Muslim young people online: “Acts of citizenship” in socially networked spaces

This paper reviews the current literature regarding Muslim young people’s online social networking and participatory practices with the aim of examining whether these practices open up new spaces of civic engagement and political par-ticipation. The paper focuses on the experiences of young Muslims living in western societies, where, since September 11, the ability to assert claims as citizens in the public arena has diminished. The paper draws upon Isin & Nielsen’s (2008) “acts of citizenship” to define the online practices of many Muslim youth, for whom the internet provides a space where new performances of citizenship are enacted outside of formal citizenship rights and spaces of participa-tion. These “acts" are evaluated in light of theories which articulate the changing nature of publics and the public sphere in a digital era. The paper will use this conceptual framework in conjunction with the literature review to ex-plore whether virtual, online spaces offer young Muslims an opportunity to create a more inclusive discursive space to interact with co-citizens, engage with social and political issues and assert their citizen rights than is otherwise afforded by formal political structures; a need highlighted by policies which target minority Muslim young people for greater civ-ic participation but which do not reflect the interests and values of Muslim young people

The AFL’s indigenous round and the innocent face of racism

The opening&nbsp;of the AFL&rsquo;s Indigenous&nbsp;Round, the chance for the&nbsp;contribution of Indigenous&nbsp;footballers to the game &ndash;&nbsp;both past and present &ndash; to be&nbsp;recognised and celebrated&nbsp;was marred by a racial taunt&nbsp;from a young supporter at&nbsp;Sydney&rsquo;s Indigenous star&nbsp;Adam Goodes.</span

"It\u27s about freedom": contesting dominant representations of devout Muslim women in the space of the nation

Since September 11 there has been a rise of Islamophobia in Australian public discourse,&nbsp;matched by a growth of racialised attacks on visibly identifiable Muslims in public space. These cultural&nbsp;racisms have arisen in a context where Islamic religious signifiers and practices have come to be read as&nbsp;signs of fundamentalism, terrorism and threat to national political traditions and cultural values. In&nbsp;particular, the hijab has become a symbol of these tensions, with the veiled woman being read as the&nbsp;embodiment of a &lsquo;repressive and fundamentalist religion&rsquo;. However, as some Muslim and feminist&nbsp;scholars have proposed, these readings rob Muslim women of their ability to articulate the reasons why&nbsp;wear the veil or engage in gendered religious practices. This paper argues that this enacts a form of&nbsp;disembodiment, whereby Muslim womens&rsquo; ability to comfortably inhabit their bodies and assert&nbsp;themselves in the public sphere is limited. In particular the paper draws upon two case studies which&nbsp;express this disembodiment, whilst highlighting the counter-strategies that devout Muslim women are&nbsp;adopting to reinsert their bodies and narratives in the national frame. The first refers to the recent&nbsp;media backlash which followed a public lecture held at Melbourne University by Islamic organization&nbsp;Hikmah Way, where the audience was segregated along gender lines. The second draws upon&nbsp;interviews conducted with veiled Muslim women in Sydney, following the Cronulla riot. These interviews&nbsp;show how Muslim women are contesting dominant representations of the hijab in western popular&nbsp;discourse by recoding it as a signifier of religious and national identity, and as an expression of&nbsp;democratic freedom

Productive provocations: vitriolic media, spaces of protest and agonistic outrage in the 2011 England riots

The intense social upheaval that spread through a number of UK cities in the riots and protests of August, 2011 signalled the terrifying speed with which passionate disaffection can turn to uncontained violence. At stake in the dense and volatile debate that ensued, and in the acts of violence themselves, were contests over spaces as well as competing models of democracy, publics and citizenship, including the appropriate use of social media. Within these debates, almost universally, rational deliberative discourse and action is assumed to be the only route to legitimate “civil” society. So what is to be made of the violent physical contest over city squares, streets and property, as well as contests over acts of participation and demonstration played out online through the hundreds of eyewitness videos posted to sites like YouTube and the endless flow of often vitriolic words in blogs, comments spaces and social network sites? This paper uses a video posted to YouTube titled ‘Clapham Junction Speaker (London Riots 2011)’ to examine the passion and provocation that flowed beyond the city streets to enliven, intensify and sustain forms of protest and civic engagement. We argue that the aggressive and antagonistic tenor of the Speaker’s twenty minute monologue, the bitter vitriol that flowed through the comments space, and even the act of posting it constitute significant elements of a generative, ‘agonistic’ public, to use Chantal Mouffe’s term, that operates in multiple spaces and outside of the rationalising discourse demanded by mainstream media and government. This paper develops a richer understanding of these spaces of protest, and the concept of provocation central to these events

More than a game: evaluation report

&lsquo;More than a Game&rsquo; is a sport-based youth mentoring program developed and implemented by Western Bulldogs in partnership with Newport Islamic Society (NIS), the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and Hobsons Bay City Council, with funding from the Attorney General&rsquo;s Department Building Community Resilience (BCR) grant scheme. The program aimed to develop a community-based resilience model that would use team-based sports to address issues of identity, sense of belonging and cultural isolation amongst young men of Islamic faith, all of which are identified as factors that may promote forms of violent extremism. The program involved 60 young men, aged 15-25, from the Newport Islamic Society in Melbourne&rsquo;s Western suburbs. The boys were engaged in numerous activities where they were mentored by staff from Western Bulldogs, Victoria Police and Australian Federal Police, who worked in conjunction with community leaders from the Newport Islamic Society.Through sports-based training, mentoring programs, and community dialogue, &lsquo;More Than a Game&rsquo; aimed to develop participants&rsquo; leadership, communication, and cross-cultural engagement skills; to identify and facilitate the development of young role models in the community; to enhance greater understanding of the Muslim community in Melbourne&rsquo;s West, and to foster greater intercultural contact and understanding between participants and other cultural groups. A number of activities were developed and implemented as a part of the program</span

"More than a game": the impact of sport-based youth mentoring schemes on developing resilience toward violent extremism

This paper draws upon the findings of an evaluation of “More than a Game”, a sport-focused youth mentoring program in Melbourne, Australia that aimed to develop a community-based resilience model using team-based sports to address issues of identity, belonging, and cultural isolation amongst young Muslim men in order to counter forms of violent extremism. In this essay we focus specifically on whether the intense embodied encounters and emotions experienced in team sports can help break down barriers of cultural and religious difference between young people and facilitate experiences of resilience, mutual respect, trust, social inclusion and belonging. Whilst the project findings are directly relevant to the domain of countering violent extremism, they also contribute to a growing body of literature which considers the relationship between team-based sport, cross-cultural engagement and the development of social resilience, inclusion and belonging in other domains of youth engagement and community-building

Critical global citizenship: contextualising citizenship and globalisation

This introductory paper to our first issue provides reflection on the concept of critical global citizenship at both theoretical and practical levels. We maintain that ‘citizenship’, irrespective of its level of articulation (i.e. national, international, global, etc.) remains an issue that reflects a status, a feeling and practices that are intrinsically interlinked. As a legal status, formal citizenship allows individuals to form a sense of belonging within a political community and, therefore, empowers them to act and perform their citizenship within the spatial domains of the nation-state. Critical global citizenship, asks these same individuals not so much to neglect these notions of belonging and practice to a particular locale, but to extend such affinities beyond the territorial boundaries of their formal national membership and to think critically and ethically about their local, national and global relationship with those who are different from themselves. Making a case for a critical global citizenship, however, also requires acknowledging material inequalities that affect the most vulnerable (i.e. migrants, asylum seekers, those experiencing poverty, etc.) and which mean that efforts to cultivate global citizenship orientations to address social injustice are not enacted on an even playing field. As such, a critical global citizenship approach espouses a performative citizenship that is at once democratic and ethical, as well as being aimed at achieving social peace and sustainable justice, but which is also affected by material conditions of inequality that require political solutions and commitment from individuals, states, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations.1 1 This article is based on F. Mansouri (2014), ‘The Global Citizenship Project: From Words to Action’, published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. © UNESCO, Pari

Pediatric medical traumatic stress in individuals with craniofacial conditions

Purpose: This article reviews the literature focused on the psychological effects of craniofacial care for patients and their families. It provides an overview of pediatric medical traumatic stress associated with craniofacial conditions and related care along with a review of its risk and protective factors. Findings from studies of pediatric medical traumatic stress in craniofacial populations are also reviewed. Conclusion: The article concludes with strategies for identifying, addressing, and preventing medical traumatic stress in the context of craniofacial care. Specific implications for speech language pathologists are also shared with respect to ways of minimizing risks for medical traumatic stress in craniofacial care. Future directions are also delineated and include strategies to improve screening and support for patients with craniofacial conditions and their families, along with the development of interventions aimed at increasing resilience

Establishing an international interdisciplinary research network in craniofacial microsomia: The CARE Program

Craniofacial microsomia (CFM) is a broad clinical term used to describe a congenital condition most commonly involving the underdevelopment of the external ear, mandible, soft tissues, and facial nerve. Despite medical advances, understanding of the psychological health and healthcare experiences of individuals with CFM and their caregivers remains limited. This article describes a research program designed to address these knowledge gaps, and identify opportunities for psychosocial intervention and improved healthcare provision. The Craniofacial microsomia: Accelerating Research and Education (CARE) research program aims to: Conduct up to 160 narrative interviews with individuals and caregivers to validate a conceptual framework; Administer an online international survey of up to 800 individuals with CFM and caregivers to identify predictors of psychological distress; Perform up to 60 semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers and advocacy leaders to examine the extent to which current healthcare provisions address identified patient needs; and Establish a participant registry to build a longitudinal database and develop an international community. Teams in the USA and UK have been established, alongside an international, interdisciplinary Advisory Committee. Data analysis for Aim 1 is ongoing and informing the delivery of Aims 2-3. Aim 4 is also in development. A dedicated website serves as a recruitment tool, educational resource, and mechanism for engaging with the CFM community. The CARE program provides a comprehensive approach to understanding the experiences of individuals with CFM and their caregivers. Challenges encountered and lessons learned are shared for the benefit of the community