Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Living in a pluralistic, diverse, and consistently shifting context such as Canada requires young people and adults to navigate and negotiate their positioning in community. This paper, drawn from doctoral research, shares an autoethnographical account of living in the in-between of social spaces. Participants in the dialogue are offered insight into one person’s experience of negotiating and navigating the tensions of religion, gender, culture, geographical location, and identity formation as a Canadian Shia Ismaili Muslim. The sharing of narratives that help bring to light the constant negotiations a young person engages in consciously or subconsciously include playing an ice sport (ringette) as a brown bodied female in Canada, solo travels and living in East Africa including climbing Mount Kilimanjaro alone, and reflecting on a childhood of navigating religious attendance, religiously grouped girl-guiding, religious education, and Canadian sport culture, are offered. Participants walk away with various questions that spur critical, respectful, reflective, and often times life altering conversations with young people who share such experiences. Furthermore, this presentation offers participants an opportunity to rethink definitions of religious identity, cultural differences, cultural hybridity, and living in the in-between.