Deakin home > Deakin University Library > Deakin Research Online > Veiled threats : recurrent cultural anxieties in Australia
Openly accessible

Veiled threats : recurrent cultural anxieties in Australia

Aly, Anne and Walker, David 2007, Veiled threats : recurrent cultural anxieties in Australia, Journal of Muslim minority affairs, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 203-214.

Attached Files (Some files may be inaccessible until you login with your Deakin Research Online credentials)
Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads
walker-vieledthreats-2007.pdf Published version application/pdf 113.40KB 122

Title Veiled threats : recurrent cultural anxieties in Australia
Author(s) Aly, Anne
Walker, David
Journal name Journal of Muslim minority affairs
Volume number 27
Issue number 2
Start page 203
End page 214
Publisher Routledge
Place of publication London, England
Publication date 2007-08
ISSN 1360-2004
1469-9591
Summary At the end of the nineteenth century, white Australians found themselves in a turbulent and rapidly changing world. As British settlers in a vast, often-perplexing and under-populated continent, they were increasingly aware that they lived in a crowded and predominantly Asian neighbourhood. Their supposedly empty spaces seemed to invite the unwanted attention of hostile outsiders, fertile soil for speculation about vulnerable borders, invasion and violation. It was commonplace of the period for white females to be considered at once particularly vulnerable and also innocent symbols of the new nation. They needed to be protected against Asian males allegedly bent on conquest and violation. It does not follow that these “invasion narratives”, however persistent, meant that the entire population was disabled by fear and dread, but there is convincing evidence of a deeply embedded cultural anxiety about the destructive possibilities and hostile intentions of Asian outsiders. In this article, the authors examine recent representations of Muslims as hostile outsiders in Australia, focusing in particular on the veil as a marker of female oppression under Islam and a sign of the threat attributed to the Islamic community in Australia. While it would be misleading to propose a simple line of progression from late nineteenth century apprehensions to those a century or more later, there are nonetheless intriguing parallels and recurrent expressions of survivalist anxiety across the period examined in this article.
Language eng
Field of Research 210399 Historical Studies not elsewhere classified
HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
ERA Research output type C Journal article
Copyright notice ©2007, Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30007884

Document type: Journal Article
Collections: School of History, Heritage and Society
Open Access Collection
Connect to link resolver
 
Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in Deakin Research Online is owned by the author, with all rights reserved.

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au.

Versions
Version Filter Type
Access Statistics: 446 Abstract Views, 122 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics
Created: Mon, 29 Sep 2008, 08:57:11 EST