Jamila Hussain

Lecturer

BA, LLB (Syd), DipEd (UNE), Dip Shariah Law Practice, MCL (IIU), Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Academic Profile

Jamila Hussain joined the Faculty in 1997. She has had a long interest in foreign cultures and their diverse legal systems. Jamila lived for two years in Malaysia, working and studying at a Malaysian university. She later taught for several years at the School of Southeast Asian law at the then Northern Territory University in Darwin.

Jamila sees teaching subjects such as Asian Law and Legal Systems and Islamic Law, as an important opportunity to broaden UTS students' perspectives of the Law and how it functions and addresses the needs and circumstances of different cultures and communities.

She was formally a member of the Women's Inter-faith Network; the Muslim Women's National Network of Australia; and the 'Engaging with Women' Sub-Committee, Muslim Community Reference Group (MCRG). This latter body advises the Federal Government on matters affecting the Australian Muslim community

Current Research Activities

Integration of Muslim communities into Australian society (with particular reference to the role of Muslim women in religious communities and in Muslim and mainstream organizations).

2006 Department of Immigration and Multcultural Affairs (DIMA) research grant: "Opinions & practices of Imams in Sydney in relation to womens' issues".

Recent  Publications & Conference Papers

"Finding the Woman's Space," in Tanja Dreher & Chris Ho (eds), Beyond the Hijab Debates, (forthcoming)

"The Status of Muslim Women in Contemporary Australia," Interntaional Institute of Muslim Unity in Malaysia, (forthcoming)

"Taching Islamic Law in Australian Law Schools" (with Dr Ann Black University of Queensland), ALTAConference, New Zealand, July 2005

Islamic Law and Society - an introduction, Federation Press, Sydney 1999, 2nd edition, updated & expanded in 2004

"Freedom of religion in Malaysia: the Muslim perspective" in Wu Min Aun (ed.) Public Law in Contemporary Malaysia, Longman, Malaysia 1999

"Family law and Muslim Communities," in Abdullah Saeed & Shahram Akbarzadeh (eds) Muslim Communities in Australia, UNSW Press, 2001

"Islam & the West: the Australian Experience," in Joseph A.Camilleri (ed), Religion and Culture in Asia-Pacific, Vista Publications, Melbourne 2001

Strata title in Malaysia, Pelanduk publications, Kuala Lumpur, 1999

Islamic Law and Society - an introduction, Federation Press, Sydney 1999, 2nd edition updated 2004

Grants

2008 DIAC (Dept of Immigration and Citizenship) to investigate the needs of and influence on Muslim women converts in Australia.