Muslims in Australia: The double edge of terrorism

Authors

Nahid Kabir, Edith Cowan University

Document Type

Journal Article

Publisher

Routledge

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Arts

School

School of Communications and Contemporary Arts / Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts,Technology, Education and Communications

RAS ID

3988

Comments

Kabir, N. (2007). Muslims in Australia: The double edge of terrorism. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33(8), 1277-1297. Available here

Abstract

Self-improvement is often seen as the driving force behind international migration. In other cases, people are forced to depart because of social or political upheaval, oppression or national disaster. Finally, people may migrate for family reunion. Immigrants acquire new identities as they settle into the new society and learn to refer to themselves as, for example, ‘Australians’ or ‘British’. In doing so, a former national identity may become an ‘ethnic identity’. As they settle into a new country, migrants face numerous challenges as ethnic or religious minorities. In this paper, an historical perspective is given to settlement issues of various religious migrant groups in Australia, with a special focus on Muslims. The paper examines how a religious group can become the victim of resistance from the wider society when the group is perceived to be a direct or an indirect threat. It concludes that Muslim Australians have become the ‘current enemy’ because the perceived international threat of militant Islam is negatively impacting on them. This paper relies on both primary and secondary sources, including oral testimonies.

DOI

10.1080/13691830701614072