Search

Much of the critique of the 'cultural turn' erroneously assumes that politics and representation are mutually exclusive. An examination of constructions of ethnicity and citizenship in two Sydney case studies demonstrates the deeply politicized nature of representations. Case study materials are drawn from anti-mosque politics and from discourses surrounding a suburb associated with Indo-Chinese-Australians. Representations are both expressive and constitutive of citizenship. Cultural minorities are compelled to engage in representational battles. Media research and cultural studies theory indicate that audience empowerment offers strategic political promise. Suggestions for empowering cultural minorities in their representational battles, and a research agenda, are articulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The negative constructions of Islam which circulate at (inter)national levels include Muslims as fanatical, intolerant, militant, fundamentalist, misogynist and alien. The various constructions of Islam had varying utility for mosque opponents in Sydney, Australia, during the 1980s and 1990s. Fanaticism and intolerance are constructions of Islam which have now had centuries of articulation in the West. These constructions have attained great potency as a result of their reiterative deployment. In Sydney, they were used to influence planning determinations and political decisions within local authorities. The charges of militancy and misogyny did not easily convert into a planning ground for opposing a mosque, but they were used to heighten public unease and widen opposition. Local authorities also refused development consent for mosques on the grounds that the proposals were 'out of character' with surrounding development, drawing on the construction of Muslims as alien and ultimately out of place. The discourses of opposition to mosques did not simply rely on the stereotypes of Islam, but also drew heavily on cultural constructions of what constituted a local citizen and the local community. Mosque supporters attempted to deploy counter-constructions, of Muslims as moderate, tolerant, peaceful, clean living, family-orientated, ordinary local citizens. A social construction approach is used to examine the politics surrounding mosque development in Sydney. This reveals both the socio-spatial impacts of identity constructions (of a minority group and the imagined dominant community) as well as the important role of space and locale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the positive aspects of ethnic concentrations and differentiation of Indo-Chinese in Cabramatta, Sydney in New South Wales. Dynamism of unassimilated cultural difference; Australian government policies on cultural diversity; Media and academic assessments of Cabramatta.