Let the Egyptian speak for himself : an agitation of the cultural integrity of whiteness in multicultural policies and practices

The increase of racist incidents towards people of ‘Middle Eastern appearances’ since 2001 and the sense of discomfort that has been associated with them, problematises the ability of Arab Australians to participate as legitimate citizens in their sociopolitical environment. This paper departs from this epistemic angle explaining how ‘patriarchal white sovereignty’ (Moreton-Robinson) has created a flawed practice of multiculturalism which has not attempted to decentre this Eurocentric assumption. I argue that the Australian government’s policies and practices since September 2001 have been underpinned by a broadly orientalist ideology that assumes an essential difference between Arab and Muslim Australians from other Australian citizens and frames such a difference as a distance from and a lack of Australian whiteness. I suggest that in order to expose and undercut this (re)inscription of otherness on this diverse yet silenced community, an ‘agitation’ of the intersections of the power asymmetries and cultural hierarchies between those who can and those who cannot ‘speak’ must be brought forth in this paper.