Pan-Asian Identity in a Globalizing World (original) (raw)
Related papers
FORUM ON CIVIL SOCIETY AND CULTURAL PLURALISM IN THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 2003
In the late 1990s, the question of ‘national identity’ re-emerged as an important focus of discussion in Australian public life. This was fuelled by the continuing, and at times extremely volatile, governmental and public debates around immigration — more particularly on the economic, political, social and cultural impact of recent immigrants on Australian society. Such discussions focused heavily on the supposed implications for the ‘Australian national identity’ of the increasing proportion of new settlers who have come from Asian countries since the abolition of the ‘White Australia’ policy in the 1970s. A parallel development that stimulated considerable friction was the adoption by the Australian government of ‘multiculturalist’ policies in the 1970s, followed by the expansive promotion of Australia since the late 1980s as a ‘multicultural’ society. Growing awareness of different constructions of nationhood and variations in the meaning and significance of citizenship in certain Asian and European countries have further stimulated the re-examination of these concepts within the contemporary Australian context. One important characteristic accompanying the seemingly endless public discussions and political debates around ‘Australian identity’ has been the noticeable absence of the voices of recent immigrants to Australia, many from countries in Asia, whose views and experiences can add considerably to our broader understanding of these concerns. This paper is based on a research study that used a semi-structured interviewing technique with a sample of 128 immigrants from Sydney, Melbourne and the regional areas of Tasmania who settled in Australia between 1985 and 1994. Respondents were asked their views on topics such as life in their country of origin, the process of migration to Australia, life in Australia since arrival, their attitude to their country of origin and to Australia, general questions about their personal sense of identity, and issues related to citizenship. Respondents in our study provided numerous rich and informative insights into the impact of immigration on their lives. For the purposes of this presentation I will explore a number of themes that emerged in the process of examining the reflections of respondents on their relationship to group or collective identity, subsequent to their migration and settlement in Australia. To illuminate some of these themes and issues I draw examples from the interview transcripts of some of the forty-six immigrant respondents in our study of Asian background. The study provides further empirical weight to the observed complexities and ‘slipperiness’ surrounding the experience of collective identities in the contemporary world. Immigrants to societies such as Australia that have embraced, at least publicly, the ‘multicultural’ rather than the ‘mono-cultural’ paradigm, still invariably encounter a range of ‘traditional’ collective identity markers that include nationality, religion, race and ethnicity (not to mention class, status and gender). Furthermore, the personal, social and cultural dilemmas around ‘identity’ are rarely matters effectively resolved in childhood or adolescence, but rather continuously encountered by most individuals as part of the life-long socialization experience.
2016
The literature on migrants and social adjustment in Australia has been limited, with theories on acculturation surpassing empirical knowledge. Additionally, most research in this arena has centered on biosocial correlates of adult migrant activity; few Australian based studies have investigated empirically the impact of acculturation strategies on familial and structural marginalization among migrant youth. Using the underpinning constructs of biculturalism across multiple domains, this thesis examines how ethnic self-identification and self-esteem are mediated by the adoption of bicultural (culturally integrated) or culturally separated strategies of adjustment, and how this in turn may relate to negative adjustment outcomes such as alienating migrant youth from their families (familial marginalization) and from salient social/governance structures (structural marginalization) in their lives. This proposed relationship is articulated in a hypothesized 6-factor model relating the co...
Global nomads: towards a study of 'Asian' Third Culture Kids
Proceedings from 17th Biennial Conference of the …, 2008
For the full/completed study on Asian Third Culture Kids, see: "Growing Up in Transit: The Politics of Belonging at an International School" (Berghahn Books 2018) https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/TanuGrowing Abstract: This paper highlights the complex identity issues faced by these so-called ‘third culture kids’ (TCKs) as a result of their highly mobile lives. Existing work on the subject has focused mainly on describing the nature and experiences of TCKs in an attempt to raise awareness of the struggles they go through and the benefits that their heightened intercultural understanding might bring. Yet, little work has been done to incorporate the research into the wider framework of discourse on identity. This paper will examine how Stuart Hall and Erik Erikson’s work on identity and adolescence provides an important framework for further understanding how globalization has impacted TCKs’ sense of identity. The need to study the role of ‘international education’ in developing intercultural sensitivity among TCKs will also be discussed. Finally, I will argue a case for studying TCKs whose parents are from Asia, particularly those living in Jakarta where there has been a boom in international schools which accommodate TCKs. *This paper was presented to the 17 th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia in Melbourne 1-3 July 2008. It has been peer reviewed via a double blind referee process and appears on the Conference Proceedings Website by the permission of the author who retains copyright. This paper may be downloaded for fair use under the Copyright Act (1954), its later amendments and other relevant legislation.
Interesting Journal, Edition 4, 2016
“I am a Korean New Zealander. I have spent the first half of my life in Korea and the other half, including my adolescent years, in New Zealand. I speak both languages fluently, and English like any other Kiwi with no detectable Korean accent. I don’t look typically Korean because of the way I do my make-up. My social circle consists mainly of caucasian friends. All of this translated to a state where I have felt for the longest time, that I did not fit into either of the cultures. I could see that a bicultural space existed, but that sphere was complex and diverse in its own right. I could not find a significant community of people who I shared my life experiences with. I visualised myself floating above cultural boundaries, in a grey, murky space where I could not see anyone else.” (Lee, 2014, n.p) The preceding quote is an excerpt from a blog post I wrote in 2014. This autoethnographic essay continues and explores my long standing curiosities about my own racial, ethnic and national identity. Throughout the essay, I narrate a story from the past then analyse the experiences using key concepts of identity discourse to gain a better understanding of the past. First, I examine my racial identity using social ascription and meaning to make sense of it’s construction. Second, my ethnic identity is analysed using Cornell and Hartmann’s constructionist approach as well as an observation in my own discourse shift from essentialism to hybridity. Lastly, my national identity is analysed using ideas of ethnicity based nationhood and transnationalism, along with a critical interrogation of my asserted and assigned position within the power relations of ethnic and national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand. I conclude the essay by relating Stephen Maturin’s quote on identity to my own sentiments about the dynamic nature of identity construction.
The Performativity of Orientalism: 'Asian' International Students, Whiteness and Australian Border
In the aftermath of the Second World War, by virtue of the Colombo Plan, thousands of South and Southeast Asian nationals were allowed to come to study in Australia as a form of humanitarian aid. By means of mobilising orientalist depictions, the Colombo Plan contributed to the positioning of international students as passive and homogenous subjects in need of Australian guidance as well as projecting a self-representation of Australia as a generous, open, and racially tolerant nation. In light of this history, this paper explores not so much what Orientalism has done to international students as what it has made them to do by looking at the ways in which Orientalist representations of them have articulated with national narratives of migration and multiculturalism. In doing so, this paper will show how such articulations have resulted for international students into an injunction to labour towards whiteness-that is, the imperative to convert their educational capital into values and practices sanctioned as national by the dominant group.
Integration/exclusion? : young British Asians and the politics of ethnicity
2000
The aim of this thesis is to question the dichotomy and legitimacy of the use of the term 'social exclusion' or 'integration' in relation to minority groups. Examining the politics of exclusion at the level of every-day life, the thesis presents an analysis of the process of identification and ethnicity negotiation of young British Asians. As such the thesis will contribute to the linking of theories of 'new ethnicities' to social realities through the employment of an ethnographic method and contextual analysis. In addition, the thesis aims to add to the literature on the creation of new cultural forms by young British Asians. The thesis argues for a more contextual conceptualisation of identity and ethnicity based on a politics of interaction.