The Muslim Question Conference

The place of Islam in western societies amid the rise in Islamophobia and nationalism will be discussed at a conference co-hosted by the Institute for Culture and Society, and the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University.

The conference, The Muslim Question- Citizenship and Racism in Australia, will be held at Deakin University in Melbourne on December 14-15.

Since September 11, and with the more recent emergence of ISIS, a "clash of civilisations" narrative has consistently framed the place of Islam in western societies.

This has prompted public anxieties and government responses which seek to contain and counter 'extreme' expressions of Islamic faith and practice.

In turn these have fuelled moral panics which have activated equally 'extreme' civil society expressions of Islamophobia, nationalism and racism directed at Muslim communities.

ICS's Professor Greg Noble, who has written extensively on cultural diversity and everyday multiculturalism, will present a paper at the conference entitled, 'Cronulla Riots - 10 Years On - Where the Bloody Hell Are We Now?'. In this paper, Professor Noble will discuss whether the Cronulla riots have been superseded by Islamic terrorism as the key symbolic definer of intercultural relations in Australia.

Also joining the conference to examine the role of religion, citizenship and racism in Australia are Western Sydney University academics:

• Professor Kevin Dunn and Ms Rosalie Atie: Australian Muslim Attitudes to Diversity
• Professor Adam Possamai: Plurality and Shari’a in the Everyday Life of Muslims in Sydney
• Ms Rhonda Itaoui: A ‘Mediated’ Geography of Islamophobia: Impacts on the Mobility of Young Muslims in Sydney
• Ms Husnia Underabi: Countering Myths: The NSW and Sydney Mosque Report

Posted: 4 December 2015.

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