Oishee Alam - Facing Race: White Australian Converts to Islam

Facing Race

MUP ISLAMIC STUDIES SERIES

The Islamic Studies Series (ISS) is aimed at producing internationally competitive research manuscripts. This series will showcase the breadth of scholarship on Islam and Muslim affairs, making it available to a wide readership. Books in the ISS are based on original research and represent a number of disciplines including anthropology, cultural studies, sociology and political science. Books in the ISS are refereed publications that are committed to research excellence. Submissions on contemporary issues are strongly encouraged. Proposals should be sent to the ISS Editor.

Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh

ISS Editor

Board of Advisors

Associate Professor Syed Farid Alatas

Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore

Professor Howard V. Brasted

Director, UNE Asia Pacific Centre

Emeritus Professor Robert E. Elson

School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, University of Queensland

Professor John Esposito

Director, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian

Understanding, University Professor of Religion and International Affairs, Georgetown University

Emeritus Professor Riaz Hassan AM, FASSA

ARC Australian Professorial Fellow, Department of Sociology, Flinders University

Professor Robert Hefner

Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Boston University

Professor Michael Humphrey

Chair, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney

Professor William Maley AM

Director, Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, Australian National University

Professor James Piscatori

Head, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University

Professor Abdullah Saeed

Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies, Director, National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, University of Melbourne

Professor Amin Saikal AM

Director, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (The Middle East and Central Asia), Australian National University

Professor Samina Yasmeen

Director, Centre for Muslim States and Societies, School of Social and Cultural Studies, University of Western Australia

White Australian Converts to Islam

Oishee Alam

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING

An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Limited

Level 1, 715 Swanston St, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia

www.mup.com.au

First published 2018

Text Oishee Alam 2018

Design and typography Melbourne University Publishing Limited, 2018

This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers.

Every attempt has been made to locate the copyright holders for material quoted in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked or misattributed may contact the publisher.

Text design by Phil Campbell

Cover design by Phil Campbell

Typeset by J&M Typesetting

Printed in Australia by OPUS Group

9780522874921 (paperback)

9780522874914 (hardback)

9780522874938 (ebook)

To Owaisi, without whom this book
would have been written sooner,
but with far less joy.

I wish to acknowledge and pay my respects to the Gweagal, Bidjigal and Dharug people of the Dharawal nation and the Muru-ora-dial people of the Eora nation. They are the owners of the lands on which this book was written; land that was never ceded.

This project could not have been completed without the contributions of each and every one of the thirty-six participants who took part in this project. I am sincerely grateful for their honest and open insights. I thank them for generously sharing their time, reflections and stories with me.

I am greatly indebted to my academic supervisors, Professor Kevin Dunn and Associate Professor Alana Lentin, for their constant support, guidance and reassurance throughout this process. Professor Dunn has mentored me in virtually all aspects of my academic and professional development from the very beginning of this project, and his extensive knowledge and experience has been critical throughout the process. I appreciate Professor Dunns unique ability to provide sage academic advice while also giving me the space to forge my own path as a researcher, writer and thinker.

Associate Professor Lentin has been an invaluable mentor and critic. Her sharp insights, illuminating feedback and faith in my research abilities challenged and empowered me to push the boundaries of my research. I am especially thankful for her guidance regarding the conceptual elements of this book, as her critical advice has allowed me to greatly extend and deepen my analysis.

Special mention must be made of Dr Christina Ho, who supervised me in the initial stages of this study and whose belief in me motivated me to see it through into a doctoral project. I must also express my deep thanks to the examiners of my doctoral thesis, Professor Valrie Amiraux and Associate Professor Farida Fozdar, for their encouragement, kind words and invaluable feedback.

I am grateful to the members of the Challenging Racism Project, past and present, who have provided me with a safe place to test my ideas over the years, and who in the process have become some of my closest friends.

Finally, I am grateful to all the other friends and family who have come on this journey with me. To my parents, Ammu and Abbu: thank you for your ongoing support, love, unwavering faith, constant patience and home cooking. Thank you for all the times you looked after Owaisi so I could focus on writing. Thank you for reminding me to take care of my emotional and physical wellbeing when I forgot. To my brother Rafi and sister-in-law Lal: thank you for the laughs, rants, commiserations and fried chicken. To my parents-in-law Rae and Bruce: thank you for all of your guidance, academic and otherwise, and for welcoming me with love and open arms whenever I needed a place to retreat to think. To my husband Will: thank you for being my inspiration, my sounding-board, my motivator, my guide, my commiserator, my co-conspirator, my editor and, most importantly, my best friend.