Arts

Citizenship, Migration and identity in 20th C Dr Helen Forbes-MewettSociology, School of Political & Social Inquiry

Monash European and EU Centre (MEEUC) Summer School, Melbourne, 16-18 Jan 2013

18 January 2013Citizenship, Migration and Identity in the 20th C 2

Overview1 Outline of Sociology unit 2 Citizenship3 Identity, hybridity & diaspora4 Everyday whiteness5 Different types of migrants6 Questions

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Multiculturalism, citizenship & identity

18 January 2013Citizenship, Migration and Identity in the 20th C

Relevance of understanding ethnicity and (multi)culture in Australia

Globalisation, migration and citizenship

Main approaches to studying ethnicity and migration

Identity, hybridity, transnationalism and diaspora

Various types of migrants in Australia

– Muslims – Refugees– Migrant workers– International students – Indigenous Australia and multiculturalism

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Citizenship Citizenship test

Thought of in terms of being a ‘good’ citizen

Not viewed as a formal idea

Notions of belonging

Insiders and outsiders

Raised issues of assimilation

18 January 2013Citizenship, Migration and Identity in the 20th C

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Identity Identity is located at the interface between self and society

(Ford 2009)

Identity is changeable because the identity space changes Conflicting demands on identity Migrant identities are constantly repositioned In Australia, identity can be caught between multiculturalism

and assimilation Identity is fluid and flexible

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Identity Appearance

Ethnicity

Family/friends

Values/beliefs/choices

Work/practices

Hobbies/interests

Possessions/objects

18 January 2013Citizenship, Migration and Identity in the 20th C

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Hybridity Describes the identity of persons of mixed race, cultural origin or

influence (such as migrants)

Shares the same terrain as fusion and cosmopolitanism

Hybrid identities, cultural products and practices are often seen as challenging essentialist norms of culture, race, and nation.

Implies a prior state of purity

More recently, scholars are arguing it is more useful to study how the term is used and by whom and with which kinds of understandings

18 January 2013Citizenship, Migration and Identity in the 20th C

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Hybridity 19th Century discussions shaped by racist assumptions

Defined as a cross between two species

Questions of fertility and sexuality reflected widespread anxiety about sexual unions between races (in particular, between blacks and whites)

Argument difficult to sustain

Hybridity also used to refer to double accented language

– Containing two styles, two belief systems or social languages

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Visible hybridity

18 January 2013Citizenship, Migration and Identity in the 20th C

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-377839/Black-white-twins.html#ixzz23LP4PhHL

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Diasporas Diasporans settle in neighborhoods inhabited by fellow-diasporans

The new is compensated by the familiar

Ease of transport and communication with others from the home-land

Acculturation to the wider environment for the purposes of jobs and children’s futures

Learn a new language and new ways of doing things

Ultimately, they acquire a new national identity

Such processes are bound to cause internal dilemmas and create tensions

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Diaspora Diaspora ~ a word of Greek Origin

Refers to the dispersal throughout the world of people with the same territorial origin (Ben-Rafael 2010)

Diasporans may wish to be absorbed into their new environment

They also may have an enduring loyalty to the diasporic group, which attempts to remain distinct from ‘others’

Formulation of a collective identity is not easy

18 January 2013Citizenship, Migration and Identity in the 20th C

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European Jewish Diaspora

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Everyday whiteness

Louis C.K. ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY

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Less visible refugees ‘At least you’re the right colour’ (Colic-Peisker 2005)

Explores the resettlement of Bosnian refugees

‘Whiteness’/Europeanness enabled them to remain largely ‘invisible’

Initially able to claim ‘insider status’

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Refugees

UNCHR Website: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.unhcr.org/thumb1/4ced2aeb6.jpg&imgefurl=http://www.unhcr.org/4cd

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The Bosnians Bosnians suffered in the early 1990s when war ravaged their country

Bosnians granted the largest number of Australian permanent protection visas in the 1990s

‘refugee elite’ compared with Australia’s asylum-seekers who spent years in detention

Increase in quota by 2,000 visas in 1993-1994

Unlike the 433 Tampa refugees, the Bosnians were ‘gracefully accepted’

This has been attributed to ‘colour’

(Colic-Peisker 2005)

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‘At least you’re the right colour’ One day a mature lady entered my cab in South

Perth and said: ‘I always call “Black and White Taxis” … because in “Swan Taxis” they’re all strangers, Arabs, whoever. … You cannot talk to them, they speak poor English. I said ‘Well, my English is not the best either’. She gave a look sideways and said: ‘at least you’re the right colour’.(Colic-Peisker 2005, p. 620)

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Summary 1 Citizenship, migration and identity ~ Sociology

2 Citizenship viewed formally and informally

3 Students could relate to topics of identity, hybridity & diaspora

4 White privilege ~ experienced but not acknowledged

5 Challenges faced by different groups of migrants intersected

Thank you

helen.forbesmewett@monash.edu

http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/helen-forbes-mewett/