Abstract:
This paper draws on research conducted with a group of young Muslim women who attended a South Australian High School. It focuses on their experiences of religious racism and their sense of frustration with the school hierarchy whom they see as culpable in the existence of this racism. Placed within a post September 11 context in which religious racism against Muslims is increasing exponentially, this paper seeks to identify the intersections between broader public discourses about Muslims and Islam, and the lived realities of schooling as experienced by the study's participants. This paper recognizes and honours the agency of the young Muslim in resisting the religious racism but simultaneously also recognizes the limitation of this agency in rectifying or challenging religious racism in their school.