Rachel Woodlock is a Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne and Acting Deputy Director of the National Centre for Contemporary Islamic Studies. She is an academic and writer who researches and teaches about Islam and Muslims. She also holds a keen interest in incorporating GenAI tools into research and teaching.
Her most recent work is "Islam and Gender Reform" in The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Reform, ed. Emad Hamdeh and Natana Delong-Bas (Oxford University Press, forthcoming). She co-edited Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia with Douglas Pratt (Springer, 2016), an evidence-based examination of Islamophobia in both 'old-world' Europe and the 'new-world' of America and Australia, and also Southeast Asia. She also co-wrote For God's Sake: An Atheist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim Debate Religion (Pan MacMillan, 2013), discussing some of life's biggest questions.
She completed a Bachelor of Arts (Arabic & Islamic Studies) and a Master of Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne, and her doctoral research undertaken at Monash University looked at the social integration of religious Muslims in Australia. She also worked as an Assistant Lecturer in the Study of Religions department, University College Cork in Ireland. Rachel has lectured widely and taught subjects on Islam and Muslims at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has also extensively written for, and appeared in, the media in both Australia and Ireland.
This book introduces the general reader to the history, beliefs and practices of Islam with a particular focus on the Irish experience. It is divided into six sections covering Islam's history, civilisations, ideas, people, issues and future. As well as describing what unifies Muslims in 'what Islam teaches', it also emphasises the vast diversity that exists among Muslims.
It covers the early history, rise and expansion of Islam at a time when Christianity was beginning to mature in Ireland, and looks at the rise of Islamic dynasties and Muslim conquests—including into Europe—that resulted in cross-cultural exchanges between Christendom and the Islamic world, as well as the Crusades and the arrival of modernity, colonisation and Westernisation in the modern period. Of particular relevance to the Irish reader, it covers the Irish historical encounter with Islam both overseas and as Muslims began to settle here.
As well as an overview of Islam's major beliefs and practices, it examines the debates and diversity that exist in the Muslim world, as well as in Ireland, over who can 'speak' for Islam, which are more fully elaborated upon in sections dealing with lifecycle rituals and sensitive issues surrounding family, healthcare, education and employment as Muslims try to implement Islam (in varying degrees) in their lives in a Catholic-majority context.
In the concluding chapter, Irish attitudes towards Muslims are discussed, as are potential demographic trends both in Europe and Ireland specifically. It introduces the idea of 'kaleidoculture' first defined by Bruce Lawrence in considering the American experience. This heralds a potential future in which Irish Muslims make a unique and valuable contribution to Ireland, and develop a specifically Irish way of being Muslim.
This book gives the general reader a thorough overview and understanding of the religion of Islam and its followers, framed for the first time within the modern Irish context.
Lecture on Islamophobia, UCC Postgraduate Seminar (2020).Study of Religions Department, University College Cork, 2020-21.
I worked as an Assistant Lecturer for a variety of subjects primarily Islam focused, including RG2300 Islam: Historical & Contemporary Perspectives and RG2311 Contemporary Islam: Exploration in Film, Media and Music.
Adult Continuing Education, University College Cork, 2018.
I taught the 12-week short course "Islam and Muslims: An Introduction" with Dr Amanullah De Sondy.
National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, University of Melbourne, 2011.
I recorded the Islamic Practices component for a video lecture series organised by Professor Abdullah Saeed and Professor Purushottama Bilimoria on world religions.
Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, Melbourne, 2010.
I taught an eight-week course on Islam and Muslims at the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School held at the Magid Institute, Armadale.
The University of Melbourne Open Day, 2023.Cranlana Colloquium, Myer Foundation, 2006–2009.
I lectured on Islam and Muslim reactions to modernity, at the Cranlana Colloquia held four times each year. In late 2008, I completed the colloquium as a participant.
Islam Awareness Training, Monash University, 2004, 2007–2008.
I lectured on Islam and Muslims to the National Counter-Terrorism Committee Negotiators Course, members of the Australian Federal Police in Canberra and Adelaide, and members of Victoria Police at the Police Academy, Glen Waverley.
Presentations
Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions. Sixth Annual Conference: "Religion, Myth and Migration". Waterford, 16 Jun. 2017.
International Society for the Sociology of Religion. Annual Conference: "The Challenges of Religious Pluralism". Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 27–31 Jul. 2009. With Susan Carland.
2016. "Identity and Islamophobia: An Australian Investigation." In Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia, eds. Douglas Pratt and Rachel Woodlock, Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies, pp. 131–151. Switzerland: Springer.
2016. "Introduction: Understanding Islamophobia." In Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia, eds. Douglas Pratt and Rachel Woodlock, Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies, pp. 1–18. Switzerland: Springer.
2009. "Perceptions of extremism among Muslims in Australia." Proceedings of the 2008 GTReC International Conference, November 26-27, eds. Sayed Khatab, Muhammad Bakashmar and Ela Ogru, pp.60–85. Caulfield, Vic.: Global Terrorism Research Centre, Monash University.
2006. "A Muslim Perspective." In Doing December Differently: An Alternative Christmas Handbook, ed. Nicola Slee and Rosie Miles, 111–116. Glasgow, UK: Wild Goose Publications.
2010. "Conflict and Religion as Globalizing Agent." In Mapping Violence in Southern Thailand, eds. Virginie Andre and Pete Lentini. Interim report to the European Commission. Caulfield, Vic.: Global Terrorism Research Centre.
2009. Key Concepts in Islamic Discourse and Listed Terrorist Use of Media Component I: On Jihad, Mujahidin and Martyrdom. Report presented to Australian Communications and Media Authority. Caulfield, Vic.: Global Terrorism Research Centre. With Sayed Khatab, Muhammad Bakashmar and Pete Lentini.
2006. Social Integration of Muslims in Cobram. Clayton, Vic.: Centre for Muslim Minorities & Islam Policy Studies. Supervised by Gary D. Bouma and Shahram Akbarzadeh.
2019. The Leap of Faith, with Dr Anne Francis, Canon Ruth Elmes, and Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger. (RTÉ Radio 1) March 8.
2017. Interview on 'World Hijab Day', with Brigid Aylward, and Bara Alich. The Ray D'Arcy Show, (RTÉ Radio 1) January 30.
2013. "Does Religion Cause Violence?" with Ross Reynolds (host) and Professor James Wellman. The Conversation (KUOW Seattle News & Information) July 8.
2013. Interview, with Jane Caro, Antony Loewenstein, and Simon Smart. Live Talk with Philip Kafcaloudes (ABC Radio Australia) July 8.
2013. "How do we know right from wrong?" Extract from For God's Sake: An Atheist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim Debate Religion published at Religion & Ethics (ABC Religion), October 1.
2013. "Doesn't Religion Cause Most of the Conflict in the World?" Extract from For God's Sake: An Atheist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim Debate Religion published in "Comment is Free," Guardian July 2. With Antony Loewenstein, Jane Caro, Simon Smart.
2013. "Why a White, Middle Class Aussie Woman Became Muslim." In Sunday Style magazine, Daily Telegraph June 30.
At the Bab al-Yaman, Sana‛a, Yemen, 2002.Master of Islamic Studies.University of Melbourne, Australia, 2004.
Coursework: Islamic Banking & Finance; Islamic Education; Methodology of Hadith; Methods of Islamic Law; Muslim Philosophical Traditions; Methods of Qur'anic Sciences; Researching Islam & Muslim Societies; Sufism; and Islamic Theology.
Thesis: "Praying Where They Don't Belong: A Study of Female Converts and Mosque Access in Melbourne, Australia".
2016. Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia. Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies. Switzerland: Springer. Co-edited with Douglas Pratt.
2009. "Islamic Beliefs and Practices." In Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia, ed. James Jupp, 418–36. Port Melbourne, Vic. Cambridge University Press. (Pre-pub. version)
