1 Islam and Indigenous Populations in Australia and New Zealand 1 Helena Onnudottir University of Western Sydney Adam Possamai University of Western Sydney Bryan Turner University of Western Sydney Religious conversion can be a lengthy process, comprising at times elements of personal awareness, religious awakening, private interests and public, external pressures. Religious conversion is frequently seen as life-changing for the individual convert – a matter of both personal growth and spiritual enlightenment - but conversion can also be perceived as a phenomenon which might reveal some forms of deeply engrained social and political inequality and discrimination. Furthermore, conversion among disempowered groups - which might be perceived as ‘political’ in nature - does more than impact on the personal identity of the converts; it can also lead to growing unrest among the dominant section of society, among the governing bodies of a nation, even among the religious community the converts seek entry to. Such ‘unrest’ is easily detected in recent discourses on conversion to Islam, commonly raising expressions of disbelief and scepticism - especially regarding conversion among white, middle-class Westerners - but at times adding elements of fear, or even panic, as such conversion takes place among individuals and groups which are already living on the fringes of society, i.e. those who are socio-economically disadvantage, including (migrant) minorities and Indigenous peoples. Conversion to Islam among disadvantaged peoples takes place across the globe, within both Western and non-Western societies (Turner, 2009; van der Veer, 1996). Some cases of conversion cause significantly greater interest than others. The main focus of this chapter is on conversion to Islam among Indigenous peoples. However, as this type of conversion has only recently attracted public and media interest: we wish to develop an analytical framework by reference to a case study of religious conversion among another minority group: the Dalits of India. In February1981, hundreds of Hindus in the village of Meenakshipuram in India collectively converted to Islam deciding “to embrace Islam as a protest against their continued oppression at the hands of the dominant ‘upper’ castes in the village” (Sikand 2004: 121). These converts belonged to the lowest of the Hindu castes (without varna, sometimes classified as outside the caste system), collectively known as the ‘Untouchables’, self-identifying as ‘Dalits’ or ‘oppressed’ and currently constituting some 13% of the total Indian population (Kalam 1984; Kettani 2010). Any mass conversion to Islam, especially where a Muslim identity might have negative consequences, might appear counter- intuitive. Muslims in India form the largest minority in India, where they have since 1947 been periodically subjected to political oppression, receive little state support and 1 The team would like to thank Elena Knox for the invaluable contribution as a research assistant to this Chapter.