‘I didn’t know if it was illegal for her to talk about my religion in a job interview’

Young Muslim Women’s Experiences of Religious Racism in Australia

Authors

  • Alia Imtoual Flinders University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.v19i2.189

Keywords:

women and Islam, racism

Abstract

Muslim women in Australia, as in many other majority non-Muslim countries, have experienced unprecedented levels of hostility and negativity over the last few years. These experiences have been described by the term ‘islamophobia’, a word that was coined in the mid-1990s in Britain and that has gained significant purchase in the British literature particularly. This term has not had the same level of influence in Australia, although its usage is becoming more popular despite some criticisms of its definition and application. This article discusses and develops these critiques and offers religious racism as an alternative term. It offers a critique of existing South Australian and Commonwealth anti-racism and anti-discrimination legislation and argues that, although there appears to be broad bureaucratic recognition of the existence of religious racism, the legislation does not protect Muslims in South Australia from such racism based on religious affiliation. This article also draws upon narratives told by young Muslim women in South Australia to illustrate not only the nature and pervasiveness of the racism they experience, but also the complete lack of protection for these women under existing legal frameworks.

Author Biography

  • Alia Imtoual, Flinders University
    Alia Imtoual (Flinders University) undertakes research that is broadly concerned with issues of race and whiteness, racism, religion, media cultures, and the institutionalisation of (religious) racism. Her work focuses specifically on the impact of religious racism on young Muslim women, engagement with Muslim communities in Australia and the UK, and media representations of Muslims and Islam in Australia. Her recently completed doctoral thesis (University of Adelaide) is entitled ‘ “Taking things Personally’: Young Muslim Women in South Australia Discuss Identity, Religious Racism and Media Representations’

References

Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act (1975)

Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986)

South Australia Racial Vilification Act (1996)

Victoria Racial and Religious Tolerance Act (2002)

Ahmed, S. 2004 Declarations of Whiteness: The Non-performativity of Anti-racism. Border-lands E-Journal 3.2. Online: http://www.borderlandsejournal.adelaide.edu.au.

Aveling, N. 2002 Student Teachers’ Resistance to Exploring Racism: Reflections on ‘Doing’ Border Pedagogy. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education 30.2: 119-30.

Beagan, B.L. 2003 ‘Is this worth getting into a big fuss over?’ Everyday Racism in Medical School. Medical Education 3.7: 852-60.

Berger, G. 2001 Problematising Race for Journalists: Critical Reflections on the South African Human Rights Commission Inquiry into Media Racism. Critical Arts 15.1/2: 69-96.

Bhabha, H.K. 2000 ‘Race’, Time and the Revision of Modernity. In Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader, edited by L. Back and J. Solomos, 354-68. Routledge, London and New York.

Bloul, R.A.D. 2003 Islamophobia and Anti-discrimination Laws: Ethno-religion as a Legal Category in the UK and Australia. Unpublished, 1-21 (used with author’s permission).

Brah, A. 1992 Difference, Diversity and Differentiation. In Race, Culture and Difference, edited by J. Donald and A. Rattansi, 126-45. Sage, London.

Bullock, K. 2002 Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil: Challenging Historical and Modern Stereotypes. International Institute of Islamic Thought, London.

Cunningham, W.A., J. Nezlek, B. John, and M.R. Banaji 2004 Implicit and Explicit Ethnocentrism: Revisiting the Ideologies of Prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30.10: 1332-46.

Downie, G. 2005 Free Speech no Excuse for Vilifying Faiths. Canberra Times, July 3: 27.

Ekehammar, B., N. Akrami, M. Gylje, and I. Zakrisson 2004 What Matters Most to Prejudice: Big Five Personality, Social Dominance Orientation, or Right-wing Authoritarianism? European Journal of Person-ality 18: 463-82.

England, J. 2004 Disciplining Subjectivity and Space: Representation, Film and its Material Effects. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography 36.2: 295-321.

Equal Opportunity Commission of Victoria Online: www.standuptoracism.com.au/default.asp (accessed August 14, 2005).

Franks, M. 2000, Crossing the Borders of Whiteness? White Muslim Women who Wear the Hijab in Britain Today. Ethnic and Racial Studies 23.5: 917-29.

Hage, G. 1998 White Nation: Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society. Pluto Press, Annandale, NSW.

Halliday, F. 1999 ‘Islamophobia’ Reconsidered. Ethnic and Racial Studies 22.5: 892-902.

Hugenberg, K., and G.V. Bodenhausen 2004 Ambiguity in Social Categorization: The Role of Prejudice and Facial Affect in Race Categorization. Psychological Science 15.5: 342-45.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 2004 Isma—Listen: National Consultations on Eliminating Prejudice Against Arab and Muslim Australians.

Imtoual, A. 2004 Whiteness Studies, Christianity and Religious Racism in ‘Secular Austra-lia’. In Conference Proceedings of the Placing Race and Localising White-ness Conference, edited by S. Schech and B. Wadham. Flinders University Press, Adelaide.

Religious Racism and the Media: Representations of Muslim Women in the Australian Print Media. Outskirts: Feminisms along the Edge 13. Online: http://www.chloe.uwa.edu.au/outskirts/current/volume13/imtoual.

Ito, T.A., E. Thompson, and J.T. Cacciopo 2004 Tracking the Timecourse of Social Perception: The Effects of Racial Cues on Event-related Brain Potentials. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30.10: 1267-80.

Kampmark, B. 2003a Islam, Women and Australia’s Cultural Discourse of Terror. Hecate 29.1: 86-105.

McConnochie, K., D. Hollinsworth, and J. Pettman 1988 Race and Racism in Australia. Social Sciences Press, Katoomba, NSW.

Mellor, D. 2004 The Experiences of Vietnamese in Australia: The Racist Tradition Continues. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30.4: 631-58.

Mickler, S. 1998 The Myth of Privilege: Aboriginal Status, Media Visions, Public Ideas. Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, WA.

Monson, R. 2005 Debate on Tolerance Laws must be Based on Fact, not Fear. The Age, June 24: 16.

Moore, B. 1993 The Prejudice Thesis and the De-politicization of Racism. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 14.1: 52-64.

Mubarak, F. 1996 Muslim Women and Religious Identification: Women and the Veil. In Many Religions, All Australian, edited by G. Bouma, 123-46. Christian Research Association, Kew.

NSW Anti-Discrimination Board 2003 Race for the Headlines. ADB, Sydney, NSW.

Plant, A.E. 2004 Responses to Interracial Interactions Over Time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30.11: 1458-71.

Rizvi, F. 1990 Understanding and Confronting Racism in Schools. Unicorn 16.3: 169-76.

Thinking about Racism. Cultural Equity Unit, Queensland.

Saniotis, A. 2002 Practical Methods in Reconciliation between Australian Muslims and Christians. Equity Matters 24: 4.

Shain, F. 2003 The Schooling and Identity of Asian Girls. Stoke-on-Trent UK, Trentham Books.

Spalek, B. 2002 Muslim Women’s Safety Talk and their Experiences of Victimisation: A Study Exploring Specificity and Difference. In Islam, Crime and Criminal Justice, edited by B. Spalek, 57-87. Willan, Devon, UK.

The Runnymede Trust 1997 Islamophobia: A Challenge for us All. The Runnymede Trust Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia, Sussex.

Vanman, E.J., J.L. Saltz, L.R. Nathan, and J.A. Warren 2004 Racial Discrimination by Low-prejudiced Whites: Facial Movements as Implicit Measures of Attitudes Related to Behaviour. Psychological Science15.11: 711-14.

Vertovec, S. 2002 Islamophobia and Muslim recognition in Britain. In Muslims in the West: From Sojourners to Citizens, edited by Y. Haddad, 19-35. Oxford University Press, New York.

Weller, P., A. Feldman, K. Purdam, A. Andrews, A. Doswell, J. Hinnells, M. Parker-Jenkins, S. Parmar, and M. Wolfe 2001 Religious Discrimination in England and Wales. Home Office, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate.

Zwartz, B. 2005 Making Martyrs and Mischief. The Age, June 22: 11.

Published

2006-02-25

How to Cite

Imtoual, A. (2006). ‘I didn’t know if it was illegal for her to talk about my religion in a job interview’: Young Muslim Women’s Experiences of Religious Racism in Australia. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 19(2), 189-206. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.v19i2.189