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Muslim minorities in the West: spatially distant trauma

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 2011 vol. 35 no. 4 © 2011 The Authors. ANZJPH © 2011 Public Health Association of Australia Politico-strategic analysis of the post 9/11 world has created two literatures: one focuses on the locale of conflicts (Afghanistan, Pakistan and the region) and the strategies designed to counter militant agendas. The other is concerned with the status and loyalty of the Muslim minorities in the West (less than 3% of the world’s total Muslims), the possibility of home-grown terrorism, Islamophobia and the strategies adopted by Muslim minorities to deal with their identification as ‘the other’.1 The distinction ignores the growing literature on the perceptions and roles of diaspora in a globalised world: not only do they retain social and cultural links, but also assume agency in addressing issues that affect their ‘homeland’. Foreign policies of western states are now the space questioned, analysed and commented upon by the Muslim diaspora. But the past decade has also affected Muslim minorities at an emotional level: their identification as ‘the other’ and the need to prove their loyalty to their adopted homelands have contributed to disillusionment and a perceived sense of exclusion. Though some are developing strategies to deal with actual and/or perceived exclusion by the wider communities, others suffer emotionally in this environment. An equally significant problem for Muslim minorities relates to the sense of loss, disruption and instability in Muslim majority states. The US attacks on Afghanistan after 9/11, the invasion of Iraq (2003), and the continuously deteriorating situation in Pakistan have contributed to an emerging sense of helplessness among some Muslims. Frequent suicide bombings in their home countries, and the news of innocent citizens being targeted by both the militants and other forces contribute to trauma that merits attention. In other words, the trauma resulting from conflicts does not remain limited to the site of conflict. It is felt spatially and extends beyond the immediate surrounds to other cities in Pakistan, as well as to the Pakistani diaspora living in the West. The availability of internet and satellite television networks brings news and coverage of militancy to the lounge rooms in western states and contributes to the fear of what is likely to happen to the loved