RELIGIOUS AND NATIONAL IDENTITIES REPRESENTED IN THE NARRATIVES OF MIGRANT FILIPINO MUSLIMS IN MALAYSIA

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Francisco Perlas Dumanig
Maya Khemlani David
Daisy Jane Orcullo
Hanafi Hussin
Rodney Jubilado

Abstract

National identity in the Philippines can be associated with religious identity due to the strong religious influence in this country. In fact, some places, events, names and celebrations are influenced by the Catholic faith. Despite the Christian domination, Muslims particularly in the Southern part of the country have stronger attachment towards Islam. Consequently, the issue of religious versus national identity has become complex particularly to those who migrated to other countries for various reasons. This study examines the national and religious identities more particularly by examining how the migrant Filipino Muslims in Malaysia construct their identities. Moreover, this study is anchored from Self-Categorization Theory (SCT) which explains that the construction of group or individual identities could be identified in different levels of self-categorization. To carry out the study, 15 interview narratives from migrant Filipino Muslims in Kuala Lumpur and Sabah, Malaysia were collected through individual interviews. The findings of the study show that the religious identity of migrant Filipino Muslims shows greater value than that of their national identity. The construction of such identity is highly political in the sense that the religious identity is seen to be instrumental rather than integrative.
Keywords: Self Categorization Theory, religious identity, national identity, Christian, Muslim, Philippines, Malaysia

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