African Migrants In Australia Research Articles

Resettlement Experiences of African Migrants in Australia

This paper reports part of a doctoral study which investigated the resettlement experiences of African migrants in Australia ( N = 115), and focuses upon the findings of those who participated in individual face-to-face interviews ( N = 30). It examines the resettlement challenges facing African migrants in Western Australia (WA), such migration having increased in recent years. Although migrating to relatively wealthy countries such as Australia may be a cause for optimism among African migrants, the challenges associated with resettlement may have a negative effect on their well-being. The findings indicate that participants experienced a variety of resettlement challenges including separation experiences, language difficulties, parenting and cultural issues, under-employment and unemployment, financial problems, and racial discrimination. The study confirms the limited existing research, contributes to a better understanding of the major challenges affecting African migrants in Australia, and has implications for the formulation of effective policies and practices aimed at mitigating resettlement challenges.

Khat use and perceived health problems among African migrants in Australia: an exploratory study.

The chronic use of khat, a plant with psychostimulant properties, has been associated with physical and mental health problems. Previous research found that non-khat users were more likely than khat users to perceive its use to be associated with poor health. We aimed to identify differences in the perception of specific khat-associated health problems between khat users and non-users. In 2012, 133 adults (≥ 18 years) from African migrant communities in 4 state capital cities in Australia completed questionnaires to ascertain their perception of whether specific health problems were associated with khat use. Multivariable log-linked Poisson regression was used to compare the perceptions of the 2 groups and identify differences, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, tobacco use and years living in Australia. Overall, 58 (44%) and 75 (56%) participants reported current khat use and no use respectively. Adjusted log-linked Poisson regression showed that people who use khat were less likely than non-users to perceive certain health and related problems were associated with khat use, including, poor health in general [prevalence risk ratio (PRR) = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.75, 1.00]; laziness (PRR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.75, 0.99); stomach and throat problems (PRR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.96); and teeth, gum and mouth problems (PRR = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.99). Khat users are less likely to perceive use being associated with health problems than non-users. Providing information on the health problems associated with khat use may be an important component of health promotion strategies and interventions aimed at minimising khat-related harm.

The Influence Region of Origin, Area of Residence Prior to Migration, Religion, and Perceived Discrimination on Acculturation Strategies Among sub-Saharan African Migrants in Australia

The study examined whether there was an influence of region of origin, area, or residence prior to migration, religion, and perceived discrimination on the acculturation strategies of sub-Saharan African migrants in Australia. These factors have been found to affect acculturation, given the multi-dimensionality of identify formation. Data were obtained on 425 sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees living in Victoria and South Australia. Acculturation was measured using the Vancouver Acculturation Index. Compared to migrants from central Africa, those from eastern Africa (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.45; p < 0.01) were less likely to assimilate, while migrants who lived in large towns or the city prior to migration (AOR, 0.54; p < 0.05) were less likely to separate but more likely to assimilate (AOR, 2.26; p < 0.01) than those who came from refugee camps. Compared to Muslims, Christians (AOR, 0.57; p < 0.05) were less likely to integrate while those practising religions other than Islam or Christianity (AOR, 3.54; p < 0.01) were more likely to separate. Migrants reporting not fitting in/excluded were less likely to be in the culturally marginalised group (OR, 0.86; p < 0.01) but more likely to report being integrated (AOR, 1.14; p < 0.01), whereas those reporting personal discrimination (AOR, 1.12; p < 0.01) and societal discrimination (AOR, 1.13; p < 0.01) were more likely to separate or remain traditional. In order to promote cultural pluralism and facilitate cultural adaptations among sub-Saharan African migrants, educational programs, anti-racism policy, and legislative reforms need to reposition multiculturalism in a way that promotes tolerance and acceptance of ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity.

African migrants and stress coping strategies in Australia: Implications for social work

This research investigates resettlement stress among African migrants in Australia and how migrants manage stress. The research used 30 semi-structured interviews with African migrants in Western Australia. Participants used various strategies, including reliance on family as a community and on God – usually constructed by alliance rather than kinship – to manage stress. The article’s key contribution highlights the multilayered approach for social work to integration strategies for migrants. The study identifies three significant issues emerging: the importance of ‘families’ as community networks, the experience of discrimination and the significance of faith in God as crucial migrant support factors.

Afro-diasporic Experiences of Highly Skilled Black African Immigrants in Australia

ABSTRACT This study explored the experiences of skilled African immigrants in Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 individuals from different sub-Saharan African countries currently residing in South Australia. The findings report on the experiences of change, cultural identity, diasporic identities, employment, negotiating family dynamics, and the experiences of racial discrimination in Australia. These findings call for considerations that address these inequities, including culturally sensitive practice by social services, employers, and the wider society. Understanding the experiences of African migrants in Australia is particularly relevant for decolonised, critical social work practice, which takes the emphasis away from an individual’s ability to cope by examining how social environments shape such experiences. IMPLICATIONS Advocacy to address racism and discrimination towards African migrants in Australia is necessary. Fostering support for African migrants as they develop a diasporic identity and adapt to changes in family dynamics is encouraged. Developing culturally sensitive social support services for African immigrants is necessary for integration.

‘Middle-class’ Africans in Australia: choosing Hillsong as a global home

ABSTRACT Much of the literature on Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity (Pc/C) and African diasporas in the Global North has focused upon African-Majority or -Initiated churches that are either branches of African churches or were created in the diaspora. This focus often frames the appeal of Pc/C to African migrants in terms of: a) its emphasis upon the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ offering a path not only to salvation, but also to earthly riches; b) its opportunities for achieving status among church hierarchies, which is attractive to socially marginalised groups, and; c) the practical assistance it provides to support settlement. However, African diasporas have diverse histories of migration, and settlement experiences. This article considers the appeal of Pc/C to a group of professional African migrants in Australia, who self-identify as ‘middle-class’. It argues that professional African migrants have consciously favoured the Australian megachurch Hillsong over Australia’s African-Initiated churches. They have done so in pursuit of a process of an imagined class-mobility, and as a result, their choice of church can be understood as largely strategic.

Depression Mediates Association Between Perceived Ethnic Discrimination and Elevated Blood Glucose Levels Among Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Australia.

Depression and perceived ethnic discrimination (PED) are both implicated in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) risk in some migrant populations. The role of these factors remains understudied in sub-Saharan African migrants, who comprise a significant at-risk group for T2DM in Australia. To assess interactions between PED, depression scores and elevated blood glucose levels among sub-Sahara African immigrants in North-Eastern Australia. Face to face surveys were used to assess PED and depressive tendencies in a purposive sample of 170 adults (aged ≥18year). Fasting blood glucose levels (FBGL) were measured at the time of interviews. Prevalence of elevated FBGL (≥6.1mmol/L), PED and severe depression (SD) were: 17.6% (n = 30), 14.7% (n = 25) and 18.8% (n = 32), respectively. Prevalence of elevated FBGL, PED and SD were all higher in males than females. The highest prevalence of elevated BGL, PED and SD each occurred in the 40-50year age group. Strong positive correlations of both high level PED and SD with elevated FBGL were observed. There was also a strong positive association between PED and SD. Depression score was found to mediate partially the strong association between PED and elevated FBGL (β-value for PED dropped from β = 0.452 to β = 0.246, p < 0.01 and the associated between FBGL and SD remained strong β = 0.554, p < 0.01). The strong association between elevated FBGL and PED seems to be moderated by SD, indicating that interventions to attenuate depression and PED may be a useful adjunct to diabetes prevention programs in this population. Interventions targeted to specific age groups may also be warranted.

Deliver us from evil: The role of faith and family in coping with stress among African migrants in Australia

The paper examines stressors affecting involuntary and voluntary African migrants in Australia and how they cope with stress. Using semi-structured interviews, the paper examines the experiences of 30 African migrants in Australia. Most participants used a diversity of strategies including the reliance of God and family –usually constructed by alliance rather than kinship -to cope with stress. The key contribution of the paper is to go beyond traditional integration strategies to highlight the significance of God and family as remedies to ‘deliver’ the migrants from the obstacles to effective resettlement and psychological healing.Keywords: African migrants; stress; God; family; resettlement; coping strategies.

Resettlement experiences of African migrants in Australia and how they affect mental health

Resettlement experiences of African migrants in Australia and how they affect mental health

Childrearing Practices Among Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Australia: a Systematic Review

Australian Child Protection practitioners who work with children from sub-Saharan African migrant backgrounds often face challenges when applying child protection laws and policies to address childrearing and parenting issues. The aim of this study is to examine the influence of cultural beliefs, values, attitudes and practices on childrearing practices within sub-Saharan African communities. The systematic review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Databases searched included Science Direct, ProQuest Central, Embase, EbescoHOST (Medline; PsychINFO; CINAHL; ERIC; SocINDEX; PsycARTICLES), Web of Science (SCI-EXPANDED; SSCI) and Google Scholar; the search dates were from January 2000 to December 2016. The studies were assessed using the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology guidelines (STROBE). The search strategy identified 2631 articles, of which 57 met the inclusion criteria for the review. Participants were children aged from three months old to seventeen years and adults aged eighteen years or older. Data analysis resulted in 7 primary themes: Illness Conception, Traditional Beliefs and Health-seeking Behaviour; Fosterage and Community Responsibility; Family Dynamics; Discipline; Child Spirits and the Supernatural; Body Stimulation; and Female Genital Mutilation. Framed within the acculturation theory, the review identifies important factors that converge to provide insight into the specific caregiving context of sub-Saharan African families. It further makes clear that, for the most part, the childrearing practices of sub-Saharan African migrants who settle in Australia are influenced by their cultural values and norms.

Black bodies in/out of place? Afrocentric perspectives and/on racialised belonging in Australia

Global movements of people have produced socio-cultural environments of increasing racial diversity, in which issues of belonging abound. Yet, within research and discussion of how migrants construct a sense of belonging, the role that experiences of racism play in their constructions and feelings of belonging have not been centred or fully explored. Using 'Everyday Racism' as a conceptual framework, we draw on data from our study on identity and belonging among skilled Black African migrants in Australia to explore Afrocentric perspectives on belonging, which centre experiences of racism. These Afrocentric perspectives expose the complexity and contested nature of belonging when constructed within narratives of subjective experiences of racism. We propose understanding this as a typology of belonging - 'fractured belonging' - with four dimensions: contestation, negotiation, ambivalence and compromise (for spacio-temporal comfort). Ultimately, our article's main purpose is to argue for more nuanced understandings of this 'fractured belonging' among Black African migrant in Australia, and its implications for their subjective realities.

The ‘Culturally and Linguistically Diverse’ (CALD) label: A critique using African migrants as exemplar

This article critiques the widely accepted official label 'Culturally and Linguistically Diverse' (CALD), used in Australia to refer mainly to Australia's non-Indigenous ethnic groups other than the English-speaking Anglo-Saxon majority. Our main contention is that it is a racialised and racialising label that perpetuates institutional racism, providing a conceptual excuse for legitimising privilege and altruistic governmentality over minority groups, while inferiorising and projecting these groups as an analogous population who need 'fixing'. The article draws on the sociological construct of labelling, through which we analyse the framing of CALD people in the literature as 'deviants' using Black African Migrants in Australia as exemplars. We propose that CALD labelling is counterproductive because it hinders social integration, divides people into 'us and them', homogenises, blurs particular lived experiences and needs, and ignores intersectional issues.

“There is really discrimination everywhere”: Experiences and consequences of Everyday Racism among the new black African diaspora in Australia

In this article, we use Philomena Essed’s (1988) concept of ‘Everyday Racism’ as a theoretical framework to introduce critical perspectives for understanding experiences of contemporary racism among the new African diaspora in Australia. The concept deals with the everyday manifestations and (re)production of systemic inequality based on race and/or assumptions around race, whether intended or unintended. Our findings expose the covert, subtle and contestable forms that racism takes in Australian society and the consequences it has for black Africans. By discussing participants’ views and opinions about working and living as skilled black African migrants in Australia, this article explores how racism continues to be perpetuated in Australia, where most citizens profess a commitment to the democratic principles of justice, equality, tolerance and ‘a fair go’. We conclude that, for our black African respondents who experience racism regularly in their daily lives, the consequences are real and painful, manifesting in recurring themes such as the burden of proof; the weight of history and historicity; the ‘constriction of experience’; and a superfluous self-surveillance and selfinterrogation.

South African migrants in Australia: an overview

South African migrants in Australia: an overview

‘They’re coming’: Precarity and the white nation fantasy among South African migrants in Melbourne

This paper explores the social reproduction of precarity among white South African migrants in Australia. Building on Griffiths and Prozesky’s elucidation of the white South African imaginary and its role in triggering emigration, we draw on ethnographic data on white South Africans living in Melbourne to argue that our informants reproduce what Hage terms a ‘white nation fantasy’. In documenting the ways our informants’ migration experiences can be read as a function of a threatened social imaginary, we suggest that their ‘successful’ resettlement in Australia points to the congruence of their ontological grounding with the white nation fantasy predominating in Australia. Ultimately, however, we argue that the sense of precarity our informants experience in Australia is intrinsically embedded in their reproduction of the white nation fantasy. Our case study therefore serves as a cautionary tale to inflexible constructions of whiteness globally.

Trauma and Depression in Ethiopian Women Returning From Middle Eastern Countries.

Our interviewees were selected from among returnee women fromMiddle Eastern countries now living in the Jemo district of Addis Ababa and were interviewed in their homes. Women from low-income countries whomigrate to theMiddle East as domestic workers have psychiatric morbidity two to five times higher than the native population (1). Common problems reported by domestic migrants include little or no contact with their family and maltreatment and sexual harassment by employersand their sons (1).Therateof suicide in theEthiopian immigrant community is exceptionally high (2, 3). Coping skills are also in evidence, however, including spiritual sources of coping, maintenance of friendships with other Ethiopian women, and reassertion of one’s cultural identity. Spiritual sources of coping were found to be an important coping mechanism among East African migrants in Australia (4). Poverty is the principal reason for migration of women to Arab countries (from the narrative data of six participants, two of which are presented here). Low academic achievement and peer pressure are additional factors. Among those we interviewed, sexual violence, physical violence, emotional A 27-year-old Coptic Christian woman who had been in Beirut for 3 years and in Dubai for 5 years as a migrant worker and who has now returned to Ethiopia, discusses her experience: “The cause for my migration was poverty and peer pressure. I encountered emotional abuse by the children of employing families. My employers themselves were not abusive to me except for the heavy workload they demanded. It tookme a long time to become adjusted because I feared that I would never be able to learn their language and their different eating customs, and they criticizedmy dress. Their home felt too big to stay alone in during the day. Iwas ashamed of my identity when people assumed that all Ethiopians had been raised in famine and made remarks like ‘Are there potatoes in your country?’ Others told me, ‘All you Ethiopians are poor beggars.’ . . . In Dubai, people assumed that all Ethiopian women were prostitutes, because a few were. Blacks were considered inferior, including Ethiopians, because they were poor. I developed a feeling of self-hatred, with thoughts like ‘Why did God create us poor? When will I start to live my own life?’ Now I view what happened as inevitable challenges inmy life. But I blame themigration for the fact that I remain unmarried and am left with a burn scar on my face from working in a kitchen there. I oftenexperienced ‘kutakutayilegnal’ [anAmharicexpression for being irritated frequently]. I had nightmares and dizzy symptoms, but they ceased when I left the Arab countries. I am relieved to be home, but when I was there I also felt sad whenever I thought about those girls who did not have a workvisa,becausetheydidnothavethe freedom to move to escape their poverty. I have never thought to visit a doctor for mental health problems.” A 22-year-old Muslim woman who had worked in Dubai reported: “I encountered attempted sexual violencewithtwosonsofemployers.They called me using derogatory words— kelib and ayhon, whichmean dog and animal, respectively.Themadambeat me when she was angry. I was raped and then imprisoned because of my unwanted pregnancy from the rape. I became suicidal and resolved to return home. Despite all that happened, I faced no challenge regarding my identity. I met with Ethiopian women friends every Sunday and telephoned them frequently. I saw a girl there who got mad at her abuse by shouting back, ‘Ene yegemahu negn? [an Amharic expression meaning ‘Am I dirt?’]. We were of great help to each other. I am proud of being an Ethiopian, because we are disciplined.”

Human Capital and Workplace Integration: A Reflection of South African Migrants in Australia

The extent to which human migration has grown over the last two decades partially reflects the strategic approach that some countries have taken to address shortages in skills and expertise. Evidence suggests that migrants are however often underutilised or underachieve, leading to a sub-optimal outcome and often a result of the human capital recognition deficit, both by the migrant and the country of destination. The deficit is partly driven by the range of difficulties associated with workplace integration and acculturation, arguably part of the extensive range of losses experienced by migrants. This paper postulates the argument that a timely and appropriate intervention in the workplace integration process will alleviate the human capital recognition deficit and allow migrants to make a more significant contribution to the workplace in a shorter period of time. This paper reflects on experiences reported by South African migrants in Australia. It focusses on the narrative of workplace exposure and identifies three major groupings. First there is the overall experience of ‘not knowing’, followed by a willingness to tackle the ‘new and difficult environment’. Finally respondents report a capability to ‘respond’, and in a sense outperform their perceived diminished human capital value. Overall the paper confirms that the experiences of South African migrants in Australia mirror experiences reported in other migration studies. Personal observations and comments in the study do however confirm the benefits that an employer based support system holds in minimizing the human capital deficit. In recent times human migration has assumed significant proportions, to the extent that by 2008 approximately three (3) per cent of the world population were considered migrants (Enderwick et al., 2011). While many factors facilitate global migration those countries that recognised its potential as a source of economic growth and development have also fuelled it. Through a combination of pull factors, including prominent government migration policies, countries such as the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia have succeeded in attracting significant numbers of skilled migrants to their shores. It is now generally accepted that these countries have benefitted substantially from immigration.

I.2 The burden of type II diabetes among African migrants in Australia: assessing the role of vitamin D deficiency

I.2 The burden of type II diabetes among African migrants in Australia: assessing the role of vitamin D deficiency

Developing Programs for African Families, by African Families

Obesity is an emerging problem for African migrants in Australia, but few prevention programs incorporate their cultural beliefs and values. This study reports on the application of community capacity-building and empowerment principles in 4 workshops with Sudanese families in Australia. Workshop participants prioritized health behaviors, skill and knowledge gaps, and environments for change to identify culturally centered approaches to health promotion. The workshops highlighted a need for culturally and age-appropriate interventions that build whole-of-family skills and knowledge around the positive effects of physical activity and nutrition to improve health within communities while reducing intergenerational and gender role family conflicts.

Trust in the Australian food supply: Towards understanding the new food environment for African migrants in Australia

Trust in the Australian food supply: Towards understanding the new food environment for African migrants in Australia