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作者

Charishma Ratnam

来源

URBAN GEOGRAPHY,Vol.40,Issue8,P.1198-1209

语言

英文

关键字

Othering,Sydney,refugees,settlement,multiculturalism

作者单位

School of Humanities and Languages, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia

摘要

Australia publicly espouses its multiculturalism as a key component of its national identity. In this paper, I argue that despite the importance of multiculturalism to Australia’s identity, political decisions and discourse has muddied its remit with respect to humanitarian migrant intake programs and outcomes. Australia’s history of selective migrant intake and restrictive refugee policy continues the Othering of past policies into contemporary settings. Refugee policy has become a political football. During the most recent national election campaign (May 2019), the plight of sick and ill refugees, currently housed offshore in detention centers, was used as a political pawn. Lost amid this political rhetoric were the traumatic narratives of forced migrants resettling in Australia’s cities. Without possibility for a loud voice in public discourse, there is little opportunity for more Australians to understand how refugees experience detention centers, struggle to attain residency visas, and make “home” in multicultural Australia. I draw on research with Sri Lankan refugees in Sydney to give voice to these micro-level, place-based experiences of vulnerable arrivals. These stories, I think, can (re)shape and enrich Australia’s multicultural identity because they challenge us to not only accept difference but recognize the circumstances through which Australia’s diversity seeds its narrative.KEYWORDS: Othering, Sydney, refugees, settlement, multiculturalismAcknowledgmentsThis research is supported by an Australia Government Research Training Scholarship. I would like to thank Associate Professor Pablo Bose for inviting me to contribute to the Urban Pulse series and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback that improved this paper. My deepest thanks go to Dr Danielle Drozdzewski and Dr Marilu Melo Zurita for their guidance and feedback on earlier versions of this paper. I would also like to thank Dr Peta Wolifson for her insights and Michal Martin for his extensive knowledge of Australia’s legislation that this paper relied on. Finally, I am grateful for all the participants who shared their experiences with me.