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Part One : What is Sociology?
1. Sociology in an age of insecurity
Part Two: Identity
6. Ourselves: Myself, yourself
8. Being young: Age and identity
11. Identity, multiculturalism and imagined community
Part Three: Globalisation
13. Confronting class and inequality
15. Education in a period of crisis
16. Health and illness in an unequal society
Chapter 11: Identity, multiculturalism and imagined community
In this chapter, we consider the issue of Australia’s national identity in a period of globalisation— a process allegedly eroding the identity and authority of the nation-state and the attractions of local ethnic identity. We first consider ideas like colonialism, race and racism, and look at some of the problems inherent in these ideas as we explore the colonial experience which produced both dispossession and a demographic catastrophe for the Aboriginal people. We then use the idea of ethnicity to examine the patterns of immigration and immigration policy in Australia—especially since 1945. Both the history of black and white relations and the entry of large numbers of non-British immigrants to Australia after 1950 raise large questions about Australia’s identity and the problem of inequality.
Further reading
Borderwork in Multicultural Australia
by Bob Hodge and John O’Carroll
(Click on the title for more information)
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2006, pp. 45-55
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The Making of the Aborigines
by Bain Attwood
(Click on the title for more information)
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1989, pp.1–31.
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(Please note that photographs have been removed from this file to reduce download time. Blank spaces now appear where photographs once were)
Immigration and Australia
by S. Castles, W. Foster, R. Iredale & G. Withers
(Click on the title for more information)
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1998, pp. 1-23, 91-119.
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White Out
by Rosemary Neill
(Click on the title for more information
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 1-30.
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Australian Race Relations
by Andrew Markus
(Click on the title for more information)
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1994, pp. 1-17.
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Racism, Ethnicity and the Media
by A. Jakubowicz, H. Goodall, J. Martin, T. Mitchell, L. Randall & K. Seneviratne
(Click on the title for more information)
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1994, pp. 93-121.
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Useful links
Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
http://www.immi.gov.au/
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Indigenous themes
Read this report
The Anti Discrimination Board
http://www.agd.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/adb/ll_adb.nsf/pages/adb_index
Racism No Way
http://www.racismnoway.com.au/
Migration Heritage Centre NSW
http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/index.shtml
