Muslim Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Western Sydney: Understanding the Role of Community-Specific Communication Infrastructure

ABSTRACT

In Australia, the COVID-19 pandemic rendered visible and exacerbated socio-economic inequalities and divides. Migrant and religious minority communities in Australia faced particular challenges during the pandemic when government responses were not made culturally accessible, appropriate or relatable. This paper examines the role played by community-specific communication infrastructures in addressing government deficiencies to meet the needs of Muslim communities. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with Muslims in an area hit hard by the pandemic – Western Sydney – we consider the role communication infrastructures played in combatting misinformation, providing up-to-date information and creating spaces for locally and culturally informed responses to be developed. We propose that community-specific communication infrastructures were critical to Muslims seeking to address gaps, needs and inequalities during the pandemic and they were effective because they were designed with an understanding of Muslim communities’ social and cultural norms, practices, experiences and needs. The research offers insights relevant to migrant and religious communities, not-for-profits, and government agencies seeking to develop effective strategies to respond to challenges and crises as they emerge.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication infrastructure
• misinformation
• digital inclusion
• COVID-19
• Muslims
• Western Sydney

Acknowledgements

This paper was supported by a grant provided by the Australian Research Council for the project, Advancing digital inclusion in low income Australian families (LP190100677). We would like to thank our colleagues, Distinguished Professor Ien Ang and Dr Phillip Mar, for providing feedback on our use of the term infrastructure. We would also like to acknowledge that our understanding of the concepts of social and cultural infrastructure were greatly enhanced by a literature review carried out by Dr Phillip Mar, Zelmarie Cantillon and Deborah Stevenson for the Cultural Infrastructure group at the Institute for Culture and Society.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics Declarations

This study has been approved by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The Approval number is 2000000908.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Research Council: [grant no ARC Linkage LP190100677].

Notes on contributors

Jasbeer Musthafa Mamalipurath

Dr Jasbeer Musthafa Mamalipurath is a researcher at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS), Western Sydney. His research sits at the intersection of digital media, misinformation, social exclusion, and race/ethnicity. His current works explore the critical role of digital media on mis/disinformation and the complex relationship between digital and social inclusion. Jasbeer comes with over a decade of professional experience in media and communication and has significant experience in developing research impact strategies and conducting engaged research.

Tanya Notley

Tanya Notley is Associate Professor at Western Sydney University, where she is a member of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS). She has 20 years of experience working in the areas of digital inclusion, human rights media, media literacy, and media justice in partnership with NGOs, government agencies, public institutions, and the United Nations. Tanya is the Deputy Chair of the Australian Media Literacy Alliance (AMLA), and she co-leads the Platform for Civic Media Literacy at the Institute for Culture and Society.