‘If I peel off my Black skin maybe then I integrate’. Examining how African-Australian youth find living in a ‘post multicultural’ Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The research literature indicates that skin colour is still a great divider in Australia despite the dramatic social changes following post WWII migration [Australian Human Rights Commission. (2010). In our own words. African Australians: A review of human rights and social inclusion issues. https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/africanaus/review/in_our_own_words.pdf; Blair, K., Dunn, K., Kamp, A., & Alam, O. (2017). Challenging racism project 2015-16 (National Survey Report). Western Sydney University; Mapedzahama, V., & Kwansah-Aidoo, K. (2017). Blackness as burden? The lived experience of Black Africans in Australia. SAGE Open; Ndhlovu, F. (2013). Too tall, too dark to be Australian: Racial perceptions of post-refugee Africans. Critical Race and Whiteness Studies, 9(2), 1–17]. This study explores the experiences of a group of young African–Australians and their perceptions of everyday life in Australia. It draws on individual and focus group interview data from a broader study that investigated negotiation of cultural identities of recently arrived former refugees. The key finding is that, although all participants had undergone multiple prior migrations, moving to a dominant white society was much more difficult. The study found that, in everyday life, the visible difference, markedly their Black skin, brought a reaction, both positive and negative, indicating the predominant assumption that Australia still sees itself as a ‘white space’. The article examines how Australia's retreat from multiculturalism has created greater delineation between what is seen as the ‘white Anglo-Celtic core’ and others on the ‘periphery’ [Stratton, J. (2011). Uncertain lives: Culture, race and neoliberalism in Australia. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN (10) 1-4438-3301-0]. Of interest in this study is how the African-Australians responded the research process to negotiate deeper insights into how to belong in what was reported as such a contested space.