Islam
A New Religious Vehicle for Aboriginal Self-Empowerment in Australia?
Keywords:
Religious Studies, Sociology, Australian Aboriginies, Aboriginal Muslims, Islam, ConversionAbstract
The assumption that Islam is a new religious identity among Aboriginal Australians is questioned. The historical evidence demonstrates a well-established connection between Islam and Aboriginal communities through the early migration of Muslims to colonial Australia. This historical framework allows us to criticise the negative construction of the Aboriginal Muslim in the media through the use of statistical information gathered in three Australian censuses (1996, 2001 and 2006). Our conclusion is that the Aboriginal Muslim needs to be understood both in terms of the historical context of colonial Australia and the Aboriginal experience of social and political marginalisation. Their conversion to Islam represents some degree of cultural continuity rather than rupture. Finally the article demonstrates that the sociological and psychological understanding of conversion is underdeveloped and inadequate.
References
Ahmed, Akbar S. 2003 Islam under Siege. Cambridge: Polity.
Beckford, James. 1975 The Trumpet of Prophecy. A Sociological Study of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Oxford: Blackwell.
Briscoe, G. 2005 “Book Reviews.” Aboriginal History 29: 169–171.
Bouma, G. 2006 Australian Soul. Religion and Spirituality in the Twenty-first Century. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Bowden, A. 2006 “Proposal for the Redfern Aboriginal Dahwah Project.” Online URL http://www.qldmuslims.org.au/modules/news/article.php?storyid=40.
Crittenden, S. 2006 “Aboriginal Da’wah – Call to Islam.” The Religion Report. ABC Radio National. Online URL http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/ stories/s1597410.htm.
Davies, Douglas. 2002 Anthropology and Theology. New York: Berg.
Dawson, Lorne L. ed. 2003 Cults and New Religious Movements. A Reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
Dunn, Kevin H.M. 2004 “Constructing Racism in Australia.” Australian Journal of Social Issues 39(4): 409–430.
Foley, Gary. 2001 “Black Power in Redfern 1968–1972.” Online URL http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/essays/essays_page.html.
Goodall, Heather. 1996 Invasion to Embassy: Land in Aboriginal Politics in New South Wales, 1770–1972. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
HREOC. 2004 Ismae - Listen: National consultations on eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australians. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Online URL http://www.hreoc.ov.au/racial_ discrimation/isma/index.html.
Inaba, Keishin and Kate Loewenthal. 2010 “Religion and altruism.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by Peter B. Clarke, 876–889. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jospen, D. 2003 “Aboriginal Muslims find strength in Islam.” Sydney Morning Herald. Online URL http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/26/1046064104803. html.
Kerbaj, R. 2006 “Radicals brainwashing aborigines in prison.” The Australian. Online URL http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/news/2006/august/aust17aug06.html.
Larkson, W. 2007 “Islamic crusade to convert Kooris.” Onlone URL http://www.islammoni- tor.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=154&catid=203&Itemid=59.
Lawson, Dave. 2004 “Australian Islam and the Formation of Cross-cultural Alliances.” Paper presented to the Social Change in the 21st Century Conference. 29 October. University of Queensland: Centre for Social Change Research.
Marks, K. 2003 “Militant aborigines embrace Islam to seek empowerment.” The Independent. Online URL http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/ militant-aborigines-embrace-islam-to-seek-empowerment-599006.html.
Martin, David. 1990 Tongues of Fire. The Explosion of Pentecostalism in Latin America. Oxford: Blackwell.
McIntosh, Ian S. 1996 “Islam and Australia’s Aborigines? A perspective from north- east Arnhem Land.” Journal of Religious History, 20(1), 53–77. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9809.1996.tb00692.x
Mercer, P. 2003 “Aborigines turn to Islam.” BBC News. Online URL http://news.bbc. co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2902315.stm.
Morris, L. 2007 “A new faith for Kooris.” Sydney Morning Herald. Online URL http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/a-new-faith-for-kooris/2007/05/03/1177788310619.html.
Murray, K. 1999 “Call me non-indigenous?” The Age. News Extra. 31 July.
Possamai, A. 2008 “Australia’s ‘Shy’ De-secularization Process.” In Religion, Spirituality and Social Science, edited by a. Imtoual and B. Spaler, 23–36. Bristol: Policy Press, .
Sociology of Religion for Generations X and Y. London: Equinox.
Rowley, C.D. 1972 [1970]) Outcasts in White Australia. Sydney: Penguin Books.
Shaw, M. 2006 “Dodson attacks ‘virulent policies’.” The Age. Online URL http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/dodson-attacks-virulent-policies/2006/12/03/1165080818734.html.
Stanner, W.E.H. 1974 [1969]) The 1968 Boyer Lectures: After the Dreaming. Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission.
Stephenson, Peta. 2008 “Reaffirming aboriginality through Allah: Indigenous Muslims in Australia.” Online URL http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/58316/Stephenson.pdf.
“Aboriginal Muslims: The Practice and Politics of Hybrid Identities in a Globalising World.” In Who’s Australia?—Whose Australia?: Contemporary Politics, Society and Culture in Australia, edited by Russell West-Pavlov, 83–98. Trier: WVT.
“Islam in Indigenous Australia: Historic Relic or Contemporary Reality?” Politics and Culture issue 4. Online URL http://aspen.conncoll.edu/politicsandculture/arts.cfm?id=55.
Stevens, Christine. 2003 1989]) Tin Mosques and Ghan Towns: A History of Afghan Camel Drivers in Australia. Alice Springs, NT: Paul Fitzsimons.
Taylor, Philip. 2007 “Modernity and re-enchantment in Post-revolutionary Vietnam.” In Modernity and Re-enchantment in Post-revolutionary Vietnam, edited by Philip Taylor, 1–56. Singapore: ISEAS.
Van der Veer, Peter ed. 1996 Conversion to Modernities. The Globalization of Christianity. London: Routledge.
Yolngu–Macassar meeting. 2005 Online URL http://www.cdu.edu.au/garma-report/outcomes/symposium/ day2.html.
