Arts Citizenship, Migration and identity in 20 th C Dr Helen Forbes-Mewett Sociology, School of...
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Transcript of Arts Citizenship, Migration and identity in 20 th C Dr Helen Forbes-Mewett Sociology, School of...
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
Overview
1 Outline of Sociology unit
2 Citizenship
3 Identity, hybridity & diaspora
4 Everyday whiteness
5 Different types of migrants
6 Questions
3
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
4
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
5
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
6
Identity Appearance
Ethnicity
Family/friends
Values/beliefs/choices
Work/practices
Hobbies/interests
Possessions/objects
18 January 2013Citizenship, Migration and Identity in the 20th C
7
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
8
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
9
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
11
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
12
European Jewish Diaspora
13
Everyday whiteness
Louis C.K. ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY
14
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’
15
Refugees
UNCHR Website: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.unhcr.org/thumb1/4ced2aeb6.jpg&imgefurl=http://www.unhcr.org/4cd
16
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)
17
‘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)
18
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
http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/helen-forbes-mewett/