clarifies, through in-depth interviews with four Muslim social studies teachers, the dilemmas they faced in educating their students to become good Muslims and good citizens in the U.S. Teachers reported that the growing Islamophobia in the U.S., after September 11, 2001, has increased the tension between Muslim students' religious, national, and transnational belonging. This is true because Muslim-American voices and narratives were not included in the American and World history curriculum, and because of the misrepresentation of Islam in the media and the larger society. Teachers reported that they have the double responsibility to educate their students for good citizenship so that they can defend and explain their Islamic identity. Here I found two types of religious education. The first was dogmatic education which promoted the superiority of Islamic morals and ignored other system of knowing or behaving (moral absolutism). The second (moral pluralism) encouraged students to recognize other systems of morality and to think how the Islamic ethics and moral teachings may contribute to the well-being of all citizens. The same chapter shows the love-hate relationship that Muslim students developed towards their country because of the U.S. foreign policies towards Islamic countries and how teachers dealt with this dilemma. The third chapter shows, relying on Foucault and Bhabha's theories, the struggles that Muslim students faced in their transition from Islamic to public schools in one city in the U.S. This study explored four Muslim teenagers about their transition from one Islamic to different public schools. The study aimed to explore how these students negotiated their identities, how they faced processes of Othering and Islamophobia in public schools, and how they developed their hybrid identities. Five findings were revealed in this chapter. First, Muslim students reported that they did not get a quality education in the Islamic school and this kept them far behind their peers in public schools. That is, they felt they needed to reconcile their religious identity (Islamic and Arabic studies) and their aspirations to get good jobs in the future. Second, there is a solid evidence to show how Muslims students used the Arabic language and their bodies in order to fit within the culture of public school and the technologies of the self they use for this purpose. Third, there was a tension between students' American identity and their parents' diasporic identity. It seems that some immigrant parents use religious language in order to justify the cultural practices of their home country. Fourth, I clarify the meaning of dogmatic religious education and liberating function of public schools as it came across the interviews with students. Here I explain the meaning of reflective and critical religiosity and why it is significant for living in democratic and multicultural society. Fifth, I explore the patterns of discrimination and Othering that Muslim students experienced in their public schools and how they were related to discourses of Orientalism, Islamophobia, and imperialism.
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