With partners:
Student Snapshot 1
FEMALE STUDENT: I feel like I’m an Australian but I don’t know. Like, some Australian people, if they find out I’m Lebanese, you know, they kind of treat me differently. And it’s like, once I was in a shop and there was this Aussie person in there and she said “go back to your country” and all this stuff. And once I saw a lady that was in a scarf and there was a lady at the cash register treating her different to all the other customers. I find that – I don’t know. That’s why sometimes I feel like I’m not Australian, because of that.
INTERVIEWER: So, do you feel that you’re more Lebanese than Australian?
FEMALE STUDENT: Yes
Student Snapshot 2
INTERVIEWER: For those of you who wear the hijab tell me about your choice to wear that?
FEMALE STUDENT: You don’t have a choice.
FEMALE STUDENT: You don’t have to.
FEMALE STUDENT: It’s up to us.
FEMALE STUDENT: It’s part of our religion.
FEMALE STUDENT: You don’t have to wear it, but…
FEMALE STUDENT: Yes you do.
FEMALE STUDENT: It’s compulsory for our religion. When you hit puberty, that’s when you’re supposed to wear it.
FEMALE STUDENT: We choose if we wanna wear it or not. Like you choose.
FEMALE STUDENT: You’re supposed to but you choose whether you wanna wear it or not.
FEMALE STUDENT: It’s not really a choice but they make it a choice.
FEMALE STUDENT: Well I’m making that choice.
Student Snapshot 3
INTERVIEWER: So tell me about what Islam has taught you?
FEMALE STUDENT: That’s the best part about the Lebanese thing. To me it is.
FEMALE STUDENT: ‘Cause it’s the best, it’s like everything you buy it’s got in it, and like if you really follow it, it’s not hard at all. If you put your head into it, it’s the best, and like, everything about it’s good, and like it’s all true.
FEMALE STUDENT: Everything, respect…
FEMALE STUDENT: Loyalty…
INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me what Islam has taught you?
MALE STUDENT: Peace.
MALE STUDENT: That’s right, peace.
MALE STUDENT: Good and bad ways.
MALE STUDENT: How to be good and keep it clean, stay away from bad things.
MALE STUDENT: Drinking, alcohol, it’s taught me how to not drink alcohol.
MALE STUDENT: Respect.
MALE STUDENT: Don’t go do drugs.
MALE STUDENT: Um, Islam has taught me that you should treat everyone fairly, even people who think that what you are is wrong…
MALE STUDENT: Everybody is equal in this world.
MALE STUDENT: ...everyone is equal, whether they can’t walk, can’t speak, can’t spell…
MALE STUDENT: We’re still the same.
MALE STUDENT: …we’re all the same.
Student Snapshot 4
INTERVIEWER: So what do you think about how Islam is seen in the West, or in Australia?
MALE STUDENT: They see us as, like, evil people or something.
MALE STUDENT: Bad people.
MALE STUDENT: But when we see other religions, like we see them as friendly people, we don’t care. But they see us in a different perspective.
MALE STUDENT: I’m proud of my religion.
MALE STUDENT: I’m proud of being Lebbo.
MALE STUDENT: We’re Muslim, that’s it.