Research Context and Design

The notion of belonging is a central aspect of how we define who we are. Chapter 2 aims to show how young participants construct their sense of identity. It presents the data, narratives and findings collected from the detailed analysis of the UK-funded research project, which took place between 2018 and early 2020. Firstly, it includes the following: details of the project, the process of recruiting participants, the research methodology and the methods employed in the study. Also featured are some of the key themes that emerged from the young participants’ accounts. In doing so, the chapter also highlights some of the minoritised students and teachers’ personal experiences and details how they struggle to be heard and acknowledged. Secondly, the chapter sheds light on how Britishness discourse is perceived by black and brown citizens as divisive and synonymous with hegemonic whiteness. Belonging and citizenship are bound up with concepts of entitlement and status and British values as ‘civic values’, while signifiers of ‘belonging’ are in fact ‘exclusionary’. By sharing young people’s narratives and the impact of government policies on their sense of self, the chapter aims to reveal critical issues that surround the politicisation of culture and faith in contemporary Britain. The data bears testimony to the youth’s capacity to counter the polarising tendencies of such policies and define themselves as diverse citizens of Britain. The discussion, thus, provides a synthesis of ideas and identified themes and sub-categories that emerged from the semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, school links and roundtable discussions. To conclude, the chapter closes with a summary of recommendations that may tackle the impact of fundamental British values (FBVs) and Prevent discourse on the young participants’ lives and how they—in the run-up and after Brexit—tried to mitigate the divisive effects of the policies that inhibit the British education system.