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A study of Australian Muslim youth identity: the Melbourne case
(© 2011 Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs., 2011-06) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
Australia is the home of 340,393 Muslims and they constitute about 1.7% of the total national population of 19,855,287 million people. 1 Muslims have migrated to Australia from several Muslim countries on their own will for a better life. The Australian government also welcomed the immigrants because it needed labor for a sustainable economy. However, in times of crisis, for example, after the 9/11 incident the media and some politicians positioned the Muslims as the "Other". In December 2005 there was a riot at Sydney's Cronulla beach between some Lebanese-Australians and the mainstream Australians but the politicians and the media sided with the wider society. In September 2006, when the Egyptian-born Mufti al-Hilali presented a controversial sermon in Arabic in which he depicted scantily-dressed women as uncovered meat and blamed them for inciting men to rape, the rhetoric of "us" and "them" was final. The racial profiling of Muslims through the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 has also caused unease in the society. Against this backdrop I interviewed 14 Muslim youths of diverse backgrounds, 15-17 years in Melbourne and tried to gain an understanding of their identity. Overall, the participants appeared to be peaceful, and their bicultural skills strengthened their Australian citizenship.
Are young Muslims adopting Australian values?
(© 2008 Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)., 2008-11) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
Recently politicians in Australia have raised concerns that some Muslims are not adopting Australian values to a sufficient extent In this paper I explore the notion of Australian values with respect to immigrant youth. By analysing interviews with 32 Muslim students who are 15-18 years of age and of diverse backgrounds in two state schools in Sydney, I focus on the extent to which these young people seem to be adopting Australian values. I discuss the factors that hinder the adoption of Australian values, and whether such hindrance can lead to a possible jihadi threat This paper relies on oral testimonies and secondary sources, including international literature.
Australian migrant children: ICT use and the construction of future lives
(© 2012 Routledge, 2012) Green, Lelia; Kabir, Nahid Afrose
Migrants and diaspora communities are shaped by their use of information and communication technologies. This book explores the multifaceted role played by new media in the re-location of these groups of people, assisting them in their efforts to defeat nostalgia, construct new communities, and keep connected with their communities of origin. Furthermore, the book analyses the different ways in which migrants contribute, along with natives, in co-constructing contemporary societies – a process in which the cultures of both groups are considered. Drawing on contributions from a range of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, psychology and linguistics, it offers a more profound understanding of one of the most significant phenomena of contemporary international societies – the migration of nearly a billion people worldwide - and the relationship between technology and society.
Free speech: creating the ‘Us and Them’ debate
(© 2014 Ashgate Publishing, 2014) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
Developed countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and America take pride in their democratic institutions, personal freedoms and secular ethos. However, these conditions and their eects can become highly contested issues when it comes to the exercise of the freedom of speech. In this chapter I contend that free speech is practised in a prejudiced and distorting way by some news media when it comes to reporting on Muslim minorities. Reporting on Muslim issues by insinuating Islamophobic tendencies falsely engenders and facilitates a division of society into ‘us’ (the dominant society; or in a global sense the West) and ‘them’ (the Muslim minority; or in a wider sense the Muslim world).1 Diasporic Muslims oen seem disproportionally represented as violent, disrespectful of mainstream culture and a threat to the dominant society – a heavy criticism that is expressed by some media and media commentators under the aegis of free speech.2 Not unusually by association Islam is included in this suspicion. is subjectivised media discourse is not only ‘othering’ Muslims and their religion in the perception of the dominant Western society; it is also alienating young diasporic Muslims, who become emotionally distanced from what they perceive as a hostile dominant society. eir take on the situation, I found, largely coincides with my ndings on the media discourse. I have widely discussed the impact of some Western media’s representation of Islam and Muslims on young Muslims’ identity in several of my publications, and will give an abbreviated and condensed version here.
Language, literature, education and community: the Bengali muslim woman in the early twentieth century
(© 2014 Elsevier Ltd., 2014) Azim, Firdous; Hasan, Perween
The issue of women's empowerment has a long history. This article intends to trace the issue of women's empowerment in the area that now forms contemporary Bangladesh. In this regard, we have delved into the early part of the twentieth century to look into women's writing in numerous journals that were beginning to be published in that era. Looking into Muslim-edited journals, we look into how issues of women's education, writing and the place of women in society were being debated. In this process, we have laid special emphasis on women's writing, using the examples that we have cited as part of a new form of women's voices. What we discover about women's empowerment in this process is that it is a fraught issue, and there is no clear-cut or direct path that can be easily delineated. Early twentieth-century anti-colonial nation-making processes were indeed complex, and in the Bengal region, veered between emphasizing a Bengali as well as a Muslim identity. It is interesting to see how issues of language and the position of women coalesce to form a very exciting arena for researchers.
Mackay revisited: the case of Javanese-Australian Muslims, 1880-1999
(© 2007 Scalabrini Migration Center., 2007) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
The development of Queensland's sugar industry in the nineteenth century led to an influx of non-European laborers, such as Melanesians, Cingalese and Javanese. Years later, under the Immigration Restriction Act, 1901, many Asian people were expelled from Australia, but some Javanese remained in Mackay. This paper examines the Javanese settlement pattern during the colonial, "White Australia," and multicultural periods in terms of race, ethnicity, culture and religion. These accounts were derived largely from interviews with Australia-born second, third and fourth generation Muslims of Javanese origin in Mackay.
Morphosyntactic development of Bangla-speaking preschool children
(© 2016 SAGE Publications Ltd., 12/1/2016) Sultana, Asifa; Stokes, Stephanie F.; Klee, Thomas M.; Fletcher, Paul
This study examines the morphosyntactic development, specifically verb morphology, of typically-developing Bangla-speaking children between the ages of two and four. Three verb forms were studied: the Present Simple, the Present Progressive and the Past Progressive. The study was motivated by the observations that reliable language-specific developmental information is not available in Bangla and that properties of these verb forms render them suitable for exploring how language typology contributes to the learnability of verb morphology in emerging child language. Children's performance on these forms was assessed through form-specific language elicitation tasks and spontaneous language samples. Three stages of development of verb morphology were identified by consideration of accuracy of production and error types.
Muslim Americans: Debating the Notions of American and Un-American
(© 2016 Taylor and Francis Inc., 2016) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
With Islamophobia on the rise in the US since 9/11, Muslims remain the most misunderstood people in American society. Taking as its point of departure the question of the compatibility of Islam and democracy, this book examines Muslims’ sense of belonging in American society. Based on extensive interview data across seven states in the US, the author explores the question of what it means to be American or un-American amongst Muslims, offering insights into common views of community, culture, and wider society. Through a combination of interviewees’ responses and discourse analysis of print media, Muslim Americans also raises the question of whether media coverage of the issue might itself be considered ‘un-American’. An empirically grounded study of race and faith-based relations, this book undertakes a rigorous questioning of what it means to be American in the contemporary US. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and political science with interests in race, ethnicity, religion and national identity.
Muslims and the Australian labour market, 1980-2001
(© 2002 Frank Cass Publishers., 2002-11) Kabir, Nahid Afrose; Evans, Raymond
The unemployment of Muslims in Australia was 28 and 25 per cent compared to the national total of around nine per cent in 1986 and 1996 respectively (Australian Bureau of Statistics). This article conceptually analyses the disadvantaged position of the Muslims in the Australian labour market from 1980 to 2001 within a framework of 'structural racism'. It studies the Muslims from three perspectives: first, a comparative study of the qualifications and unemployment of the Muslim labour force in relation to the dominant population. Secondly, it examines the extent of this disadvantaged position in comparison with other ethnic minorities within an historical context. Finally, the basis of structural racism is explored to demonstrate how the Muslims have become systematically victimized. The analysis concludes that Muslims are significantly disadvantaged in Australia on the basis of their ethnicity and religion.
Muslims in a 'White Australia': colour or religion?
(© 2006 Immigrants and Minorities., 2006-07) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
Muslim migration to Australia took place over three distinct periods - the Colonial, the 'White Australia' and the Multicultural periods. This article discusses the settlement issues of Muslims during the 'White Australia' period (1901-73). It particularly focuses on five distinct ethnic groups - Indians, Afghans, Malays, Javanese and Albanians - in Queensland and Western Australia. It questions whether these groups were treated 'differently'because of their Islamic beliefs. The study draws upon both primary and secondary sources, including archival materials and oral testimonies. From the evidence presented, it is clear that a hardening attitude against Muslims has been apparent and that historical antipathies and long-lived antipathies have grown in the specific context of the current geopolitical climate.
Muslims in Australia: Immigration, Race Relations and Cultural History
(© 2004 Kegan Paul, 2004) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
In Muslims in Australia, Nahid Kabir seeks to understand the basis of mainstream Australians fear by tracing Muslim history since the Afghan settlement in 1860. In social, economic and political contexts, the author compares the Muslim experience with that of other racial and religious minorities in Australia. In the Colonial and 'White Australia' periods, she evaluates their position with that of the Aborigines, Chinese, Japanese, Irish and Germans. In the 'Multicultural' period, Muslims are compared with the Buddhists and Vietnamese people to present a comprehensive picture of Australian race relations history. She explores whether race or religion has kept these people underprivileged in the past and if these factors are still operative in a period when discrimination on the basis of race, colour, culture or religion has been officially declared unacceptable." "As stereotypes often do prevail, regardless of policy, the author investigates how events such as September 11 and Bali terrorist attacks reinforce suspicion and fear. This book gives an insight into what it means to be a Muslim in contemporary Australia, and how and why the actions of militant Islamic groups have impacted upon Muslims in general in Western society."--BOOK JACKET.
Muslims in Australia: the double edge of terrorism
(© 2007 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies., 2007-11) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
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.
Not friend, not foe: the rocky road of enfranchisement of Muslims into multicultural nationhood in Australia and New Zealand
(© 2008 Immigrants and Minorities., 2008) Kolig, Erich; Kabir, Nahid Afrose
This paper compares the images of citizenship available through multicultural policy provisions to the Muslim minority in Australia and New Zealand. Its enfranchisement is fraught with difficulties in both countries. A comparison between the two nations, however, shows some striking differences. Not only is there a considerable discrepancy between the images of citizenship and the images projected by this minority, but despite many similarities that both nations have in common, but this discrepancy also appears to be much larger in Australia. Some explanations for this difference will be offered.
The cronulla riots: Muslims’ place in the white imaginary spatiality
(© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2015-09) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
On 11 December 2005 at Sydney’s Cronulla Beach about 5000 Australians, mostly young men from Sutherland Shire, wrapped themselves in Australian flags and asserted that Cronulla Beach belonged to them through abusive language against Lebanese Australians. Subsequently, on 12 December 2005 a group of Australians of Lebanese heritage launched an attack in reprisal. The former group exhibited their “Australianness” through an urban model based on exclusion, implying they were the West so, of course, they were better than the rest. The latter fought back, exhibiting that they also represented the West. They demonstrated their territorial rights as they asserted that the beach also belonged to them. The rather aggressive posturing of both parties raises the question of whether Muslim Australians have a place in the white imaginary spatiality.
The road to a transcultural America: the case of American Muslim girls
(BRAC University, 5/3/2016) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
Fernando Ortiz acknowledged the pain of colonisation and the uprooting of slaves from Africa from the sixteenth century onwards. Later, people from diverse backgrounds such as Jews, Anglo-Saxons and Chinese migrated to the New World. Ortiz observed that initially migrants were faced with the problem of disadjustment and readjustment, of acculturation, deculturation and neoculturation – in a word, of transculturation. Ortiz’s concept of transculturation provides a useful framework for examining the cross-cultural adaptation and hybridisation that usually takes place when two or more cultures meet. Against the transcultural conceptual framework offered by Ortiz, this paper examines the life stories of three American Muslim girls of Bangladeshi heritage, and evaluates their experiences as reflecting transcultural processes. It examines how their transculturality or hybridity through the ‘contact zone’, and global and local interactions, helped them to assert their identity and sense of belonging. It recognises the tensions and the positive outcomes of their transculturation. In particular, this paper mobilises Pratt’s, Kraidy’s and Pereira-Ares’s interpretation of transculturation.
To be or not to be an Australian: focus on muslim youth
(© 2011 National Identities., 2008) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
In 2001, 67% of Australians identified themselves as Christians and only 1.5% as Muslims, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Other Australians are Jews, Buddhists and Hindus - to name just a few of the religious minorities. Since 1975 until recently when the Anti-Discrimination Act was legislated, multiculturalism has been the official policy of the Federal Government. Yet in these terror-ridden times, the policy - however interpreted - has well and truly fallen into disfavour. This article discusses both the historical and contemporary dimensions of Muslim Australians' national identity, focusing particularly on Muslim youth. It examines how one group of Australian-born Muslims exhibited their national identity during the Second World War and how the newly arrived Muslims feel about their identity during the 'War on Terror'. The article is based on both primary and secondary sources - particularly on oral testimonies.
What does it mean to be un-Australian? views of Australian Muslim students in 2006
(© 2007 People and Place., 2007) Kabir, Nahid Afrose
Recent political and media debates have focused on Australian values, Australianness and being un-Australian. The current war on terror and the Cronulla riots in December 2005 have raised the question of whether Muslim Australians are willing to adopt Australian values. This paper reports on sixty in-depth face-to-face interviews with Muslim students in Sydney and Perth. The main topic of the interviews was: what it means to be 'Australian'and 'un-Australian'. The study focuses on the students' outlook. It concludes that these youthful participants hold very positive views about Australian values, but most of them were very distressed by the Cronulla riots.