Mujib Abid

There is no paucity of literature on academia as a site of resistance. Universities can also be sites of transformation/reclamation while raising questions of epistemic coloniality, racism, racialization, and Whiteness in academia. In this chapter, we highlight and discuss aspects of the challenges of this erasure while sharing some thoughts on how the emerging theory of racial dignity offers the possibilities of addressing the visible and invisible impacts of Coloniality and seeing the beauty and joy of engaging in the resistance of decolonial antiracist scholarship. As articulated in this chapter, our resistance espouses our intentional collaboration, which cushions against negative outcomes associated with the solitude of solitary, neoliberal workplaces. In imagining an antiracist future in Australian higher education institutions, we call for greater equality and a more sustained effort to decolonize Australian higher education institutions of their colonial legacy. We recognize the need for Australian higher education institutions to turbocharge their obligation as transformatory institutions that prioritize humanity and the ontological legitimacy and epistemic contributions of racially and culturally marginalized (RACM) academics.

The past four decades of protracted armed conflict in Afghanistan have resulted in numerous waves of population displacement, the most recent of which began in August 2021, when the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan collapsed, and the Taliban returned to power. Today, there is a large Afghan diaspora that represents a vibrant, politically diverse and intellectually activist culture, supported by a growing body of indigenous scholarship that is not necessarily part of the ‘mainstream’ of host countries. Rather, the Afghan diaspora tends to follow the path of a longer, traditional Afghan epistemology – or more appropriately, given the esoteric influences of their scholarship, an Afghan gnoseology. To explore the depth, internal dynamics, and esoteric dimensions of these scholarly traditions, I interviewed two Afghan writers in Australia: Hamid Parafshan and Omer Sabore.

In  a  wide  variety  of  studies  over  the  past  two  decades,  the  media  has  consistently  been  identified  as  a  significant  social  institution  implicated  in  normalizing  and  disseminating  anti-Muslim  prejudice.  Identifying  and  combating  Islamophobic  discourses  has  been  a  challenging  proposition,  however,  due  to  difficulties  in  systematically  identifying  and  evaluating “Islamophobia” within texts. Islamophobia is a complex and contested phenomenon that defies easy classification within the boundaries of terminology which would normally be employed to describe hostility or prejudice based on, for example, race or religion. This article outlines some of the challenges involved in defining and categorizing Islamophobic discourses through  an  exploration  of  the  process  of  constructing,  evaluating,  and  applying  a  unique  content analysis instrument, the “Islamophobia Index,” to media texts, using data sets drawn from the Australian news media. We critically reflect upon the methodological limitations of systematic  quantitative  studies,  the  importance  of  qualitative  and  interpretive  approaches  that take into account researcher subjectivities, and ultimately reposition and repurpose this project as a mixed-method study. In conclusion, potential applications for the Index, including non-media textual analysis, are considered.

People are multi-identited subject to multiple layers of identities, some more pronounced than others. The level of significance attached to each identity is dependent on different factors, among them spatiality and temporality. In extreme cases, one identity is brought to the forefront of all others, potentially at the expense of all others. For such shuffling and reshuffling to take place, often a choice is made by the subject/ object. This space for choice and agency could be minimized, influenced by others, or simply rendered nonexistent by those who are willing and wield significant power. This article examines the adoption of singular identities by the Afghans who took part in the Jihad and became Mujahidin, an American-supported insurgency that resisted Soviet occupation and its satellite state in Kabul in the 1980s. This paper argues that the space for deliberation and critical engagement by potential recruits was organized in such a way that little to no scrutiny was allowed when inviting potential recruits to adopt the mantle of the Mujahid. Safeguarding Afghanistan's independence, introduction of radical Islamism, and deliberate targeting of specific parts of the populace, is fundamental to that intervention.

In a wide variety of studies over the past two decades, the media has consistently been identified as a significant social institution implicated in normalizing and disseminating anti-Muslim prejudice. Identifying and combating Islamophobic discourses has been a challenging proposition, however, due to difficulties in systematically identifying and evaluating “Islamophobia” within texts. Islamophobia is a complex and contested phenomenon that defies easy classification within the boundaries of terminology which would normally be employed to describe hostility or prejudice based on, for example, race or religion. This article outlines some of the challenges involved in defining and categorizing Islamophobic discourses through an exploration of the process of constructing, evaluating, and applying a unique content analysis instrument, the “Islamophobia Index,” to media texts, using data sets drawn from the Australian news media. We critically reflect upon the methodological limitation...