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Accepted Paper:

Negotiating religious expression and secular belonging: a case of Bosnian migrant experiences in Australia  
Lejla Voloder (Monash University)

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses how Bosnian migrant experiences of belonging in Australia involve questioning the place of religion in Australian society. I argue that by negotiating their religious expression between ‘public’ and ‘private’ spaces, Bosnian migrants lay claim to their belonging in Australia.

Paper long abstract:

Migrants inevitably adjust and adapt to places of settlement. They become involved in, and interact with various social institutions, networks, and discourses of the society in which they reside. It is through these processes of engaging in various realms of society, that they attempt to identify and create 'spaces' for themselves, to become members of society and to 'belong'.

Bosnian migrant attempts to establish belonging in Australia has involved engaging with discussions around questions of the place of religion in Australian society. In these discussions, Bosnian migrants debate public displays of religion, that is, the visibility of religion in 'public' spaces and through them relay their understanding of what is, or should be, 'appropriate' religious expression in Australia.

Drawing on data collected from fieldwork conducted with Bosnians in Australia, in this paper, I discuss the ways my participants drew on issues of the visibility of religious symbols as part of their process of negotiating with the host society, and creating spaces of belonging for themselves. Participants' judgements on the appropriate places for religious expression were based on their understanding of Australian society. The dominant discourses which framed expectations and enactments of belonging were of Australia as a secular society, and Australia as a Christian nation. By negotiating their religious expression between 'public' and 'private' spaces, Bosnians migrants lay claim to their connectedness with and belonging in Australia.

Panel P32
Rediscovering the local: migrant claims and counter-claims of ownership
  Session 1