Personal Info
- Country of residence: Australia
Information
Email: randa.abdel-fattah@mq.edu.au
Overview
Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian Muslim Palestinian Egyptian writer, former lawyer and scholar researching Islamophobia, race, youth and the war on terror in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University. Randa was awarded her PhD on Islamophobia and race in 2016. In 2018, she was awarded the highly competitive Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award for her research study comparing the generational impact of today’s social and political climate on Muslim and non-Muslim youth born into a post 9/11 world. Randa worked closely with high schools and libraries across Sydney to conduct writing workshops and interviews with students. Some of these stories were published on the project website: https://trustpoliticsfear.github.io/ The workshops were designed by Randa to elicit responses from students about their specific lived experiences growing up in the global ‘war on terror.’ Randa’s critically acclaimed book, Coming of Age in the War on Terror, is based on her research and was published by New South Publishing in February 2021. Following the Christchurch terrorist attack, Randa created a media resource for researchers, teachers, students and journalists that reflects the diversity of opinions and interventions among Australian Muslims. She collated an extensive bibliography of works created and authored by Australian Muslims on the subject of Islamophobia, race and ‘the War on Terror’ from the early 2000s to date (it was also published in Meanjin) and widely circulated on social media. A long-time anti-racism activist, Randa is also the multi-award winning author of 11 novels and is published in over 20 countries including multiple translations and adaptions to the stage (USA and Australia) and graphic novels (China). Randa is frequently sought for comment by the media. She has been published widely including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Guardian, Overland Literary Journal, Meanjin, Al Jazeera English online, The New Arab. Randa has appeared on television programs such as Q & A, Lateline, The Drum, First Tuesday Book Club, Insight. Randa is a regular speaker at schools and writer’s festivals in Australia and overseas. She uses her writing, talks and workshops to address issues of identity, anti-racism, social justice and human rights causes. Randa’s position as an Australian Muslim woman who wears many hats–author, academic, former lawyer, community advocate, public commentator, bilingual, mother — provides her with the unique opportunity to share her creative writing, academic research and community work across multiple audiences.
- Qualifications:
- Phd, Sociology, Macquarie University, 2016
- Bachelor Degree 2002 Law with Honours University of Melbourne
- Bachelor Degree 2002 Arts University of Melbourne
Employment:
- Macquarie University, DECRA research fellow 2018-February 2021
- Macquarie University, PhD (scholarship), 2013-2016
- Solicitor (litigation, professional negligence, personal injury, employment law): Hicksons Lawyers (2009-2012), Thompson Playford Lawyers (2006-2009), Lander and Rogers (2003-2006), Slater and Gordon (2001-2003)
- Novels :
- Abdel-Fattah, R, Rania and the Book of You (2014) Scholastic
- Abdel-Fattah, R, Jodie and the Book of You (2013) Scholastic
- Abdel-Fattah, R, No Sex in the City (2012) Pan Macmillan
- Teaching:
- Invited lectures
- Charles Sturt University/ISRA- ‘Critical Race Studies and Islamophobia’, November 2020.
- Macquarie University, Department of Anthropology, ‘Bacon, Anzac Poppies and performing the Muslim in hiding’, October 2020.
- Macquarie University, Department of Anthropology, FOAR 7000,
Editorial Positions:
- Editorial committee of Continuum Journal of Media & Cultural Studies
- Editorial committee of Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam
Peer Reviewed Scholarly Books and Creative Works:
(2021) Coming of Age in the War on Terror, New South Publishing, A1
(2017) Islamophobia and Everyday Multiculturalism in Australia, Routledge Race and Ethnicity Series, A1
(2016) When Michael Met Mina Pan Macmillan J1
Edited Books
Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity (2019) Picador, co-edited with Sara Saleh
Peer Reviewed/Refereed journal articles:
(2020) Countering violent extremism, governmentality and Australian Muslim youth as ‘becoming terrorist.’ Journal of Sociology 56(3): 372-387.
(2019) Managing belief and speech as incipient violence: 'I'm giving you the opportunity to say that you aren't'. Journal of policing, intelligence and counter terrorism, 14(1), 20-38.
Abdel-Fattah, R., & Krayem, M. (2018). Off script and indefensible: the failure of the 'moderate Muslim'. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 32(4), 429-443.
(2018) Shifting the conversation from 'intersections' to 'relations'. Journal of Sociology, 54(2), 264-266.
(2017) ‘The Double Bind of Writing as an Australian Muslim Woman’ Special Issue: Arabs in Australia: Local Concerns and Transnational Contexts, Mashriq & Mahjar: A Journal of Middle East Migration Studies Vol 4:2, 97-117
(2017) ‘Islamophobia and Australian Muslim Political Consciousness in the War on Terror’, Journal of Intercultural Studies, Vol. 38: 4
(2016) ‘Lebanese Muslim’: a Bourdieuian ‘Capital’ Offense in an Australian coastal town', Journal of Intercultural Studies, Vol 37:4
Other Publications
Novels
Abdel-Fattah, R, Rania and the Book of You (2014) Scholastic
Abdel-Fattah, R, Jodie and the Book of You (2013) Scholastic
Abdel-Fattah, R, No Sex in the City (2012) Pan Macmillan
Abdel-Fattah, R, The Friendship Matchmaker Goes Undercover (2012) Scholastic
Abdel-Fattah, R, The Friendship Matchmaker (2011) Scholastic
Abdel-Fattah, R, Noah's Law (2009) Pan Macmillan
Abdel-Fattah, R, Buzz Off (2009) Scholastic
Abdel-Fattah, R, Where the Streets Had A Name (2008) Pan Macmillan
Abdel-Fattah, R, Ten Things I Hate About Me (2006) Pan MacmillanAbdel-Fattah, R, Does My Head Look Big In This? (2005) Pan Macmillan
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Book chapters
Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices (2020) Hachette
Laugh Your Head Off (2016) Pan Macmillan
The Book that Made Me (2016) Walker Books
Coming of Age in Australia (2014) Allen and Unwin
‘Of Middle Eastern Appearance’ in The Best Political Writing of 2008, (ed) Jones, T, Melbourne University Press.
Screenplays
Does My Head Look Big In This? Randa Abdel-Fattah and David Curzon (funded by Screen Australia)
The Dury’s Out, Randa Abdel-Fattah and Amal Awad
Stage/Screen Productions of Creative Works:
Where the Streets Had A Name adapted as a stage production by Australia's leading children's theatre company Monkey Baa Theatre Company in August 2017.
Does My Head Look Big In This? Current feature film adaptation and stage adaptation in the USA.
Essays
(2018). Pumpkin seeds, angry minorities and race: the moral contortions of multiculturalism. Griffith review, 61, 84-91.
(2008) ‘Of Middle Eastern Appearance’. Divided Nation. Griffith Review, Edition 15
(2005) ‘Living In A Material World’, The Lure of Fundamentalism. Griffith Review Edition 7 (winner of the 2005 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Essay Advancing Public Debate)
- Selected Op Ed Pieces
16 March 2019, The New Arab, We told you the threat is white supremacy. You ignored us.
15 November 2018, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Bourke St: I am feeling nothing less than rage, alienation and despair.’
9 November 2018, The Conversation, ‘How a Sri Lankan student’s arrest on terror charges exposes a system built to suspect minorities.’
28 July 2018, The Guardian, ‘Go ahead, white Australia, eat your kebabs while you remind us of your 'values'.
‘Islamophobia: My children hear the ugly reality of racism in the street, it's not up to them to toughen up’, ABC Online 10 July 2017
Despite the rhetoric, here's why Islamophobes don't want Yassmin to go, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 July 201 - ‘Malcolm Turnbull's Recycled Rhetoric Pushes Muslims Further to the Margins’, ABC Religion and Ethics Online, 24 April 2017
Racism is not human nature. A work of fiction can help us understand that, The Guardian, 13 July 2016
The pervasive and systemic extent of Islamophobia', Sydney Morning Herald, 25 February 2
The Cologne Attacks', New Matilda, 23 January 2016
Islamophobia’s Emotional Dimensions', ABC Religion and Ethics Online, 3 December 2015
'Tony Abbott's anti-Muslim bigotry exposed', Al Jazeera English, 2 March 2015
'Is Halal Food funding terrorism?' Al Jazeera English, 2 May 2015
'Australia's multicultural project', Al Jazeera English, 1 February 2015
Freedom of Speech and its Contradictions', ABC Religion and Ethics Online, 12 January 20
Exploring the Ambiguities of Islamophobia', ABC Religion and Ethics Online, 11 July 2014
'Somebody else’s culture wars,’ The Drum online, 21 July 2011
Teaching
Invited lectures
Charles Sturt University/ISRA- ‘Critical Race Studies and Islamophobia’, November 2020
Macquarie University, Department of Anthropology, ‘Bacon, Anzac Poppies and performing the Muslim in hiding’, October 2020
Macquarie University, Department of Anthropology, FOAR 7000, Research Paradigms, ‘Social interactionist theory', May 2020
Macquarie University, Department of International Studies, INTS202 (Citizenship: Past, Present, Global), ‘Global Islamophobia’, October 2018
Macquarie University, Department of Education, ‘Curricular Justice, Race and Teachers’, September 2020
Macquarie University, Department of Sociology, SOC 175, ‘Sociology of Religion’, May 2018
Macquarie University, Department of Sociology, SSCI201 Qualitative Inquiry in the Social Sciences, ‘Critical Race Theory’, April 2018
Macquarie University, Department of Security Studies, ‘War on Terror, Islamophobia and Race in Australia’, March 2018
Macquarie University, Department of Politics- ‘Growing up in the age of terror’, August 2019
Macquarie University, Department of Sociology, SOC 1318, SOCI318 Living Diversity: Race, Nation, Multiculturalism, ‘Social Order and Control’, ‘Everyday Life Regulating Bodies in Space’, June 2019
Macquarie University, University of Notre Dame, ‘Media, War on Terror and Muslim Youth, October 2019
Macquarie University, Department of International Studies, INTS202 (Citizenship: Past, Present, Global), ‘Global Islamophobia’, May 2019
Macquarie University, Department of Sociology, SOC 1318, SOCI318 Living Diversity: Race, Nation, Multiculturalism, ‘Race and Racism’, May 2019
Macquarie University, SOC 297, ‘Race, Religion and Australia’, March 2019
- University Tutoring
Macquarie University, SOCI318 Living Diversity: Multiculturalism, Racism and Nation, Session 2, 2019
Macquarie University, SOC175- Australia and Global Societies: An Introduction to Sociology, Session 1 and 2, 2013,
Macquarie University, SOC 175, Australian Society, Session 1 2017
Macquarie University, SOC 175, Australian Society, Session 3 2016
Western Sydney University, 'Understanding Society', Session 1 and 2, 2013, 2014
Achievements and Awards
- Macquarie University Research Fellowship 2018-2021
- Discovery Early Career Research Award 2018-2021 (accepted in place of MQRF)
- 'Honorable Mention', Early Career Researcher Awards, Macquarie University, 2019
- Faculty of Arts Emerging Scholars Scheme, Semester 1, 2018
- Screen Australia- Development Funding, Film script Does My Head Look Big In This?- Swing Wing Pty Ltd, Randa
- Abdel-Fattah, Co-Script writer- 2018
- Victorian Premier’s Literary Award Best Young Adult Fiction novel 2017
- Shortlisted as the Australian laureate for the 2017 and 2018 global Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (world’s largest
- and richest children’s literature award)
- VIC Premier’s Literary Award People’s Choice Award 2017
- Screen Australia- Development Funding, Film script Does My Head Look Big In This?- Swing Wing Pty Ltd, Randa
- Abdel-Fattah, Co-Script writer- 2017
- Create NSW- ‘Amplifier’ initiative- Swing Wing Pty Ltd, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Co-Script writer- Development Funding,
- Film script Does My Head Look Big In This?- January-November 2017
- Screen Australia- Development Funding, Film script Does My Head Look Big In This?- Swing Wing Pty Ltd, Randa
- Abdel-Fattah, Co-Script writer- May-Nov 2016
- Development funding, Screen Australia, Does My Head Look Big In This?, 2016
- Screen Australia- Development Funding, Film script Does My Head Look Big In This? - Swing Wing Pty Ltd, Randa
- Abdel-Fattah, Co-Script writer- March-June 2015
- Australia Arts Council Emerging Writers grant 2012
- Australia Arts Council-Literature New Work - Established writer 2011
- Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC) USA Young adult book of the year 2011
- State Library of Victoria Golden Inkys award, Best Young Adult Novel 2009
- Australia Arts Council Emerging Writers grant 2009
- Australia Arts Council- Literature New Work - Emerging writer 2008
- Kathleen Mitchell Award Best young novelist 2008
- Australian Industry Book Award Best Australian Book for Young Adult Readers 2006
- NSW Premier’s Literary Award Essay Advancing Public Debate 2005.
- Years in active
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