Anti-Racist Discourse on Muslims in the Australian Parliament

Anti-racist Discourse on Muslims in the Australian Parliament' examines discourses of anti-racism in contemporary Australian politics, in particular, how politicians contest and challenge racism against a minority group which does not constitute a traditional 'race'. The book takes data from Australian federal parliamentary debates relating to Muslims from 2006 and 2007 when bills for stricter naturalisation requirements were debated. Using critical discourse analysis, it deconstructs the racist, xenophobic and discriminatory arguments against Muslims, but focuses on the anti-racist counter discourse to these arguments. Since blatant racist statements are rare nowadays, the book focuses on manifestations of 'culturalist racism' by taking discursive exclusion from the 'nation' as the site in which 'culturalist racism' most frequently occurs in Western liberal-democracies. In addition to contributing to the theoretical discussion about the relationship between Muslims, racism and anti-racism, the book expands on methods applying critical discourse analysis and the discourse-historical approach by providing a practical guide to analysing anti-racist political discourses.