Abstract
Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with twelve queer Muslims in Australia, this article analyses the ongoing struggle for queer Muslim recognition within the context of the so-called ‘Clash of Civilisations’. Analysing the rhetoric of national security and ‘Western’ civilisational identity, this article interrogates the incorporation of sexuality into the cultural and political discourse of the ‘war on terror’, from the xenophobic demonisation of Muslims as sexual predators, to liberal Islamophobia that posits Islam as an aggressive and alien Other against which liberal capitalism must be defended. Within this hostile environment, queer Muslims in Australia are articulating various strategies for finding meaning in their lives. From a Marxist perspective, this article analyses these strategies for recognition which range from complex acts of ‘closeting’ sexual, ethnic and religious identities, to subversive acts of critical hybridity that seek to negate the exclusionary nature of homophobia and Islamophobia within Australia’s multicultural society.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AAP. (2005). ‘Terrorism, Gang Rapes Behind Riots’: MP. December 12.
Abraham, I. (2006). Hijab in an age of fear: Security, secularism and human rights. Australian Religion Studies Review, 19(2), 169–189.
Abraham, I. (2008). ‘Sodomized by religion’: Fictional representations of queer Muslims in the ‘West’. Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 19, 137–152.
AbuKhalil, A. (1997). Gender boundaries and sexual categories in the Arab world. Feminist Issues, 15(1), 91–104.
Adorno, T., & Horkheimer, M. (1944). The culture industry: Enlightenment as mass deception. http://marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm. Accessed 1 June 2007.
Ahmad, A. (1992). In theory: Classes, nations, literatures. London: Verso.
Ahmad, A. (1995). The politics of literary postcoloniality. Race & Class, 36(3), 1–20.
Anemogiannis, C. (2005). The hidden history of homosexual Australia. (Film). SBS/Madman Entertainment.
Arondekar, A. (2005). Border/line sex: Queer postcolonialities, or how race matters outside the United States. Interventions, 7(2), 236–250.
Barrett, D., & Pollack, L. (2005). Whose gay community? Social class, sexual self-expression, and gay community involvement. Sociological Quarterly, 46(3), 437–456.
Bhabha, H. (2004). The location of culture. London: Routledge Classics.
Boswell, J. (1980). Christianity, social tolerance and homosexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bruce, S. (2002). God is dead: Secularization in the West. Oxford: Blackwell.
Butler, J. (1991). Imitation and gender insubordination. In D. Fuss (Ed.), Inside/out: Lesbian theories, gay theories (pp. 13–31). London: Routledge.
Collins, J., et al. (2000). Kebabs, kids, cops and crime: Youth, ethnicity and crime. Sydney: Pluto.
D’Emilio, J. (1998). Sexual politics, sexual communities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dirlik, A. (1994). The postcolonial aura: Third World criticism in the age of global capitalism. Critical Inquiry, 20(2), 328–356.
Duggan, L. (2002). The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neo-Liberalism. In R. Castronovo, & D. Nelson (Eds.), Materializing democracy: Toward a revitalized cultural politics (pp. 175–194). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Duran, K. (1993). Homosexuality and Islam. In A. Swindler (Ed.), Homosexuality and world religions (pp. 181–197). Valley Forge, PA: Trinity.
Edelman, L. (1993). Tearooms and sympathy, or, the epistemology of the water closet. In H. Abelove, M. A. Barale, & D. M. Halperin (Eds.), The lesbian and gay studies reader (pp. 553–574). New York: Routledge.
El Karka, I., & Kursun, H. (2002). Mijn geloof en mijn geluk. Islamistiche meiden en jongens over hun homoseksuele gevoelens. (My belief and my happiness: Muslim girls and boys on their homosexual feelings). Amsterdam: Schorer.
El-Rouayheb, K. (2005). Before homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world, 1500–1800. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fekete, L. (2004). Anti-Muslim racism and the European security state. Race & Class, 46(1), 3–29.
Fish, S. (1980). Is there a text in this class? The authority of interpretive communities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Fish, S. (2001). The trouble with principle. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gleeson, K. (2004). From centenary to the Olympics, gang rape in Sydney. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 16(2), 183–201.
Grosrichard, A. (1998). The Sultan’s court: European fantasies of the east. London: Verso.
Hall, S. (1987). Minimal selves. In H. Bhabha (Ed.), Identity—The real me (pp. 44–6). London: Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Halperin, D. (1990). One hundred years of homosexuality. New York: Routledge.
Hammoud-Beckett, S. (2007). Azima ila hiyati—An invitation in to my life. International Journal of Narrative Therapy & Community Work, 1, 29–39.
Haqq, I. A. (2000). Homosexuality and Islam in America. Journal of Islamic Law & Culture, 5, 87–96.
Huntington, S. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Jakobsen, J., & Pellegrini, A. (2003). Love the sin: Sexual regulation and the limits of religious tolerance. New York: New York University Press.
Jamal, A. (2001). The story of Lot and the Qur’an’s perception of the morality of same-sex sexuality. Journal of Homosexuality, 41, 1–88.
Johnson, D. K. (2004). The lavender scare: The cold war persecution of gays and lesbians in the federal government. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kalra, V. S., et al. (2005). Diaspora and hybridity. London: Sage.
Knight, M. M. (2004). The Taqwacores. New York: Autonomedia.
Knight, M. M. (2006). Blue-eyed devil: A road odyssey through Islamic America. New York: Autonomedia.
Kugle, S. (2003). Sexuality, diversity and ethics in the agenda of progressive Muslims. In O. Safi (Ed.), Progressive Muslims (pp. 190–234). Oxford: Oneworld.
Kundnani, A. (2007). Integrationism: The politics of anti-Muslim racism. Race & Class, 48(4), 24–44.
Manji, I. (2004). The trouble with Islam. Sydney: Random House.
Massad, J. (2002). Re-orienting desire: The Gay International and the Arab world. Public Culture, 14(2), 361–385.
Minwalla, O., et al. (2005). Identity experience amongst progressive gay Muslims in North America: A qualitative study within al-Fatiha. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 7(2), 113–128.
Murphy, D. (2005). Thugs ruled the streets, and the mob sang Waltzing Matilda. Sydney Morning Herald, December 12, A4–A5.
Murray, S. O., & Roscoe, W. (Eds.) (1997). Islamic homosexualities: Culture, history, and literature. New York: New York University Press.
Papastergiadis, N. (1997). Tracing hybridity in theory. In P. Werbner, & T. Modood (Eds.), Debating cultural hybridity (pp. 257–281). London: Zed.
Papastergiadis, N. (2005). Hybridity and ambivalence: Places and flows in contemporary art and culture. Theory, Culture & Society, 22(4), 39–64.
Pitts, M., et al. (2006). Private lives: A report on the health and wellbeing of GLBTI Australia. Melbourne: La Trobe University.
Poynting, S. (2006). What caused the Cronulla riot. Race & Class, 48(1), 85–92.
Poynting, S., et al. (2004). Bin Laden in the suburbs: Criminalising the Arab other, Sydney: Sydney Institute of Criminology.
Puar, J. K. (2005). On torture: Abu Ghraib. Radical History Review, 93, 15–38.
Puar, J. K. (2006). Mapping U.S. homonormativities. Gender, Place & Culture, 13(1), 67–88.
Puar, J. K., & Rai, A. (2002). Monster, terrorist, fag: The war on terrorism and the production of docile patriots. Social Text, 72, 117–148.
Ridge, D., et al. (1997). Queer connections: Community, ‘the scene’ and an epidemic. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 26(2), 146–181.
Ridge, D., et al. (1999). ‘Asian’ men on the scene: Challenges to ‘gay communities’. In P. A. Jackson, & G. Sullivan (Eds.), Multicultural queer: Australian narratives (pp. 43–68). New York: Haworth.
Rodinson, M. (1980/2002). Europe and the mystique of Islam. London: I.B. Taurus.
Rouhani, F. (2007). Religion, identity and activism: Queer Muslim diasporic identities. In K. Brown, et al. (Ed.), Geographies of sexualities (pp. 169–179). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Sanbonmatsu, J. (2004). The postmodern prince: Critical theory, left strategy and the making of new political subjects. New York: Monthly Review.
Schierup, C.-U., Hansen, P., & Castles, S. (2006). Migration, citizenship and the European welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schmitt, A. & Sofer, J. (Eds). (1992). Sexuality and eroticism among males in Moslem societies. New York: Haworth Press.
Seidman, S. (2002). Beyond the closet: The transformation of gay and lesbian life. New York: Routledge.
Siraj, A. (2006). On being homosexual and Muslim: Conflicts and challenges. In L. Ouzgane (Ed.), Islamic masculinities (pp. 202–216). London: Zed Books.
Sullivan, A. (1995). Virtually normal: An argument about homosexuality. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Sullivan, A. (2004). “The trouble with Islam”: Reform from within. http://www.racematters.org/irshadmanji.htm. Accessed 1 June 2007.
Sullivan, G., & Jackson, P. (1999). Introduction: Ethnic minorities and the lesbian and gay community. In P. Jackson, & G. Sullivan (Eds.), Multicultural queer: Australian narratives (pp. 1–28). New York: Haworth.
Valocchi, S. (1999). The class-inflected nature of gay identity. Social Problems, 46(2), 207–224.
Weeks, J. (1992). Introduction. In A. Schmitt, & J. Sofer (Eds.), Sexuality and eroticism among males in Moslem societies (pp. 9–11). New York: Haworth.
Yip, A. K. T. (2003). A minority within a minority: British non-heterosexual Muslims: Report of research activities and results. 10 May. http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk. Accessed 1 June 2008.
Yip, A. K. T. (2004). Negotiating space with family and kin in identity construction: The narratives of British non-heterosexual Muslims. The Sociological Review, 52(3), 336–350.
Yip, A. K. T. (2005). Queering religious texts: An exploration of British non-heterosexual Christians’ and Muslims’ strategies of constructing sexually-affirming hermeneutics. Sociology, 39(1), 47–65.
Yip, A. K. T. (2008). The quest for intimate/sexual citizenship: Lived experiences of lesbian and bisexual Muslim women. Contemporary Islam, 2(2), 103–129.
Young, R. J. (1995). Colonial desire: Hybridity in theory, culture and race. London: Routledge.
Žižek, S. (1997). Multiculturalism, or, the cultural logic of multinational capitalism. New Left Review, 225, 28–51.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abraham, I. ‘Out to get us’: queer Muslims and the clash of sexual civilisations in Australia. Cont Islam 3, 79–97 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-008-0078-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-008-0078-3