Where are you from? Identity construction and experiences of ‘othering’ in the narratives of Sudanese refugee-background Australians

Abstract

This article discusses collective identification among Sudanese refugee-background residents in Australia. The discursive data is drawn from semi-structured interviews through which identity self-categorizations and self-labelling were explored. In addition, mini-narratives about their experiences of intergroup communication with mainstream Australians were analysed in depth. In these narratives, the main topic was the story of being confronted with the question ‘Where are you from?’. This article applies positioning theory to the narrative accounts and discusses how participants position themselves in the story world as well as in the interactional world. The findings demonstrate that Sudanese Australians have a strong ethnic self-concept and a strong desire to obtain an Australian identity. However, their stories reveal that they are positioned as outsiders by mainstream Australians.