This paper aims to understand how young Muslims in the super-diverse city of Antwerp negotiate the tensions between their religious identification and the broader cultural framework of individualism. Young Muslims in Antwerp face the challenge to present themselves as autonomous, while maintaining their religious identification. Based on 26 interviews with Muslim students in two secondary schools, we describe how presenting a dignified self to both non-Muslim and Muslim audiences requires a delicate balancing act. Drawing conceptually from cultural sociology, we explore how our respondents present themselves towards various audiences by selectively employing elements from the cultural repertoire of ‘religious individualism’. In our analysis, we examine four ways in which respondents employ this repertoire to rework the potential tensions and present themselves as agentive within their religious framework. We also discuss how negotiating a contested identity requires more taxing boundary work for girls, and how they challenge gender norms without denying their religious identification. Overall, our analysis demonstrates how young Muslims in a West European context engage in complex boundary work and creatively draw on the cultural repertoire of religious individualism to negotiate their multiple identifications.

本文旨在了解超级多元城市安特卫普的年轻穆斯林如何解决他们的宗教认同与更广泛的个人主义文化框架之间的紧张关系。安特卫普的年轻穆斯林在保持自己的宗教认同的同时，面临着挑战，要展现自己的自治权。在对两所中学的穆斯林学生进行的26次访谈的基础上，我们描述了如何向非穆斯林和穆斯林听众展现有尊严的自我需要一种微妙的平衡行为。从文化社会学的概念上讲，我们探讨了受访者如何通过有选择地运用“宗教个人主义”文化底蕴中的要素，向各种受众展示自己。在我们的分析中，我们研究了四种方式，让受访者利用这一曲目来应对潜在的紧张局势，并在自己的宗教框架内表现出积极性。我们还讨论了如何协商有争议的身份需要为女孩增加更多的税收边界工作，以及她们如何在不否认其宗教认同的情况下挑战性别规范。总体而言，我们的分析表明，在西欧背景下，年轻的穆斯林如何从事复杂的边界工作，并创造性地利用宗教个人主义的文化底蕴来谈判他们的多重身份。