Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine how religious plurality triggers a reflexivity among young Muslims in Bangalore vis-à-vis their religious practices, which, in turn, may undergo a change.

Paper long abstract:

Re-Islamization is a form of internal conversion whereby the religious practices of the actors, and their meanings, undergo a transformation. It also comes along with a conscious identification to Islam as the believer substitutes to his "inherited" faith a consciously "chosen" faith. In order to better understand this process, we will take as case studies the individual trajectories of a few "born again" young Muslims in Bangalore and examine the narratives of their experience of re-Islamization. In doing so, we shall mobilize in particular the notion of reflexivity so as to see its role in the religious change of the concerned individuals. In other words, what role does the putting at a distance of religious practices play in the process of re-Islamization? How is this expressed in the discourses of the young Muslims? What are the effects on their practices? We will also pay attention to the local context marked by an important religious plurality, and where Muslims are in a minority. We shall examine in particular how this religious plurality, combined with the minority condition, potentially triggers a reflexivity among young Muslims vis-à-vis their religious practices, which, in turn, may undergo a change.