I argued earlier in this thesis that a range of factors contributed to young Australian-Lebanese-Muslims developing a sense of belonging to the wider Australian community. Some of the factors that contributed to this feeling of belonging included when they felt they were being both listened to and valued for what they had to say.
It could also involve being given opportunities to negotiate the terms of belonging; being allowed and enabled to achieve what they wanted; being empowered to make a contribution to the social, economic and cultural life of the wider community, or simply having access to a space in which to have an open dialogue. They told me that they certainly felt a sense of belonging when others in the community ‘shared a way of life with them’. Sometimes it was all about having an experience that suggested they had ‘moral worth’
that was acknowledged in the wider community.
Some of the young people I interviewed dealt with often challenging and hostile interactions by moving to engage people who were vilifying or Othering them, with strategies designed to develop mutual understanding and respect. Sometimes this included one-on-one actions aimed directly at aggressors. On other occasions it involved a process of community engagement focusing on projects that encouraged inter-cultural understanding, that helped to break down stereotypes of Muslims, or that were intended to facilitate mutual understanding and inter-action.
One example of how young Australian-Lebanese-Muslims tried to engage with other Australians at a one-on-one level, and in doing so tackle racism indirectly, was provided by Ramsaya:
I’ve had more questions now in my job. I’ve had one Anglo-Saxon woman who has just never met a Muslim before, a physically visible Muslim, in her life and she has just bombarded me with questions … and I just thought, oh my God! Because I’m still learning up to now about my religion, I cannot say that I’m a hundred per cent know about everything, in my religion because I haven’t read that much.
But she bombarded me with these questions and that’s when it really
hit me that “oh my God! I don’t know anything and I need to start learning more”.
She really didn’t think much [about Muslims or Islam] until the media has come out with the …. Yeah, no, together we have [been learning more about Islam] …. I’ve been learning more and she’d ask me questions so I have been telling her more and more. I’ve been giving her books to read and stuff. So she… understands more about my religion and she’s also opened up and thought, “okay, so this religion exists and it’s not what, this religion is not what the media says it is”.
So it’s good. And one of the books she loved was Does My Head Look Big in This? She just loved that. Which I think is a good illustration of what a lot of Lebanese-Muslims or Arab-Muslim girls go through, we do fall in love, we do have …. I would love to go climbing and do not stick out like a freak. Yeah, I really would just like to just
…. It’s just everything in that book is exactly what ….
I have shown in this chapter that one way that the young people I spoke with developed a sense of belonging was by undertaking to engage with other Australians. As Mia’s story illustrates, actively participating in projects such as Youth Parliament, where there was an opportunity to engage in dialogue with other Australians and have one’s ‘moral worth’ recognised, was a very important way that young Australian-Lebanese-Muslims could begin to feel valued and to develop a sense of belonging:
Being able to participate in things [such as] the Youth Parliament I felt a sense of belonging because I was able to voice my opinions and because everyone else was the same [as in we were all in it to make a positive difference] … I remember [Youth Parliament] was pretty much one of the main things that boosted my confidence and made me the person I am now because everyone was just so encouraging and we were in it together, you know, and they were so understanding and I just felt like I belonged, you know, and yeah, like I really did.
[I felt a sense of belonging because] I was heard and I didn’t have to pretend to be someone else… I was just free to be myself and not have to worry about, oh [what if I act like or make a mistake, will they think all Muslims are like this]. You know, they were so supportive and I felt like, wow, people actually accept me for who I am and it just felt so good. I belong. Finally.
Being ‘in it together’ is one of the notable phrases articulated by Mia.
It captures the point that through wider community participation by working together towards a common goal those involved in the activity can share a sense of ‘being the same’, and in that way carve out a sense of belonging. It is a bit like the ‘way of life’ notion of belonging, only not so exclusive, because sharing the same goal still
allows for diversity (i.e. different beliefs and ways of living). There is a unifying point (i.e. the idea of ‘being in it together’) but in working towards a common goal there is more interest in hearing different voices and accepting all those in the group for who they are and embracing what they each bring to the table.
Conclusion
I have argued that there are three key ways that the young people I interviewed dealt with the often challenging and hostile interactions that emerged following events such as the 9/11 attacks and the
‘Sydney gang rapes’. The three key ways identified I called
‘avoidance’, ‘fighting back’, and ‘constructive engagement’.
Actions that fitted the category of ‘avoidance’ included strategies such as avoiding places where they were more likely to encounter challenging and hostile interactions, and limiting interactions with those perceived as very different, ignoring racist comments and walking away from aggressors. It also included strategies aimed at minimising the impact of racism, for instance by using humour to make take the sting out of racism, and interpreting what could be counted as racism as something else.
The second key way they dealt with racism was through actions that can be understood as ‘fighting back’, which is essentially verbally fighting back or physically fighting back but can also include other actions of resistance.
The third key way that the young people dealt with racism was by what can be understood as ‘constructive engagement’. This included actions at a more immediate one-on-one level of interaction with other Australians, or broader community-level involvement. These actions are typified as ‘constructive engagement’ when the interaction is anti-racist in nature, and incorporates goals such as
developing mutual understanding and respect across difference and tackling misunderstanding. I proposed that interviewees who were more involved in actions that can be perceived as ‘constructive engagement’ tended to report a greater sense of belonging to the wider community. At least more so than interviewees who more often adopted actions that can be classified as ‘sticking together’ or
‘fighting back’ in an effort to deal with their experiences of racism.
More research however, is required to explore the relationship between wider community belonging and participating in activities that might constitute as constructive engagement. Further research is needed looking into other factors that might contribute to a sense of wider community belonging. That is, factors like having more positive interactions with members of the wider community than negative interactions (as has been suggested to be the case in my study).
In the next chapter, I examine how some other young people of Arabic-speaking backgrounds dealt with racism, using the digital technology ‘YouTube,’ to create new public spaces, which they were able to use to invoke a sense of collective place and belonging.