Multicultural Australia Research Articles

Education's economic return in multicultural Australia: Demographic analysis

This article focuses on the impact of education as the most important human capital endowment in the context of migration, religion, gender and ethnic identity from a demographic perspective. It presents research-based evidence to address such key research questions as whether and how significantly women's education provides equal benefit in the labour market for individuals, based on their migration status, religion, and ethnic identity. The field of this study is the multi-ethnic and multicultural context of Australia with a wide range of ethnic and religious groups of migrants from throughout the world. Preliminary results show that labour market achievement is positively and significantly associated with the educational attainment of individuals, irrespective of their migration status, religious affiliation and ethnicity. However, more comprehensive analysis from comparative perspectives reveals that the positive economic return of education is higher for natives (compared with migrants), for ethnic migrants from developed regions of origin (compared with those from less developed regions of origin) and for non-Muslims (compared with Muslims). The article provides two plausible explanations for these patterns. The first refers to the lack of recognition of overseas qualifications and to the devaluation of foreign education that particularly applies to ethnic migrants from less developed regions. The second relates to disadvantage through structural discrimination against migrants, particularly when their cultural and religious identity, such as Islamic names and dress codes, are distinctively displayed. In sum, this analysis presents further research-based evidence to go beyond the human capital theory in order to explain more appropriately the economic return of women's education in the context of religion and migration from a demographic perspective.

Studying Islam and Its Adherents in Australian Universities

Islamic Studies is a relatively new, yet growing phenomenon in Australian universities. With an increased focus on Islam and Muslim in the age of War on Terror and with Australian Muslim population fast increasing, Islamic Studies is an important intellectual tool to better understand, Islam and Muslims and many challenges facing them. This paper is an investigation of the recent trends and developments in Islamic Studies as an academic discipline in Australian universities. This is an important intellectual task because Islamic Studies continues to play a significant role in Australian academia. The data were collected from literature review and are analysed descriptively. The findings of the study show that the intellectual tools developed in Islamic Studies can be deployed to build relationship between fragmented Muslim communities and between Muslims and non-Muslims particularly in multicultural Australia. Islamic Studies draws on a variety of fields making it a crossdiscipline. As such, it offer a rich and analytic investigation of world’s second largest religion and its multiple expressions. Australian universities offer Islamic studies ranging from undergraduate to postgraduate program. The topic studied include Islamic philosophy, jurisprudence, education, history, and Arabic.

Disclosing Racism, Awareness-Raising and Seeking Support: Korean Women Migrants’ Use of Online Cafés

ABSTRACT In recent years, Korean migrants to Australia have turned increasingly to digital culture as a space of information exchange, support, and belonging. The need for a space in which the ‘politics of listening’ [Dreher, T., 2009. Listening across Difference: Media and Multiculturalism Beyond the Politics of Voice. Continuum (Mount Lawley, W.A.), 23 (4), 445–458] is made possible becomes even more crucial in face of continued exclusions and everyday practices of racism in contemporary multicultural Australia. This article discusses the use of popular online ‘cafés’ by Korean women migrants to Australia as means of negotiating experiences of racism and alienation. Analysing participation in three Korean online cafés, Missy Hoju, Missy Melbourne and Hoju Melbourne Gongdong Gumae, racism can be understood as holding a significant place in shaping in Korean women’s identities. As a profoundly affective experience, racism, both indirectly encountered and directly experienced, leaves longlasting affective impacts, shaping women’s sense of safety and belonging. We suggest the gendered intimacy of these cafés as online ‘intimate publics’ [Berlant, L. G., 2008. The Female Complaint: The Unfinished Business of Sentimentality in American Culture, Durham. Durham: Duke University Press] allows for such painful experiences to be witnessed and heard, producing possibilities and practices of solidarity between Korean women migrants.

Article of Journal of Learning and Education Policy

This article provides a critical analysis of policies from two education systems that support the education of students from migrant backgrounds. This analysis examines the highly political policy context of multiculturalism to reveal how education systems acquiesce to or resist social and political forces. In making this case, the article presents an historical analysis of the Australian federal government’s multicultural policy and the events that shaped it. The article then presents an analysis of the national policy statement Multicultural Australia: United, Strong, Successful to understand the current federal position on multiculturalism. These analyses provide an understanding of the political rationality of the broader context. This article argues that education policy constructions are likely to reflect this political rationality. Against this backdrop it then examines primary policies from two education systems that relate to education for students from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The key argument is that, whilst the federal government attends to concerns about security, social integration and economic contributions, education departments can ‘resist’ and attend to broader issues related to educational equity and social justice.

Critical Chinese as an Additional Language education in Australia: A journey to voices, courage and hope

This article addresses key topics of Chinese as an Additional Language (CAL) education and classroom pedagogical practices. It reports on a 3‐year ethnographic study within Australian schools to discuss dialogic pedagogical practices and students’ aspirations. Based on Freire’s conceptualisation of conscientização and banking education, the purpose of this article is therefore to unpack a journey to voices, courage and hope of a cohort of socially, linguistically and economically disadvantaged students in Western Sydney, one of the most culturally diverse regions in the country. Their experiences, responses, dreams and understanding of CAL education in multicultural Australia were thus captured. Our data shows that critical CAL education might point to some avenues for the educational equity agenda. By arguing that emancipatory and critical practices could enhance students to achieve consciousness and collective self‐transformation, we aim to make a contribution to the literature on CAL and languages education, which all too often isolates from broader issues in educational theory. The article also adds to the limited research that engages with CAL classroom data. Our critical approach to CAL education illuminates the intersections between language and social inclusion. Considering the worldwide growing upheaval and scepticism around CAL education, we call for writing inclusive languages education and related pedagogical practices into the social inclusion agenda in Australia and internationally, for the teaching and learning of all additional languages.

Education department policy constructions within highly political contexts: a critical policy study of multiculturalism

ABSTRACT This article provides a critical analysis of policies from two education systems that support the education of students from migrant backgrounds. This analysis examines the highly political policy context of multiculturalism to reveal how education systems acquiesce to or resist social and political forces. In making this case, the article presents an historical analysis of the Australian federal government’s multicultural policy and the events that shaped it. The article then presents an analysis of the national policy statement Multicultural Australia: United, Strong, Successful to understand the current federal position on multiculturalism. These analyses provide an understanding of the political rationality of the broader context. This article argues that education policy constructions are likely to reflect this political rationality. Against this backdrop it then examines primary policies from two education systems that relate to education for students from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The key argument is that, whilst the federal government attends to concerns about security, social integration and economic contributions, education departments can ‘resist’ and attend to broader issues related to educational equity and social justice.

“A shared energy”: West African drumming fosters cross-cultural understandings in Australia

ABSTRACT This study builds on and contributes to work in the area of African music in Australia in community settings. This research explores why people came together to share music-making and practice at a drumming retreat, and what they experienced as a recreational group music activity. Employing thematic analysis to code the data, two overarching themes (drumming for leisure and cultural connections) are discussed. I argue that West African drumming as a “shared energy” experience has the power to positively impact participants’ lives, fostering cross-cultural understandings. Exploring another culture helps to dispel myths and encourages discussion that may promote cultural diversity and respect in a multicultural Australia.

A deliberate language policy or a perceived lack of agency: Heritage language maintenance in the Polish community in Melbourne

Aims: By applying the tripartite framework of family language policy, this study seeks to gain insight into heritage language maintenance of Polish families in Melbourne. To this end, an integrative investigation of family language policy encapsulating the heritage language perceptions, practices and management will be employed. Methodology: Based on the data collected through the online questionnaire supplemented with in-depth interviews, quantitative and qualitative analyses have been conducted to obtain a sociolinguistic picture of the convoluted dependencies. Data and analysis: The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded according to the grounded theory approach. The recurrent themes were noted. The existing social patterns were conceptualised through the process of constant comparison. The excerpts selected for analysis illustrate how critical have been the informants’ beliefs and practices concerning heritage language maintenance. Findings and conclusions: The data analyses of the researched families disclose a wide range of practices where certain discrepancies are observed between declarations and the actual language behaviours. It also emerges that without parents’ reinforcement and establishing the heritage language as a default means of communication at home, children suffer from lower productive skills. Originality: This paper delves into how Polish is maintained as a heritage language by the second generation of Polish-speaking immigrants. It explores the Polish community, one of the well-established yet understudied groups that make up multicultural Australia. It unfolds an account of the dynamics of family language policy, illustrating how they are constantly negotiated, contested and formed by parents. Significance/implications: The findings contribute to the ongoing discussion of language policies and heritage language maintenance by demonstrating that the hardship and distress resulting from heritage language acquisition as well as language maintenance are incumbent primarily on family language policy. The researched group is an average-size immigrant community situated in the context with limited institutional support resolving down to Polish Saturday schools.

Pragmatic Belonging: Migrant Young People Making Claims on the Nation

ABSTRACT Multicultural Youth Australia is a national ‘census’ of migrant youth in Australia aimed at tracking their social, cultural and economic status. The findings from this study highlight strong feelings of national belonging among migrant young people, despite significant experiences of racism. This article unpacks this paradox. It asks what migrant youth mean when they say they belong in the face of persistent racialised exclusion. In Hage's account of liberal multiculturalism, these feelings of belonging despite national rejection are explained as an acquiescence to the structures of white nationhood. This article develops an alternative analysis by drawing on place-based, reflexive accounts of youth belonging and scholarship on everyday multiculturalism. It extends these approaches by proposing a pragmatic analytics of belonging, foregrounding the practical and political contexts in which migrant young people's statements of belonging are put to work. It understands these belonging claims as practices of provisional citizenship, and aligns these claims with Arendt's notion of ‘action’ to highlight their potential as open-ended, critical engagements with the nation.

Defining and Inscribing ‘Multicultural Library Services’ in Australia: A Case Study of the Working Group on Multicultural Library Services (Victoria)

ABSTRACT In this article, I survey efforts by librarians to alter collections and services amidst the demographic and political transformations of late twentieth century Australia. To examine this complex history, I focus on the Working Group on Multicultural Library Services (Victoria). For two decades, this independent group were active in positioning public libraries as key to the promotion and endorsement of a multicultural Australia. Using Group archives and interviews with key members, I argue that dominant understandings of recognising and accommodating cultural difference in libraries reflect the limitations of state multiculturalism. To demonstrate this, I focus on two Group activities: the state-wide adoption of the Standards for multicultural public library service, and lobbying by the Group for a national languages policy. While the former adopted the language of welfare provision based on discrete ethno-cultural groups, the latter echoed the emerging policy discourse of ‘productive diversity’. In this case study, I critique the politics embedded in how ‘cultural diversity’ is typically understood within libraries and how library policies and practices are implicated in broader social and political developments. Such an approach offers insight into steady shifts in how the role of public libraries in culturally heterogenous societies have been debated and defined.

Experiences and psychological well‐being of language brokers in Australia: A mixed methods approach

ObjectiveThe following mixed methods study aimed to decipher the factors influencing the psychological wellbeing of language brokers. Specifically, ethnic identity, attitudes towards brokering, family connectedness, and high intensity brokering situations were examined.MethodOne hundred and twenty four individuals completed surveys in either paper pencil format or online. Six survey participants also volunteered to participate in semi‐structured interviews.ResultsThe quantitative results revealed ethnic identity and attitudes towards brokering positively correlated with psychological wellbeing, no support was found for family connectedness or for brokering in high intensity contexts. The moderating effects of ethnic identity, attitudes, and family connectedness on the relationship between high intensity brokering and wellbeing were not supported by the quantitative analysis. Emerging themes from the six interviews provided insight into familial relationships, community connection, and multicultural Australia with the sub‐themes of acceptance and non‐acceptance of diversity.ConclusionThese results support the current policies requiring health services and legal aid to provide free interpreters for individuals not fluent in English. Additionally, these results my assist in government bodies and policy makers providing additional support and resources to language brokers in the home setting and the community.

National identities and war heritage: acceptance and resistance of an authorised heritage discourse among visitors to the Australian War Memorial

ABSTRACT This paper examines the convergence of national identities and war heritage, among first-, second- and third-plus-generation Australians. In Australia, interpretation of a First World War event, the Anzac story, is promoted as war heritage central to national identity. What meaning might this discourse have in today’s multicultural Australia? Qualitative interviews were conducted with 93 adult visitors to the Australian War Memorial, 37 of whom had recent migrant backgrounds from 20 countries of origin. The analysis applied ‘authorised heritage discourse’ (AHD) as a theoretical framework. Visitors displayed three different orientations to an AHD that merged war heritage with national identity. The dominant group positively aligned with the war heritage/national identity AHD. In this group, national identity is reinforced by those qualities typically ascribed as being forged out of the ANZAC’s experience. Those consciously aligned critique the mythological status of the Anzac legacy yet embrace it as important for national identities. Those resisting the war heritage/national identity AHD disrupt the often-assumed links between history, heritage and identities. These three orientations appear to be independent of the participants’ country of birth or cultural background, showing the constructed nature of heritage and fluidity of national identities.

Dreaming Diversity: Second Generation Australians and the Reimagining of Multicultural Australia

Dreaming Diversity: Second Generation Australians and the Reimagining of Multicultural Australia

Young Buddhists and the Cosmopolitan Irony of Belonging in Multicultural Australia

ABSTRACTWhile existing research shows low levels of negative sentiment towards Buddhists in Australia, little is known about their lived experiences of belonging, and what they do to facilitate social cohesion. This article addresses this gap by exploring experiences of belonging and intercultural engagement among twenty-two young adult Buddhists from a range of backgrounds living in Australia. It finds that while multiculturalism and positive portrayals of Buddhism facilitated the belonging of these young Buddhists, anti-religious sentiment and processes of racialisation contributed to experiences of exclusion. The article contends that these contradictory forces create an ambiguous context for the negotiation of religious belonging and intercultural engagement, which study participants addressed through processes of contextualisation, accommodation and reflexive community-building. It further suggests that Bryan Turner’s concept of cosmopolitan irony provides a useful lens through which to unpack these complexities.

The ethnolinguistic vitality of Arabic in the Australian multicultural landscape

This paper investigates the ethnolinguistic vitality of Arabic in Australian society and the implications such vitality has on claims of a successfully multicultural Australia. Vitality in this regard is defined as ‘that which makes a group likely to behave as a distinctive and active collective entity in intergroup situations’ (Giles, Bourhis and Taylor 1977, p. 308). To conduct this research, empirical data was collected to understand the way members of the Arabic ethnolinguistic community view their own vitality. Additionally, secondary sources were studied to present an overview of the place Arabic holds within the Australian multicultural landscape. A total number of 53 (n=53) students across Melbourne were surveyed. The results indicate that when looking at the variable of demography and informal institutional support, Arabic held a high rate of vitality. However, participants believed Arabic had a low vitality in regard to the level of social status and formal institutionalised support./ Keywords: ethnolinguistic, ethnolinguistic vitality, Arabic, Arab community, multiculturalism

1950s vibe, 21st century audience: Australia’s dearth of on-screen diversity

The difference between how multicultural Australia is ‘in real life’ and ‘in broadcasting’ can be seen through data from the Census, and from Screen Australia’s most recent research into on screen diversity. In 2016, these sources of data coincided with the Census, which takes place every five years. Conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this presents a ‘snapshot’ of Australian life. From the newest Census figures in 2016, it appears that nearly half of the population in Australia (49 percent) had either been born overseas (identifying as first generation Australian) or had one or both parents born overseas (identifying as second generation Australian). Nearly a third, or 32 percent, of Australians identified as having come from non-Anglo Celtic backgrounds, and 2.8 percent of Australians identify as Indigenous (Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander). Nearly a fifth, or 18 percent, of Australians identify as having a disability. Screen Australia is the government agency that oversees film and TV funding and research. Conducted in 2016, Screen Australia’s study looked at 199 television dramas (fiction, excluding animation) that aired between 2011 and 2015. The comparison between these two sources of data reveals that with one exception, there is a marked disparity between diversity as depicted in the lived experiences of Australians and recorded by the Census, and diversity as depicted on screen and recorded by the Screen Australia survey.

Pharmacy practitioners' lived experiences of culture in multicultural Australia: From perceptions to skilled practice.

ObjectivesThe Code of Ethics of pharmacy practitioners in Australia recognises the obligation to provide care to patients in a culturally safe and responsive manner. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine how Australian community pharmacists understand and experience the concept of ‘culture’ in their everyday practice environment.MethodsVoluntary, semi-structured interviews were conducted at community pharmacy placement sites in South-East Queensland, Australia. Pharmacists were asked to recall an incident that evoked their cultural awareness during the course of their practice. The question stated, verbatim: “We are preparing our students to be pharmacists in a highly multicultural community. Can you think of an incident where you learnt something about another person’s culture or it made you more aware of your own culture? Please briefly describe the incident.” Reportable responses were collected from 59 of the 92 visited pharmacists. These responses were audio-recorded and transcribed. The data were collated and analysed through iterative, reflexive, thematic analysis using constant comparison.Results and significanceThe responses provided a rich selection of lived experiences within Australian multicultural pharmacy practice, describing professional dilemmas, fears and the strategies employed to overcome practice challenges. Six main response categories were identified: (i) Language/communication challenges, (ii) Cultural attitudes and behaviours, (iii) Exposure to culture due to pharmacy location, (iv) Religion, gender, and age, (v) Prejudiced/perceived racist attitudes and discrimination towards ‘other’ cultures, (vi) Perceived ‘sameness’ of different cultures. The study has provided valuable insights into community pharmacists’ experiences of culture in their day-to-day professional practice, also highlighting the associated strategies used to maintain a high standard of practice. There is merit in ensuring that the pharmacy curriculum and professional development programs are designed to respond to the ethical obligation of pharmacists to practise in a culturally safe, responsive manner that acknowledges and incorporates the importance of culture, cultural differences and intercultural relations, while addressing culturally unique needs in a skilled and professional manner.

Migration Histories, National Memory, and Regional Collections

Migration Histories, National Memory, and Regional Collections

Victims, Apologies, and the Chinese in Australia

Abstract This article explores recent public debates in Australia about Chinese living overseas and the recent actions by members of the Chinese community in seeking official apologies for historic and current injustices. It explores the ways in which these calls to rectify both current and past injustices draw Chinese overseas into current PRC agendas by embedding their experiences into narratives of China’s humiliation and victimhood — key tenets of the China Dream to rejuvenate the nation in the twenty-first century. This article argues that by drawing Chinese Overseas into biologized notions of ethnicity and into an ethno-nationalist identity of victimhood, the PRC may cause harm to Chinese living in multicultural Australia.

Book Review: Urban Indigenous People in Multicultural Australia: Negotiation and Resistance to Identity Domination by Kurita Ritsuko

Book Review: Urban Indigenous People in Multicultural Australia: Negotiation and Resistance to Identity Domination by Kurita Ritsuko