Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Australian minorities'

This thesis examines how Aboriginality, ‘Asianness’ and whiteness have been imagined from Federation in 1901 to the present. It recovers a rich but hitherto largely neglected history of twentieth century cross-cultural partnerships and alliances between Indigenous and Asian-Australians. Commercial and personal intercourse between these communities has existed in various forms on this continent since the pre-invasion era. These cross-cultural exchanges have often been based on close and long-term shared interests that have stemmed from a common sense of marginalisation from dominant Anglo-Australian society. At other times these cross-cultural relationships have ranged from indifference to hostility, reflecting the fact that migrants of Asian descent remain the beneficiaries of the dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. (For complete abstract open document)

This thesis examines changes which have occurred since the late 1980s and early 1990s with respect to the representation of cultural diversity on Australian popular drama programming. The thesis finds that a significant number of actors of diverse cultural and linguistic background have negotiated the television industry employment process to obtain acting roles in a lead capacity. The majority of these actors are from the second generation of immigrants, who increasingly make up a significant component of Australia's multicultural population. The way in which these actors are portrayed on-screen has also shifted from one of a 'performed' ethnicity, to an 'everyday' portrayal. The thesis develops an analysis which connects the development and broad political support for multicultural policy as expressed in the National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia to the changes in both employment and representation practices in popular television programming in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The thesis addresses multicultural debates by arguing for a mainstreaming position. The thesis makes detailed comparison of cultural diversity and television in the jurisdictions of the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand to support the broad argument that cultural diversity policy measures produce observable outcomes in television programming.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media & Philosophy, Department of Critical and Cultural Studies, 2005.
Bibliography: p. 274-291.
Introduction -- The emergence of "honyakugeki" -- Shôgekijô and the quest for national identity -- "Honyakugeki" after the rise of Shôgekijô -- The presentation of Australian plays as "honyakugeki" -- Representations of Aborigines in Japan -- Minorities in Japan and theatre -- The Japanese productions of translated Aboriginal plays -- Significance of the productions of Aboriginal plays in Japan -- Conclusion.
Many Australian plays have been presented in Japan since the middle of the 1990s. This thesis demonstrates that in presenting Australian plays the Japanese Theatre has not only attempted to represent an aspect of Australian culture, but has also necessarily revealed aspects of Japanese culture. This thesis demonstrates that understanding this process is only fully possible when the particular cultural function of 'translated plays' in the Japanese cultural context is established. In order to demonstrate this point the thesis surveys the history of so-called 'honyakugeki' (translated plays) in the Japanese Theatre and relates them to the production of Western plays to ideas and processes of modernisation in Japan. -- Part one of the thesis demonstrates in particular that it was the alternative Theatre movement of the 1960s and 1970s which liberated 'honyakugeki' from the issue of 'authenticity'. The thesis also demonstrates that in this respect the Japanese alternative theatre and the Australian alternative theatre of the same period have important connections to the quest for 'national identity'. Part one of the thesis also demonstrates that the Japanese productions of Australian plays such as The Floating World, Diving for Pearls and Honour reflected in specific ways this history and controversy over 'honyakugeki'. Furthermore, these productions can be analysed to reveal peculiarly Japanese issues especially concerning the lack of understanding of Australian culture in Japan and the absence of politics from the Japanese contemporary theatre. -- Part two of the thesis concentrates on the production of translations of the Australian Aboriginal plays Stolen and The 7 Stages of Grieving. 'This part of the thesis demonstrates that the presentation of these texts opened a new chapter in the history of presenting 'honyakugeki' in Japan. It demonstrates that the Japanese theatre had to confront the issue of 'authenticity' once more, but in a radically new way. The thesis also demonstrates that the impact of these productions in Japan had a particular Japanese cultural and social impact, reflecting large issues about the issue of minorities and indigenous people in Japan and about the possibilities of theatre for minorities. In particular the thesis demonstrates that these representations of Aborigines introduced a new image of Australian Aborigines to that which was dominant amongst Japanese anthropologists.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
291 p

This thesis explores the question of intercultural personhood in two 'mainstream' Australian cases within interpersonal, intercultural relations in Australian contexts in the second half of the twentieth century. The problem is viewed through three disciplinary lenses: those of communication, psychology and sociology. A qualitative, interdisciplinary approach integrates these through an inductive biographical research design. Within cross-cultural communication studies, a host culture such as that of the Anglo-Australian majority is seen in a monolithic and static way to which Australians of other cultural backgrounds are seen to adapt. These studies give no place to the changes which members of the majority undergo. 'Intercultural personhood', a term coined by Kim (1988, 2001), describes the kinds of 'ethnic' individuals who through negotiating their identities within personal, social and mass communication contexts, both host and ethnic, move beyond the bounds of their own cultural heritage to embrace both their former cultural identity and the new 'host' (viz Australian) identity. In this thesis, the elements of cross-cultural adaptation theory and of 'intercultural personhood' are applied to the intercultural experience of 'mainstream' Australians. From preliminary memory work workshops and focus groups, the cases of two mainstream individuals who show some evidence of 'intercultural personhood' and make identity claims comparable with 'ethnic' adapters are then developed through biographical method. Their life accounts are drawn on for the exploration of issues of identity and personhood within interpersonal, intercultural relations. Major focus is given to the social psychology of Harre (1983, 1993, 1998), whose work provided both a conceptualisation and a methodological tool for the problem. In Harre's work, three dimensions of personhood, namely consciousness, agency and biography are identified together with the psycho-social processes through which an individual's identity and orientation to their culture is appropriated, transformed and publicised. This publication is then rejected or incorporated into the culture through processes of conventionalisation. These four psycho-social processes are explored in my study through an adaptation of assisted biography method (De Waele & Harre, 1979). The strength of the psycho-social approach of Harre lies in its ability to get below the surface behaviours to an analysis of the theory of self which individuals, as 'singular' beings, bring into play in their interactions within themselves and with one another. While this approach draws on social contexts to support the transformations, it is not designed to explicate to a sufficient degree the conditions under which such theories of self are activated and within which changes in identity occur and are maintained. For this reason it is essential to incorporate a sociological framework to understand the influence of the conditions within which such experiences are played out. Bourdieu's (1984, 1987) cultural, relational sociology is coupled with Harre's (1983, 1993, 1998) theory of personal and social being in that it brings together the individual and the society in a way which proves fruitful for ongoing analysis of the biographical data collected within the communication and psycho-social framework of the earlier research. Bourdieu's critique of a methodology based on biography points to the 'illusion' that is created through a biographical interview process. Taking this critique of biography into the study of interpersonal, intercultural relations meant a shift from the communication interactions and psycho-social analysis undertaken to an analysis of the various social constructions evident within the elements of the life account and a search for the cognitive imprint of social structures as durable dispositions within the persons. These dispositions are evident from within a social trajectory of the life and they are applied to the intercultural encounters recounted by the participants in their autobiographies. The addition of Bourdieu's (1984, 1987) sociology strengthens the ability to view the individual and the society through a single lens and to position the individual life course as secondary within a broader and primary analysis of social structure and social structuring as a means of interpreting lives. Its weakness lies in the degree of 'voluntariness' brought into effect as individuals both chart their course through life and are pushed and pulled by the various social forces at work within their trajectories. Within the scope of this thesis, these two approaches, that is, a psychological and a sociological one, are illustrated and incorporated into an interdisciplinary model for the study of interpersonal, intercultural relations. Further rigorous research to validate the components and the relationships of the model and to investigate these strengths and weaknesses more thoroughly is foreshadowed. This interdisciplinary model of interpersonal, intercultural relations is the major contribution of this work to the field of intercultural communication. Advances which are achieved through use of psychology, sociology and biographical research method as a tool through this study are also identified. The thesis concludes with a review of the contributions of the thesis and a discussion of the implications for future research on interpersonal, intercultural relations.

Issues concerning gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex (GLBTI) older people have been almost completely neglected in Australian gerontology. This is reflected in textual discourse, clinical and service practices, training and education, research approaches and policy development. The research presented in this thesis investigates whether lessons might be drawn from the experience of activists in the United States of America (USA) and then applied to Australian gerontology, with regard to the recognition of GLBTI issues. As such, the research aims to provide guideposts for a process of change in Australia, by the investigation of the factors involved in collective action. A critical research paradigm underpinned the research approach. The research was informed by social movement theory which includes structural and cultural dimensions of collective action. The approach was also informed by the researcher?s history of involvement in activism. Qualitative descriptive research, involving the triangulation of methods, was conducted in Australia and the State of California, in the USA. Fieldwork took place in three phases, involving a questionnaire mailed to Australian activists, analysis of documents held in archival collections in San Francisco and Long Beach, interviews with key activists involved in the Californian process of change and interviews with older GLBTI Australian activists. Throughout the period of the inquiry, the researcher recorded a log of relevant action that occurred in Australia. The data revealed three key findings regarding the Californian process of change and the Australian situation: Aspects of the change process in the State of California, in the USA, involving personal style, individual biography and devotion to the cause, formed a vital personal dimension of collective action; Issues associated with leadership and self-determination were of significance in shaping the change process and determining the outcome of collective action in California; Interest in GLBTI ageing issues and pockets of relevant action were evident in Australia, but a co-ordinated collective process of action was not identified. This thesis argues that lessons drawn from the process of collective action in the State of California could inform action that may take place in Australia. A dialogue between Australian activists, addressing the outcomes of this research, could also assist the development of a locally appropriate process of change. The thesis reveals implications and challenges for the aged care industry, in relation to service provision, education and training, policy development, and further research. The research provides a contribution to the discussion of matters which could assist to minimise discrimination, alleviate fear, promote equity and enhance the value of diversity in Australian gerontology in the future.
thesis (PhDHealthSciences)--University of South Australia, 2004.

This thesis investigates how sports organisations and discourses have impacted on the sports participation of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia. A series of national participation studies have documented that women from minority ethnic backgrounds have significantly lower participation rates in sports and physical activity than Anglo-Australian women. However, the explanations and dimensions of this difference have not been examined in previous research. The experiences of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are used in this thesis to explore sports discourses and organisation and the embodiments of their interrelationship. The present research proposes that sports organisations and discourses within Australia have historically served to marginalise women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The arguments for this position are explored using a local narrative which details the situated nature of women????s experiences of sports. These experiences are located within a historical context that traces migration policies, the growth and development of sports and women????s social relations since white settlement of Australia. It is argued that contemporary sports discourses and organisation are inextricably tied to Australia????s colonial and imperialist past. Theories of ethnicity, gender and sports are analysed. The theoretical perspective taken in this thesis builds on feminist ideologies and ethnicity studies. Empirical analysis is undertaken using gender relations to situate sport as a site of cultural struggles best understood through investigations of history and diversity. Aspects of power, control and influence are central to this thesis. The empirical component of this thesis uses secondary data sources, surveys and interviews to investigate the research proposition. This is achieved on two levels. The first level interrogates existing data to create a macro level analysis of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in sports. A survey of 972 schoolgirls was undertaken to collect information on sports participation and attitudes to sports. This was followed by 30 interviews with women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds that explored individual sports experiences and perspectives on sports. The second level of investigation employed the case study of netball to examine the research question as it related to a specific sports organisation. The case study component of the research involved document and archival analysis, a survey of 372 netball players and interviews with 18 women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and former and current netball administrators. The thesis analyses the empirical data as it relates to the organisation and discourse of sports in Australia. The principal conclusion reached is that sports organisation and discourses are located within a societal power structure that places women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds on its margins. Sports participation is predicated on conformity to existing cultural practices and expectations and it does little to facilitate cultural diversity. The women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who participated in the research did not perceive sports as particularly inclusive of gender and culture. The examination of netball demonstrated that netball has not been concerned with ????other???? women, rather it has focussed its efforts on appealing to ????mainstream???? women. While netball has not explicitly excluded the involvement of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, neither has it actively encouraged cultural diversity. This thesis makes a contribution to knowledge in the field of sports studies with its empirical research and through the ensuing development of a framework for locating the implications of inclusion or exclusion in sports organisations and discourses. This understanding can be used to assess and inform future sports policy development and practice. Principally, the thesis seeks to acknowledge and legitimise the sports experiences of women from diverse backgrounds and in doing so provides insights into a better theoretical understanding about the nexus of gender, ethnicity and sports.

Cette thèse se propose d'étudier de quelle manière les questions d'identité nationale et de gestion de la diversité culturelle se posent au Canada et en Australie, et comment la politique du multiculturalisme, en tant que réponse philosophique et pragmatique à ces questions, a évolué depuis son adoption dans les années 1970 jusqu'à l'heure actuelle en fonction de l'objectif d'unité de ces deux pays. L'analyse s'appuie sur les différents modèles théoriques proposés par la philosophie politique, sur les projets de société des gouvernements canadiens et australiens qui se sont succédés ainsi que sur divers facteurs contextuels pour souligner les faiblesses et les limites du multiculturalisme, qu'il vise à l'égalité culturelle, à la justice sociale ou encore – plus récemment – à l'élaboration d'une identité nationale distincte associée à la promotion d'une citoyenneté à la fois libérale et républicaine. Ce faisant, le travail met à jour l'un des principaux enjeux des sociétés caractérisées par leur pluralisme, à savoir la difficulté de construire un sentiment d'appartenance commune parmi des groupes possédant chacun une identité spécifique, autrement dit la difficulté de fonder l'unité à partir de la diversité. Dans la mesure où cet objectif reste une priorité des gouvernements canadien et australien, la politique du multiculturalisme ne peut se soustraire aux contraintes qu'il impose et qui en font donc avant tout une politique d'intégration
This thesis explores some of the issues related to the representations of national identity and the management of cultural diversity in Canada and Australia, and focuses on the evolution of multiculturalism policies from the 1970s up to the present time as a philosophical and pragmatic response to these issues. Drawing on the theoretical models put forward by different political philosophers, on the visions of the successive Canadian and Australian governments and on contextual elements, the analysis points out the weaknesses and limits of multiculturalism – whether it aims at establishing cultural equality, bringing social justice or – more recently – elaborating a specific national identity based on a conception of citizenship which is both liberal and republican. Hence, this work underlines one of the major challenges that pluralistic societies are currently facing, i. E. The difficulty of developing a feeling of belonging among groups which all defend their particular identities – in other words, the difficulty of building unity out of diversity. In so far as this remains a priority of the Canadian and Australian governments, it also defines and frames multiculturalism policies, which can thus be considered as instruments of integration in both countries

This study investigated the influence of cultural change and acculturation on health-related help seeking behaviour of Vietnamese-Australians. Using convenience sampling, 94 Vietnamese-Australians, 106 Anglo-Australians, and 49 Vietnamese in Vietnam participated in the study. Beliefs about health and health-related help-seeking behaviours were assessed through measures of common mental health symptoms, illness expression (somatisation, psychologisation), symptom causal attributions (environmental, psychological, biological), and choice of help seeking (self-help, family/friends, spiritual, mental health, Western medicine, Eastern medicine).Vietnamese-Australian data was compared with that of the Anglo-Australian and Vietnamese-in Vietnam. Results revealed that the help seeking behaviours and health related cognitions of Vietnamese-Australians, while significantly different from those of Anglo-Australians, were similar to those of Vietnamese in Vietnam. Specifically, both Vietnamese groups were less likely than Anglo-Australians to somatise and psychologise or attribute the cause of symptoms to environmental, psychological or biological causes. However, the two Vietnamese groups were not different from each other in their style of illness expression or in their symptom causal attributions. The Vietnamese-Australians reported experiencing more mental health symptoms than the Vietnamese in Vietnam but fewer than the Anglo-Australians. In relation to help seeking, the Anglo-Australians chose self-help more than the Vietnamese, but there were few other differences between the cultural groups. To investigate the influence of acculturation on health-related beliefs and help seeking behaviour, Vietnamese-Australians were compared according to their modes of acculturation (integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalisation). Generally, results showed a distinct pattern of response. Those with high levels of acculturation towards the Australian culture (the integration and the assimilation) were found to be most similar (in that they scored the highest in most areas measured) to the Anglo-Australians, while few differences were found between the separated and the marginalised groups. Further, cultural orientation was a powerful predictor of help seeking. In that, original cultural orientation predicted selection of help seeking from Western and Eastern medicine, whereas, the host cultural orientation was a more robust predictor of the other variables. However, neither cultural orientation predicted preference for mental health help. Finally, the study found that, although the combination of symptom score, modes of illness expression, and symptom causal attribution were strong predictors of choice of help seeking of Vietnamese-Australians, acculturation scores further improved predictive power. The results were discussed in terms of the various limitations and constraints on interpretation of this complex data set.

Cette thèse examine, au niveau lycée, la contribution de l’origine ethnique aux expériences scolaires d’élèves désavantagés (N=927). Elle a pour objectif d’étudier les rapports entre inégalité sociale, expérience scolaire, et structure institutionnelle. Afin d’enquêter sur le rôle de l’identification ethnique et sa relation aux facteurs institutionnels, une analyse comparative a été menée dans deux pays. L’étude du cas des élèves d’origine turque en France et en Australie indique que les influences de l’ethnicité sont transformées d’un contexte à l’autre par des structures pédagogiques distinctives. En France, les filières et les jugements académiques sévères en réduisent l’estime de soi, en créant de l’aliénation et de la distance sociale entre élève et professeur. En Australie, au contraire, le différemment de la sélection et du jugement permet, de façon temporaire, une atmosphère plus conviviale en cours, mais ne réussit pas à assurer le succès académique des élèves. Les efforts des deux systèmes dans les sites périphériques constituent des logiques d’intégration marginales qui permettent l’exclusion de l’intérieure. Les efforts des élèves pour donner un sens à la vie scolaire à travers des cultures de pairs qui se ressemblent dans les deux contextes font partie des stratégies d’intégration marginale. Les élèves d’origine immigrée semblent particulièrement concernés par ces logiques et stratégies, qui renforcent leur position subordonnée dans le système. L’étude identifie alors les difficultés auxquelles sont confrontés les deux systèmes comme résultant de caractéristiques structurelles
This thesis examines the contribution of ‘ethnic’ background to the school experiences of educationally and socially disadvantaged students in the senior years of high school (n=927). To investigate the role both of ethnic identification and its interplay with institutional factors, a comparative analysis of secondary student experiences in two national settings was undertaken. The case of Turkish-background students in Australia and France suggests that the influences of ethnic identity are thoroughly transformed from one setting to the other by distinctive pedagogical structures. Streaming and severe academic judgement in France lower academic self-esteem, while creating resentment and social distance between students and teachers. By contrast, the deferral of selection and judgement in Australia allows, temporarily, for a more convivial classroom atmosphere, but fails just as surely to successfully navigate students through the curriculum and achieve academic success. The accommodations of both systems to students in ‘peripheral’ locations constitute logics of marginal integration which enable and legitimise ‘exclusion from within’. Student efforts to make meaning of school life through peer cultures which share many similarities across institutional and national boundaries emerge as what I have called strategies of marginal integration. Ethnic-minority students appear to be particularly susceptible to those logics and strategies, which reinforce their position within the system as marginal. This study therefore identifies the difficulties facing both systems as emerging from common overarching structural qualities

Raising ghosts examines the political and cultural climate in Australia in the mid-20th century, and proposes that e?migre? and migrant artists to a significant extent were the catalysts of change and progenitors of new forms of painting in the post-war years. It uncovers a largely hidden but fertile terrain in Australian modernism.
thesis (PhDVisualArts)--University of South Australia, 2000.

This thesis story is about the discursively lived and re-membered experiences of a small number of local, non-indigenous women most of whom are based in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Each of these women grew up with a mother diagnosed 'mad' within the medical model. My subjective experiences are the beginning place of this re-search. Throughout my life with her, my mother was given a variety of diagnoses within the medical model. I wanted to know how other women lived the complexities of this particular mother-daughter relationship. The thesis foregrounds know-ledges and voices that are usually silenced. There is a growing body of work about women and 'madness', about the mothers' experiences, however there is little written that places the daughters in the centre of the text. Using critical social science paradigms and the tools of post-modernism and feminisms, the daughters' stories inter-rupt and dis-rupt the dominant discourses about famil(y)ies, mothering and mental illness. By foregrounding these know-ledges, I hope that some new ways of thinking about - of seeing - these lived discursive experiences will emerge. These stories also have much to say about life's journey. The thesis is about knowing the ledges we traveled along - or didn't. It is also about which know-ledges are heard and which are silenced, who speaks for what purpose - and in this, who and what are necessarily being shadowed. It is about the inter-ruptions and dis-ruptions in know-ledges. At the beginning of each chapter, I have highlighted some prominent inter-ruptions to the discourses within that chapter. I also signpost and begin a tentative discussion of the contribution of 'mad' mothers to post-modernism and feminisms. A contribution, which it seems to me, is not fully ac-know-ledged.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)