Race in the lives of white Australian converts to Islam

This thesis explores the lived experiences of white Australian converts to Islam, and analyses the impacts of racialisation on white converts in a national context where Islam is broadly racialised as ‘non-white,’ and constructed as oppositional to the Australian nation. This research moved beyond previous sociological literature that deals with macro-level racialisation of Muslims deployed through institutions, legislation and policy, social structures and national discourses, to detail how racialisation is reproduced and experienced in everyday interpersonal encounters by white converts who move from an ‘unraced’ or invisible racial positioning to a highly racialised one. Qualitative data for this research were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twenty-nine self-identified white converts to Islam from Sydney, and underwent thematic analysis. This project makes substantial empirical contributions to research about Australian Muslim communities and converts in particular, and contributes to broader knowledge about the racialisation of Islam and Muslims in Australia through its discussion of the racialised frames through which white converts are understood. In interactions with non-Muslims, this was done by explicitly framing Islam as a non-white race, or through the more subtle approach of constructing Islam as antagonistic to the Australian nation, which is underpinned by a national construction of whiteness. Importantly, interviews with white converts revealed that non-white Muslims also had dualistic and reified perceptions of Islam and whiteness that constructed Islam as incompatible with whiteness, which led some non-white Muslims to either question participants’ commitment to the religion or conversely, glorified them for having the will to ‘abandon’ their whiteness for Islam. The thesis additionally contributes to the sociology of race and the sociology of religion in Australia by highlighting how the production of contemporary Australian nationalism vis-à-vis the concurrent evocation of whiteness and Christian-coded secularism serves to position Islam as a religion that is not just antithetical to the Australian way of life, but to whiteness itself. These findings make an important contribution to the sociology of whiteness and national identity, which has not dealt sufficiently with the secular dimension of whiteness. It is hoped that this thesis aids in deepening and extending current theoretical understandings of racialisation, and of the operation of whiteness and Christian-coded secularism in the construction of Australian national identity

'Islam is a blackfella religion, whatchya trying to prove?’ : race in the lives of white Muslim converts in Australia

Far from being unique, Will’s stories reflect the experiences of many white converts to Islam. In this article I argue that the expectations placed upon white Muslim converts exist because Islam is a highly racialised religion in Australia, and the racialisation of Islam on a discursive level in the public sphere is enacted by individuals in their everyday interactions with Muslims. The article explores 12 white converts’ experiences of race post-conversion, drawing on theories of whiteness and racialisation to argue that the act of conversion is one that racialises white Muslims, removing the privilege of racial invisibility that was once afforded them by virtue of their whiteness

Australians’ Views on Cultural Diversity, Nation and Migration, 2015-16

Between July and August 2015, and in November 2016, the Challenging Racism Project team conducted an online survey to measure the extent and variation of racist attitudes and experiences in Australia. The survey comprised a sample of 6001 Australian residents, which was largely representative of the Australian population. The survey gauged Australians’ attitudes toward cultural diversity, intolerance of specific groups, immigration, perceptions of Anglo-Celtic cultural privilege, and belief in racialism, racial separatism and racial hierarchy. In this paper we report findings on respondents’ views on cultural diversity, nation and migration. The majority of Australians are pro-diversity. However, we also acknowledge conflicting findings such as strong support for assimilation and identification of ‘out groups’. The findings paint a complex picture of attitudes towards cultural diversity, nation and migration in Australia. The attitudes reflect contradictory political trends of celebrated diversity, triumphalist claims about freedom, alongside pro-assimilationist views and stoked Islamophobia. This is within the context of a stalled multicultural project that has not sufficiently challenged assimilationist assumptions and Anglo-privilege

Challenging Racism Project 2015-16 National Survey Report

This project measured the extent and variation of racist attitudes and experiences in Australia. It examines Australians attitudes to cultural diversity, discomfort/intolerance of specific groups, ideology of nation, perceptions of Anglo-Celtic cultural privilege, and belief in racialism, racial separatism and racial hierarchy. The project also explored targets experiences of racism and the circumstances in which these events occur. We examined the different forms racism takes, the various spheres of life in which incidents occur, the frequency of incidents, responses to incidents (undertaken by both bystanders and targets) and the impact of those experiences on victims

Australians’ views on cultural diversity, nation and migration, 2015-16

Between July and August 2015, and in November 2016, the Challenging Racism Project team conducted an online survey to measure the extent and variation of racist attitudes and experiences in Australia. The survey comprised a sample of 6001 Australian residents, which was largely representative of the Australian population. The survey gauged Australians’ attitudes toward cultural diversity, intolerance of specific groups, immigration, perceptions of Anglo-Celtic cultural privilege, and belief in racialism, racial separatism and racial hierarchy. In this paper we report findings on respondents’ views on cultural diversity, nation and migration. The majority of Australians are pro-diversity. However, we also acknowledge conflicting findings such as strong support for assimilation and identification of ‘out groups’. The findings paint a complex picture of attitudes towards cultural diversity, nation and migration in Australia. The attitudes reflect contradictory political trends of celebrated diversity, triumphalist claims about freedom, alongside pro-assimilationist views and stoked Islamophobia. This is within the context of a stalled multicultural project that has not sufficiently challenged assimilationist assumptions and Anglo-privilege

Racial discrimination and socioemotional and sleep problems in a cross-sectional survey of Australian school students

Objective: To determine the prevalence of direct and vicarious racial discrimination experiences from peer, school and societal sources, and examine associations between these experiences and socioemotional and sleep outcomes. Methods: Data were analysed from a population representative cross-sectional study of n=4664 school students in years 5-9 (10-15 years of age) in Australia. Students reported direct experiences of racial discrimination from peers, school and societal sources; vicarious discrimination was measured according to the frequency of witnessing other students experiences of racial discrimination. Students self-reported on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, with the total difficulties, conduct, emotional and prosocial behaviour subscales examined. Sleep problems included duration, latency, and disruption. Results: 41.56% (95% CI 36.18 to 47.15) of students reported experiences of direct racial discrimination; Indigenous and ethnic minority students reported the highest levels. 70.15% (95% CI 63.83 to 75.78) of students reported vicarious racial discrimination. Direct and vicarious experiences of racial discrimination were associated with socioemotional adjustment (eg, for total difficulties, total direct racism: beta=3.77, 95% CI 3.11 to 4.44; vicarious racism: beta=2.51, 95% CI 2.00 to 3.03). Strong evidence was also found for an effect of direct and vicarious discrimination on sleep (eg, for sleep duration, total direct: beta=-21.04, 95% CI-37.67 to-4.40; vicarious: beta=-9.82, 95% CI-13.78 to-5.86). Conclusions: Experiences of direct and vicarious racial discrimination are common for students from Indigenous and ethnic minority backgrounds, and are associated with socioemotional and sleep problems in adolescence. Racism and racial discrimination are critically important to tackle as social determinants of health for children and adolescents

Evaluation of the Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR) program pilot

The Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR) project is a major research study focused on understanding and addressing experiences and attitudes to racism and racial discrimination, and bystander responses to racism and racial discrimination in Australian schools