Belonging and Attitudes towards Ethnic Languages among African Migrants in Australia (original) (raw)
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African Identities, 2011
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This article critiques the label 'African-Australian,' which has been widely adopted in both popular and academic discourse without critical attention to its relevance and impact. The blanket application of the label 'African-Australian' to new entrants from Southern Sudan in particular, as well as refugees and migrants in general, homogenises their experiences and must be unpacked. Doing this requires consideration of two interlinked aspects; the meaningfulness of Africa as a label and the impact of imposed bureaucratic labels. The works of Mudimbe 2 and Mbembe 3 are instructive here in dispelling myths about Africa's homogeneity through a historical perspective on efforts towards African self-definition, uncovering the dominance of negative discourse on Africa and Africans. Zetter's, 4 and later Malkki's, 5 research on refugee communities uncovers how identities are formed and transformed by bureaucratic action with a focus on labelling. Making a critical connection between designation and service delivery, Zetter also highlights the non-participatory nature of 1 This analysis and the associated critique of 'African-Australians' have emerged from an ongoing Australia Research Council Linkage Project on the settlement of visible refugees and migrants conducted in the School of Social and Political Sciences,
South Sudanese Australians: Constantly Negotiating Belonging and Identity
Sudan Studies for South Sudan and Sudan, 2018
A South Sudanese community has lived in Australia since the late 1990s. Despite this long residence, tensions over belonging and identity have intensified in recent years in response to ongoing acculturation stress, overt racism and the community’s complex relationship with their homeland and its seemingly intractable conflict. This article discusses how a ‘deficits discourse’ (Dumbrill, 2009) which sees refugees as needy service recipients during settlement processes has contributed to the ‘othering’ of African migrants in Australia. The authors write that this othering is based on recent, sustained racism, including the criminalising of young Africans, especially South Sudanese youth (Chingaipe, 2017). They conclude that despite the othering that South Sudanese Australians experience on a daily basis, there is a growing resistance to marginalisation and exclusion within the community.
Australian Settlement Policy and Refugee Discourses: The Impact on Emerging African Communities
2013
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