Conclusion: Knowing Muslim Youth

The current prevailing youth research articulates the "question of youth," and Muslim youth in particular, as both a problem and an opportunity-problems associated with youth radicalism, disruption, deviance, and instability; and opportunity for the young to act as agents of political and economic change as the builders of the future. Although this chapter underlines the value of such approaches, it argues for more innovative methodologies that include ethnography, life histories, and comparative global (North and South), interdisciplinary, and intergenerational collaborations. It stresses the need to look at the young on their own terms, as a particular social group that is increasingly becoming the "new proletariat" of our times in an ongoing struggle for citizenship. Research in the area of youth necessitates not only research about the young, but collaborations and initiatives with the young. Combining cultural politics with political economy approaches, and viewing the young at the intersection of both local/national and global processes can provide invaluable ways to "know Muslim youth."