Measuring Mixedness in Australia

Abstract

Australia is a country of migrants, with a very small proportion of the population being Indigenous. Historically it has been diversity-averse, with policies designed to exclude non-white migrants and to assimilate the Indigenous peoples into a ‘White Australia’. But since the early 1970s, policy settings have oriented towards multiculturalism and a growing Indigenous rights movement, both (to some extent) recognizing and celebrating diversity. Perhaps ironically, this environment has meant that policy makers are wary of collecting race-based statistics. Thus the question of how aspects of globalization, particularly immigration, are affecting the mixed race make-up of Australia’s population is difficult to answer. In this chapter we argue for the value of at least attempting to collect race-based data in the Australian context. Focusing on Census enumeration, after noting that most official documents measure a single racial category (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander), if anything, we discuss the move from racial to ethnic categories in the Australian Census, and from exclusive to more inclusive and open options. We consider the various proxies for race that scholars use, and their limitations, and implications for understanding and measuring racial (and ethnic) mixedness. The current situation sees those of European, Asian, or African backgrounds collapsed within the non-Indigenous category, leaving researchers to use country of birth and the problematic category of ancestry as proxies for race. This, together with the fact that mixed Indigenous people tend to identify as Indigenous, means racial mixedness in Australia is difficult to ascertain. We argue that the boundaries and meanings of racial categories require scrutiny, to ensure demographic change can be tracked, allowing racially structured experiences and identities understood.