Faith, Flight and Foreign Policy: Effects of war and migration on Western Australian Bosnian Muslims

Abstract

This article examines the nexus between war, religion and migration through a series of qualitative interviews with Bosnian Muslim humanitarian entrants to Western Australia. By utilising a three-tiered model for assessing religiosity, the interviews reveal that a substantial number of participants placed a greater emphasis on Islam during the Balkan conflict. The way in which individual religiosity was expressed upon resettlement in Western Australia was largely determined by pre-migration religiosity and postmigration contact with other Muslims. In particular, migrants with a low level of Islamic knowledge tended to internalise the values and ideas of more conservative Muslims upon arriving in the receiver-nation. Meanwhile, those with a well-developed pre-migration understanding of Islam tend to resist outside influence and continue their original beliefs and practices. The findings demonstrate that conflicts at the state level frequently precipitate psychological crises of identity at the personal level; this in turn has an effect on the cultural and political landscape of migrant receiving nations.