University of Sydney

ghena_krayem

For the last 18 years I have been engaged in empirical research around the broader topic of how Muslims in minority contexts go through marriage and divorce processes, with a particular emphasis on Australia.  My PhD research which was completed in 2011 was the first empirical project to look at the ways in which Australian Muslims resolved their family law matters.  It considered the controversial issue of the role of Shariah in liberal democratic states through the lens of multiculturalism and legal pluralism and concluded that Muslims were skilful legal navigators who made their way through the intersecting web of Islamic principles and state law without the need for formal recognition.  My next project was an examination of the ways in which Muslims were accommodated in the common law with a focus on case law in the US, UK, Canada and Australia across the different areas of family law, criminal law and business transactions.  I am currently working on a large research project with a team from Melbourne University (Prof Carolyn Evans & Ass Prof Farah Ahmed) again considering the issue of how Australian Muslims experience marriage and divorce processes in particular considering the challenges faced by Muslim women.  This is a mixed-method project including a significant empirical component together with an engagement with a normative anaylsis of comparable jurisdictions and how Australian family law should respond to Islamic community-based dispute resolution processes

Relevant Publications

  • Krayem, G., Ahmed F, (2017). Islamic Community Processes in Australia: An Introduction. In S Bano (Ed), Gender and Justice in Family Law Disputes; Women, Mediation and Religious Arbitration, (pp. 246-269). Waltham, MA:Brandeis University Press
  • Farrar, S., Krayem, G. (2016). Accommodating Muslims under Common Law: A Comparative Analysis. Abingdon: Routledge.
  • Krayem, G. (2014). Islamic Family Law in Australia: To Recognise or Not To Recognise. Australia: Melbourne University Press.
  • Krayem, G. (2013). Australian Muslim Women: Skilful Legal Negotiators in a Plural Legal World. In A Saeed and H McCue (Eds.), Family Law and Australian Muslim Women, (pp. 70-94). Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
  • Krayem, G. (2010). Multiculturalism and Its Challenges for Muslim Women. In Shahram Akbarzadeh (Eds.), Challenging Identities: Muslim Women in Australia, (pp. 105-129). Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.