The politics of belonging in Australia : multiculturalism, citizenship and Islamophobia

Abstract

In the decade since the events of 9/11, Muslims and Islam came to act as symbols for the putative correlation between immigration and the erosion of social cohesion in a number of Western countries, including Australia. Increasingly, immigrant integration was believed to be key to the maintenance of social cohesion and individual immigrant integration was seen as the main factor in successful integration. The Howard Government distanced itself from multicultural policies by rejecting group identities for 'ethnic' minorities, while, conversely, strengthening group identity in terms of nationalism and citizenship. Following other Western societies, the integration of Muslims in Australia became characterised as a security imperative and the responsibilities of Muslim citizens increasingly became embedded within the discourse of terrorism, where Muslim citizens are simultaneously suspected as potential terrorists and encouraged to act as community watchdogs. Politicians also came to see terrorism as something harboured within Islamic communities in Australia and Muslim lack of belonging came to be viewed as having 'cultural' and 'religious' underpinnings. As a result of the securitisation of Islam and the view that Islam and Muslims are problematic, all Muslims were characterised as potential terrorists and negative ideas and actions toward Muslims, what some have called 'Islamophobia', were normalised and justified. There has, however, been remarkably little systematic attempt to examine any continuity between broader understandings of the official definitions of belonging and how and why Muslims are viewed as incapable of belonging. This research demonstrates the links between ideas about the 'Other' and their place in Australian society and how these ideas give meaning to the ways Muslims and Islam are thought not to belong. The focus on Muslim Australians as refusing integration and challenging Australia's national identity is contextualised within the wider framework of Australian national identity, immigration policies (entry, settlement and citizenship) and the wider prevalence of 'Islamophobia' in Australia. This dissertation explicitly politicises the concept of belonging in order to demonstrate the social and political barriers to belonging for Muslim Australians. This dissertation uses Allen's (2010) concept of 'Islamophobia as ideology' to empirically examine discourses about Islam and Muslims in the House of Representatives (2000-2006). The findings indicate that deeply-entrenched views about who belongs (and who does not), and how they belong in Australia, informed parliamentary discourse on Muslims and Islam. Islamophobia in the Australian House of Representatives demonstrates the ways in which discourses about the 'Other' are systematically used to strengthen negative meaning about Islam and Muslims and to consistently present them as anathema to everything 'Australian'.