Muslim Turks and anti-Muslim discourse: the effects of media constructions of 'Islamic' and 'Arabic' in Australia

The proliferation of anti-Muslim discourse in recent years has both contributed to the reification of a singular category of Muslims in the West and encouraged erasure of the difference within and between followers of Islam. In Australia, much of this discourse has tended to equate the religion, Islam, with both a particular national identity, namely Lebanese, and a particular ethnicity, Arabic. Yet the reality of contemporary Australia, and of other western immigration nations, is a Muslim community that comprises a diversity of ethnic groups, countries of origin, language, culture, and religio-sectarian beliefs and practices. This paper examines some of the media practices that make up this homogenising discourse and then discusses the response of some non-Arabic Australian Turks who actively resist being categorised in this way.