Australia

I enjoyed reading Richard Glover’s witty article in this last weekend’s Spectrum (“Playing the patriot game? That’s so un-Australian”). The term “un-Australian” has sadly become a device used by many in political debates to insinuate that those holding an opposing viewpoint are somehow unpatriotic. Glover begins his article jocularly asking: Can we ban the term [...]

In an article from the Daily Telegraph (May 26, 2008) the following positive portrayal of halal food was presented: EVERY kid knows how to get what they want – and in Sydney’s west it was only persistent badgering that brought halal food to the school tuckshop. The technique worked at Lurnea Public School, which has [...]

Dr Fethi Mansouri is Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies, School of Social and Intercultural Studies, Deakin University, Melbourne. He is also Deputy Director of the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights and founding member and convenor of the Refugee Studies Group. This comes across as an angry article, whether intended this way [...]

Dr. Michael Humphrey is Head of the School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney. In this article Humphrey observes how the "war on terror" has caused a dangerous shift in the Australian model for a multicultural society from a reconciliation perspective to a risk perspective. He believes that among the Muslim diaspora in [...]

Gary D. Bouma, Mosques and Muslim Settlement in Australia (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 1994) In this book Bouma considers the ways in which mosques have been influential in the settlement of migrant Muslims in the last 25 years. There were 57 mosques in Australia in 1994 – 20 in NSW (56). The vast majority of [...]

Nahid Kabir, Muslims in Australia. Immigration, Race Relations and Cultural History (Studies in Anthropology, Economy and Society; London/New York/Bahrain: Kegan Paul, 2005) Kabir’s book explores the settlement of Muslims in Australia as a religious group. Looking at the convict, colonial, “White Australia” and multicultural periods, she asks, “Did the Muslims encounter any discrimination due to [...]

Prior to Federation on January 1, 1901 all six colonies were already committed to restricting non-European immigration. By 1901 the population of Australia was made up of 2.9 million Australian born, 860,000 overseas born and 67,000 indigenous people. The overseas born was comprised of 76,000 from Europe and predominately Britain, 26,000 from New Zealand and [...]

Sowell defines racism as: The theory or idea that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and certain traits of personality, intellect, or culture and, combined with it, the notion that some races are inherently superior to others…  The most straightforward meaning of racism is a belief in the innate inferiority of some [...]

Traditionally, many have described Australian cultural identity in a way that stresses and often even encourages self-reliance. Russell Ward speaks of the myth of the “typical Australian”: a practical man, rough and ready in his manners and quick to decry any appearance of affectation in others. He is a great improviser, ever willing to ‘have [...]