Multiculturalism n.
The preservation of different cultures and
cultural identities within a unified society.
Australia has an antagonistic perception of Islam.
Is the segregation of Islamic schools amplifying the prejudice?
Amy McNeilage’s (2013) article “Islamic student numbers
soar” reports on the “Islamic schools are the fastest growing school sector in
the state.” The number of Muslim students attending these exclusively Islamic
schools has skyrocketed. However Tom Allard’s (2007) SMH article “Under Siege: Muslims
blame the media” outlines the alienation of the Islamic community due to their
portrayal by the media; “Muslims in Sydney feel they are under constant
attack.”
The issue I take is the strategy to segregate and
isolate Muslim students from the wider community. Animosity increases when it
festers. Isolationism segregates and divides Muslim students from the ‘micropublic’
– where Muslim students would be enabled to teach their fellow non-Muslim peers
about their culture, religion and way of life. Ho (2011) argues micropublics
are places of cultural permeation, “where people from diverse backgrounds are
forced to negotiate with each other and are sometimes enabled to transcend
cultural boundaries” (p. 604).
When will the exclusivity and the fracturing of
schools end? Will the Shia and Sunni Islam traditions establish their own
schools? Would that fracture further perpetuate difference? Prejudice is
essentially based on ignorance. Restricted religious schools creates a schism
of communication, dividing society - that can be brought together in unity and
harmony - further apart.
The same logic can be applied to all religious
schools. The Jewish community within Australia has a history of establishing
exclusive schools – a possible reason why I am almost completely ignorant of
the Jewish faith. Their exclusivity isolates themselves from the wider community
/ society. I argue religious schools perpetuate alienation, encouraging stigmas
Australian society consistently dishes out. Islamic schools rise but
dogmatisms towards Muslims do so too.
The Indochina example of the Vietnam War refugees,
one can create similarities between the victimization and demonization of the
Vietnamese community of the 1980s and 90s, and Australian Muslims of today. The
media is the main perpetrator of cultivating and designing stereotypes,
amplifying cultural disparities and engineering schisms of antagonism.
Multiculturalism is not only recognizing the
rights of ethic groups, but also communication between ethnic groups and the
wider community / society. Once that communication ceases to exist, any
situation of a wall of silence will threaten peaceful society. Racism can
be eradicated only when margins are eliminated and difference integrated.
Multiculturalism is not a utopian ideal – it can
be a reality. Micropublics is a means to achieving that end. However, I am not
naive enough to accept micropublics are the answer. Nevertheless, I
do believe if schools were filled with many groups of many cultures, a unifying
climate of friendship will take place. Consequently, those relationships would
expand to wider society.
References:
Lentin,
A. & Titley, G. (2011). The Crisis of Multiculturalism: Racism in a
Neoliberal Age. London: Zed Books. Chapter 2 'Lets talk about your
culture'.
Ho, C.
(2011). Respecting the Presence of Others: School Micropublics and Everyday
Multiculturalism. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32 (6), 603 - 619.
McNeilage,
A. (2013, August 4). Islamic Student Numbers Soar. Retrieved from: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/islamic-student-numbers-soar-20130803-2r668.html
Allard,
T. (2007, May 3). Under Siege: Muslims Blame the Media. Retrieved
from: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/under-siege-muslims-blame-the-media/2007/05/02/1177788228130.html
Hey Alex, thought provoking article. I like that you acknowledge that multiculturalism is far from utopian. I feel the question that needs to be asked though is ‘who’s multiculturalism?’
ReplyDeletePerhaps there should be a basic curriculum (for instance, with a ban on gender segregation perhaps) but I do think that individual communities should be able to maintain their own cultural schools. I take issue with inequality in funding, but that is another matter. The situation for Jewish Australians is that we make 0.4% to 0.75% of country. If we did not have our own schools our culture and way of life would vanish. Perhaps the situation is similar to that of Muslims. While I don’t demand everyone become Jewish, I demand the right to not be subjected to a universal grey culture or worse a cultural imperialism (probably by Anglo Celts). Instead of learning settler myths it is ok for kids to learn Midrash. Instead of sausage rolls, kosher options are good. Instead of Anglo learning styles, Jewish learning styles work for our community. Instead of a calendar structured on Christmas and Easter one on Jewish holidays would be more appropriate and efficient. These things cannot be exist in education in an Anglo or secular system because of the weakness of our numbers. Nevertheless I do reject the cultural imperialism that I must become like the majority, just because.
Your core argument that assimilation gets rid of intolerance is good. But I maintain the right to not assimilate, if Australia can’t handle that, it simply needs to grow up. Perhaps I lose by referring to Godwin’s law, but the most assimilated Jewish community before the Churban was Germany, so assimilation may be relevant to Australia – but not to history.
Perhaps the idea of schooling could be changed, to allow community schools to integrate with government schools, doing things like sport etc, every now and again.