Securing Values: Religious Tolerance and The British-Turkish Community

Since the revised Prevent Strategy in 2011, the UK Government has commanded that all state schools promote fundamental British values, including mutual respect and tolerance to those with different faiths and beliefs. However, can tolerance really be seen as a nationed concept without being a bordering practice? his chapter posits that tolerance can be comprehended in the context of intangible cultural heritage, specifically in relation to value teaching within ethnic minority communities and their non-formal educational settings as it is prevalent and taught as a moral and cultural value in such communities as the British-Turkish. Additionally, it contends that tolerance can be promoted through discourse in non-formal educational environments, particularly in the realm of cultural-value teaching. The chapter's main emphasis is on exploring the history, comprehension, and demonstration of tolerance within British-Turkish community. The expression of tolerance can be traced in Sufism and prevails in Turkish culture, transmitted within families and community organisations in Britain with the help of cultural value teaching. Yet, how tolerance is subsumed under UK government policy, specifically on counterterrorism, tends to overlook the historic presence of this value in other national traditions, and has the effect of undermining community cohesion and othering British-Muslims. To investigate the impact of these policies since 2011, this chapter draws on the findings of a small-scale case study undertaken with a British-Turkish community group located in north-west England. In addition to semi-structured interviews, the data was collected through vignette methodology to particularly unearth young people’s meaning-making of tolerance. In accordance with the specific focus of this book, this chapter focuses on parents’ and young people’s views on tolerance to unravel its intergenerationally debordering effect through discursive practices. In so doing, the chapter uses thematic analysis of interview data in relation to elements of grounded theory and narrative inquiry. These findings are positioned alongside the analysis of policy documents, which explores conceptualisations of tolerance as bordering practice. In conclusion, the chapter argues that, albeit its political instrumentalisation, British-Turkish youth perceives tolerance as a moral value and an intangible cultural heritage expressed through interpersonal behaviours, narratives, and community teachings that inherently foster debordering among perceived ‘equals’. However, British-Turkish parents emphasise its bordering effect within the wider national context even though they address its role to ‘de-border’ minoritised communities and youth as a form of ICH rooted in cultural transmission—manifested in family teachings, community discourses, and cultural practices.