Indigenous Australians and Islam: Spiritual, Cultural, and Political Alliances
Indigenous Australians and Islam: Spiritual, Cultural, and Political Alliances David Edward Lawson BSocSc (Hons) BScSc A thesis submitted in the School of Social Work and Human Services, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. December 2010 Indigenous Australians and Islam ii Acknowledgements Whatever insights that emerge from this study, are owed to the many Indigenous, Muslim, and Indigenous/Muslim participants and associates who generously gave of their time and experiences. Special thanks and appreciation to Shahid Malik, Adam Bowden, and Beylal Racheha. To my supervisors Dr. Hossein Adibi and Professor Carl Trocki go my sincere appreciation for their valued guidance, wisdom, and patience. I am grateful to my fellow colleagues in the now defunct School of Humanities and Human Services, Carseldine Campus, for their invaluable support, encouragement, and collegial integrity. Finally my appreciation and thanks to Dr Kerryann Cook who demonstrated by example and attitude what it takes to produce a successful Ph.D. iv Abstract Keywords : Indigenous Australians; Islam in Australia; Muslims; Religious conversion; discrimination; resistance politics; empowerment. This thesis examines why and how Indigenous Australians convert to Islam in the New South Wales suburbs of Redfern and Lakemba. It is argued that conventional religious conversion theories inadequately account for religious change in the circumstances outlined in this study. The aim of the thesis is to apply a sociological-historical methodology to document and analyse both Indigenous and Islamic pathways eventuating in Indigenous Islamic alliances. All of the Indigenous men interviewed for this research have had contact with Islam either while incarcerated or involved with the criminal justice system .
[Show full text]