From Stranger to Citizen: Migration, Modernisation and Racialisation in the Making of the New Australian. The project addresses an important question: How can Australians continue to reap the benefits of cultural diversity while building a strong sense of national cohesion with which to engage productively with the rest of the world? Refugees from developing countries appear to pose a particular challenge to integration into Australian society. A close examination of the contact zone where newco ....From Stranger to Citizen: Migration, Modernisation and Racialisation in the Making of the New Australian. The project addresses an important question: How can Australians continue to reap the benefits of cultural diversity while building a strong sense of national cohesion with which to engage productively with the rest of the world? Refugees from developing countries appear to pose a particular challenge to integration into Australian society. A close examination of the contact zone where newcomers interact with service providers will result in a better understanding of citizen-making processes and facilitate the improvement of policies and their implementation to facilitate faster and deeper integration of migrants and refugees from developing countries into Australian society.Read moreRead less
Jean Martin and the Social Sciences in Australia. Jean Martin was a major founder of the social sciences in Australia, a pioneer in institution building and cultural traffic. She built institutions and networks by working Sociology and Anthropology together, combining intellectual cultures from Australia, America, Germany and Britain. A collectively authored book will establish the nature of Martin's contribution to social science and society, and uncover the nature of intellectual innovation, ....Jean Martin and the Social Sciences in Australia. Jean Martin was a major founder of the social sciences in Australia, a pioneer in institution building and cultural traffic. She built institutions and networks by working Sociology and Anthropology together, combining intellectual cultures from Australia, America, Germany and Britain. A collectively authored book will establish the nature of Martin's contribution to social science and society, and uncover the nature of intellectual innovation, networking and institution-building in social sciences in Australia and beyond. This project develops new perspectives on the culture of the social sciences, Australian nation-building and civil society in the twentieth century.Read moreRead less
Hostels, Hosts and Hospitality: A Social and Cultural History of Migrant Temporary Accommodation in Australia Since the Second World War. Because it promotes a deeper understanding of migrant experience, the social relations and outcomes that derive from that experience, on-arrival settlement services, the role of the nation as 'host', and the complexity of national and immigrant identities, this project strengthens Australia's social fabric and capacity to interpret and engage with its regional ....Hostels, Hosts and Hospitality: A Social and Cultural History of Migrant Temporary Accommodation in Australia Since the Second World War. Because it promotes a deeper understanding of migrant experience, the social relations and outcomes that derive from that experience, on-arrival settlement services, the role of the nation as 'host', and the complexity of national and immigrant identities, this project strengthens Australia's social fabric and capacity to interpret and engage with its regional and global environment. The experience of regional and global migration, often entailing processes of acute disjuncture, enjoins both an urgent need for, and specific difficulties in, the creation of a coherent identity. This study contributes to an understanding of anxieties about place and belonging and how we might interpret and engage such challenges today.Read moreRead less
Beyond the Beach: What it means to be Australian - A critical analysis of national, transgenerational, multicultural and self perspectives. The question ?What does it mean to be Australian?? raises issues of deep significance about our values, goals, loyalties, behaviours, and international image. Identity conceptions are fundamental to diverse national interest issues (e.g., social cohesion, multiculturalism, defence, promoting industry, social action/reform, immigration) and imagining our futu ....Beyond the Beach: What it means to be Australian - A critical analysis of national, transgenerational, multicultural and self perspectives. The question ?What does it mean to be Australian?? raises issues of deep significance about our values, goals, loyalties, behaviours, and international image. Identity conceptions are fundamental to diverse national interest issues (e.g., social cohesion, multiculturalism, defence, promoting industry, social action/reform, immigration) and imagining our future. This study will characterise: national identity; personal, ethnic, generational, regional and gender commonalities and variations; preferred futures; and moderating influences on identifying as Australian. Outcomes include new knowledge about contemporary national identity, multi-identity constructions, and processes underpinning identity formation; and advances in identity theory/research that will inform social, economic, and educational policy and practice.Read moreRead less
Intercommunal and Translocal Space in Fairfield: Tracking Indochinese Australian Lives. While providing important socio-cultural information about Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese communities in western Sydney, this project takes an innovative approach to the study of 'minority' communities in multicultural societies. By locating itself at the points of contact between communities, the proposed research recognises that subjects are often members of multiple social groups, and that they shift back a ....Intercommunal and Translocal Space in Fairfield: Tracking Indochinese Australian Lives. While providing important socio-cultural information about Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese communities in western Sydney, this project takes an innovative approach to the study of 'minority' communities in multicultural societies. By locating itself at the points of contact between communities, the proposed research recognises that subjects are often members of multiple social groups, and that they shift back and forth across their boundaries. Such a perspective enables one to avoid the fallacy of locating 'the multicultural' in minority subjects/cultures, and thus 'multicultural problems' within particular 'problem communities'. Rather, it situates the multicultural in the interstices between 'mainstream' and 'minority' AustraliaRead moreRead less
Fearing going home: Australia's return of rejected asylum seekers, temporary refugees and others from refugee-like situations. Recent changes in government policy, combined with international political developments, mean that increasing numbers of asylum seekers and temporary refugees are being deemed ineligible for protection and removed from Australia or from Australian-run facilities. Notwithstanding the government's assessment that such people do not have protection needs, many live in acute ....Fearing going home: Australia's return of rejected asylum seekers, temporary refugees and others from refugee-like situations. Recent changes in government policy, combined with international political developments, mean that increasing numbers of asylum seekers and temporary refugees are being deemed ineligible for protection and removed from Australia or from Australian-run facilities. Notwithstanding the government's assessment that such people do not have protection needs, many live in acute fear of their pending return. They may indeed be returned to situations of danger, deprivation and desperate poverty. This project aims to research and document the plight of 'returnees' as they face the prospect of repatriation and then, to the extent possible, after they have been repatriated.Read moreRead less
Australian Immigrant Mentalities. Immigrants arrive in Australia in hundreds of thousands and are generally anonymous and invisible in the historical and contemporary record. But many emigrants, from the days of the convicts to present times, have written home. These records contain their direct experience of immigration. This project explores the inner worlds of the immigrant , their response to Australia and how they coped with the process of migration. As one of the great immigrant nations of ....Australian Immigrant Mentalities. Immigrants arrive in Australia in hundreds of thousands and are generally anonymous and invisible in the historical and contemporary record. But many emigrants, from the days of the convicts to present times, have written home. These records contain their direct experience of immigration. This project explores the inner worlds of the immigrant , their response to Australia and how they coped with the process of migration. As one of the great immigrant nations of modern times Australia would benefit from hearing the voices of the immigrant. This intimate documentation relates to all the controversies that have accompanied the course of Australian immigration, past and present.Read moreRead less