Spectrums of belonging

Abstract

Well before the Russian invasion in Ukraine, other dynamics of forced migration, such as the European 'refugee crisis' or the perceived threat of 'irregular maritime arrivals' attempting to reach Australian shores, have highlighted that communities of resettlement consider the existence of their 'native' culture at risk in the face of mass displacement. 5 Such resistance has resulted in these societies determining to 'define' and 'protect' their national cultural heritage, norms and values, and identity. 6 Throughout political and public debates on human displacement, often expressed through media outlets, sentiments of fear, anger, and insecurity permeate how the arrival of forced migrants is perceived. 7 Concerns about immigration are increasingly expressed in terms of religion, with a particular focus on Islam. 8 Shared logics and patterns of Islamophobia as manifested in Western 9 societies in which Muslims are a minority include the securitisation of immigration policies and religious practices, and processes of racialising and problematising 'the Muslim presence'. 10 Religion thus has become a category by which the subjects of immigrant integration and inclusion are classified, and differentiated. 11 Equally, religious identity has become a pivotal category by which the national identity of the in-group is defined. 12 The intensifying prominence of religion in global discourse on migration includes the assumption that identity formations and a consequent insider/outsider logic are made along religious and racial lines, in the sense that in public and political discourse, there is an overemphasis on the religious identity of forced migrants. 13 In the political and public imagination, this view is based on the idea that religion is one of the main features of migrants' identity, and that this will hinder or complicate their integration in countries of resettlement. 14 It is