Rachel Woodlock

University of Melbourne | MSD · Asia Institute

Despite the reported benefits of religion for individuals, adhering to Islam can be a cause of stigma for Muslims living in Europe, North America and Australasia. This article discusses the tensions that occur where Muslims would normally turn to religion for support in both resettling and developing an indigenous Muslim identity in the next genera...

Islamophobia operates to downplay or even deny the reality of Muslim diversity. It rejects the ability of Muslims to be both genuinely religious and genuinely peaceable citizens of non-Muslim Western societies. Muslims are seen as being difficult to integrate into Western societies such as Australia society because of their religion. There has been...

This book deals with a controversial phenomenon that has become known as ‘Islamophobia’. Antipathy towards Islam, long-standing from many quarters (Bravo López 2014, 2011; Gottschalk and Greenberg 2013; Curtis 2013; Kumar 2012; Mastnak 2010; Tolan 2002; Daniel 1960), not only seems to be increasing but evolving into a phantasmagorical spectre (Werb...

This book takes a sober, evidenced-based look at the contemporary phenomenon of Islamophobia in both ‘old-world’ Europe, and the ‘new-world’ of America and Australia, and Southeast Asia. It includes theoretical and conceptual discussions about what Islamophobia is, how it manifests, and how it can be addressed, together with historical analysis, ap...

This thesis is an analysis of the experiences and social attitudes of 572 Muslims living in Victoria and New South Wales, in the context of questions about the success of Muslim settlement in Australia. It focuses on the differences—e.g. migrant versus Australian-born; residency in Victoria versus NSW; employed versus unemployed; age; sex; and appr...

Islamic religiosity appears threatening to vocal critics amongst Western politicians, journalists and social commentators, but this raises the question: how do religious Australian Muslims—and it must be stated that not all Muslims are religious—go about practising Islam in their everyday lives? Do Australian Muslims who claim that religion is impo...

When writing about Islamic sectarian diversity, the vast majority of authors pay attention only to Sunni and Shi‘i Islam. Yet there exists a third group drawn from the earliest conflicts that rent the Muslim ummah apart: the Ibadis. If they are mentioned at all, it is usually little more than a footnote remarking that this group is the remnant of t...

Islamic religiosity appears threatening to vocal critics amongst Western politicians, journalists and social commentators, but this raises the question: how do religious Australian Muslims—and it must be stated that not all Muslims are religious—go about practising Islam in their everyday lives? Do Australian Muslims who claim that religion is impo...

Four Australian thinkers come together to ask and answer the big questions, such as: What is the nature of the universe? Doesn't religion cause most of the conflict in the world? and Where do we find hope? We are introduced to the detail of different belief systems - Judaism, Christianity, Islam - and to the argument that atheism, like organised...

Australia is a religiously and culturally diverse society with an ancient indigenous “Dreaming” spirituality. European settlement brought a wide variety of Christian churches, and large-scale migration of peoples from diverse non-Christian backgrounds. Islam’s introduction to Australia predates European colonization, through waves of contact and se...

In Islam and Liberal Citizenship: The Search for an Overlapping Consensus, Andrew March asks if Muslims can draw on Islamic doctrinal resources to support living as a minority in secular liberal democracies? His answer is a thoroughly researched and argued “Yes.” This work of political philosophy provides a cogent rebuttal to the Islamophobic narra...

This special issue of the La Trobe Journal makes an important contribution to the understanding of the Muslim experience in Australia, both past and present. The edition was published to coincide with the major exhibition, Love and devotion: from Persia and beyond, held at the Library in 2012. It includes an introduction to Islamic belief and prac...

This article examines the subjective personal and national wellbeing of a purpose-selected sample of Muslims (n = 509 for PW and n = 544 for NW) living in New South Wales and Victoria over 2007 and 2008, using the Personal Wellbeing (PWI) and National Wellbeing (NWI) indices from the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index (AUWI) survey. The PWI looks at...

The topic of Muslim integration in Western societies such as Australia has generated much interest and comment. Despite factors that might promote Muslim inclusion in Australia, there has been an unofficial policy swing back to promoting monoculturalism, which threatens to establish a two-tier Australian national identity. This article criticizes t...

This paper analyses the data from a sample of women converts to Islam residing in Melbourne, Australia, and the difficulty they face in accessing mosques. Although conversion requires structure and support through the performance of religious rituals, Muslim women converts are hindered in their ability to freely access and enjoy mosques. This is de...

Muslims in Australia, as in other English-speaking and European nations, live as a religious minority where community infrastructure is still being built, thus intensifying the role of the local mosque as the centre of Muslim religious and community life. Despite evidence that the spatial sunna of the Prophet gave women full access to the masjid, m...

Ibn Sīnā (d.1037), adapting the Aristotelian emanationist framework to Islamic theology, argued that God possesses knowledge of corporeal particulars in a universal fashion. This has been understood either that God’s causal knowledge of creation is not impacted by temporal change (because this would constitute change in his being, and God is unchan...

The nature of the settlement and integration of Muslims in Australia has been of interest to government, media and the general population for a number of years, and yet comparatively little evidence-based research has been conducted on the hopes, aspirations, concerns and worries of Muslim Australians themselves. This report is a first step in addr...

The topic of Muslim integration in Amero-Eurocentric societies such as Australia has generated much interest and comment. Despite factors that might promote Muslim inclusion in Australia, there has been an unofficial policy swing back to promoting monoculturalism, which threatens to establish a two-tier Australian national identity. This article cr...

This paper examines the subjective personal and national wellbeing of a purpose- selected sample of Muslims (n=509 for PW and n=544 for NW) living in New South Wales and Victoria over 2007 and 2008, using the Personal Wellbeing and National Wellbeing indices from the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index survey. The PWI looks at satisfaction with life a...

The purpose of the present paper is to ask how Muslims in Australia perceive the existence of extremism in their ranks. Whilst there exists a body of research on the phenomenon of extremism amongst Muslims, a gap has emerged in our understanding of how Muslims themselves perceive extremism in their communities. The present research is based on data...

Cobram is a multicultural rural town in Victoria, and is the site of recent settlement by a sizeable number of Iraqi Muslim immigrants. The town has become well-known for its efforts to promote social inclusion and multiculturalism, however a number of factors impeding successful settlement also exist. These include the geographical remoteness of C...

This paper looks at a sample of women converts to Islam residing in Melbourne, Australia, and their passive boycott of mosques resulting from gender discrimination and ethnic prejudice. Although religious conversion requires structure and support through the performance of religious rituals, including at the community level, Muslim women converts a...

This project explores issues, challenges and successes surrounding the settlement and social integration of Muslim settlers in Cobram, Moira Shire in Victoria. It looks at relationships between Muslims and non-Muslims particularly in regard to services, programs and resources that have been offered to assist settlement and promote social cohesion.