With guarded optimism? Evidence from focus groups of ‘mainstream’ Australians' perceptions of Muslims

Abstract

Studies of Australian perceptions of Muslims and Islam tend to be based on research into media representations of these themes. Additionally, most research on attitudes pertaining to social cohesion and security in the post-9/11 environment concentrates on the opinions of minority groups on these matters. The following study is drawn from materials extracted from focus group discussions relating to Islam, multiculturalism and security that took place with 119 Australians from so-called ethnic and religious majority groups (European descended, and identifying with Judaeo-Christian traditions or having no religious affiliation) in selected metropolitan and rural/regional centres of the state of Victoria in 2007–2008. This article is guided by the following research questions: How can ‘mainstream’ Australian attitudes towards Muslims be categorized? What concerns ‘mainstream’ Australians most about Muslims? Can these attitudes be considered to be Islamophobic? If not, how else may we classify these attitudes? Although some participants voiced very strong, critical and at times unflattering and potentially antagonistic opinions of Muslims, most contributors were guardedly optimistic that current tensions with and controversies surrounding Australia's Muslims would subside, and that Muslims would soon become well established within Australian society, as previous generations of migrants have since World War II.

Keywords:

• Australia
• Islam
• Muslims
• Islamophobia
• anti-Muslimism
• inter-cultural relations

Acknowledgements

The investigators gratefully acknowledge Department of Premier and Cabinet, State Government of Victoria, support for this project. However, the content and conclusions presented in this study are those of the authors and should not be considered to reflect those of the Department or any of its individual members. The project was conducted in accordance with Monash University ethics guidelines (Project No. CF07/4957–2007002126). Finally, the authors are grateful to anonymous referees and Jenny Cleeve for their helpful suggestions to improve the article, and to Virginie Andre for her guidance and patience through the editorial process.

Notes

The facilitator's comments in this study are presented in italics throughout this article.

For example, a participant in a Mildura focus group noted the controversial 2002–2004 case that was heard by the Victorian Civic Affairs Tribunal (VCAT) in which the Evangelical Christian group ‘Catch the Fire Ministry’ was accused of religiously vilifying Islam. See Higgins (2004a, 2004b) and Deen (2008) on this case.