This course would serve as an elective in the proposed new post-graduate degrees, a Master of Islam in the Modern World and a  Graduate Diploma in Islam in the Modern World. The course would have two purposes:

It would present students with an overview of Muslims in Australia and assess the relative importance of such factors as ethnicity, immigration, and legal status on their social and political roles.   

1. It would seek to relate the examination of Muslims in Australia to the study of Muslims in other minority situations in the West, such as Europe, and to place the Australian experience into the larger picture of the modern Islamic experience. To this end, it would deal with questions of multiculturalism, reinterpreting religious traditions in local contexts, and the negotiation of multiple identities.

In this course students would develop or extend their knowledge and understanding of:

• some of the key issues facing Muslims in Australia and the academic material on them
• the ways in which specific communities - Turkish and Lebanese, for example - have accommodated to Australian mores and developed community institutions of their own
• the experiences of Muslim women in a liberal society
• the variety of experiences that Muslim refugees have had in Australia
• Australian media representations of Muslims and Islamic issues
• governmental responses to Muslim claims and needs and public debates over such as issues as the hijab, integration, and religious radicalisation

 1 x 5,000 word major essay         60%

 1 x final 3 hr exam                     40%

Akbarzadeh, S. and A. Saeed (eds.), Muslim Communities in Australia.  Sydney: University of NSW Press, 2001.

Humphrey, M.  ‘Australian Islam, the New Global Terrorism and the Limits of Citizenship' in S. Akbarzadeh and S. Yasmeen (eds.), Islam and the West: Reflections from Australia, Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005, chapter 9.  

Johns, A.H. and A. Saeed.  ‘Muslims in Australia: The Building of a Community', in Y.  Haddad and J.I. Smith (eds.).  Muslim Minorities in the West: Visible and Invisible. Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press, 2002, chapter 11.  

Neighbour, Sally.  In the Shadow of Swords.  Sydney: HarperCollins Australia, 2004.