Antipodean angst: encountering Islam in New Zealand

Abstract

Islam first came to New Zealand with Chinese gold miners in the late nineteenth century. However, it was to be many years before a distinctive Muslim community would emerge with its own forms of organization and purpose-built mosques. This article will review the arrival of Islam and the place of Muslims in New Zealand and discuss the challenges and issues faced by them, as well as considering social responses and perceptions of Islam that have been forged more by external global issues than local factors. Although by no means the full story, it is nevertheless the case that attitudes to the presence of Muslims currently give evidence of a rising diffuse anxiety: Antipodean angst would seem a pervasive feature with respect to the encounter with Islam in this far-flung corner of the globe.