Now your essay is starting to take shape, we have our topic, and we have found passages and information in the autobiography and other articles on racism, othering, migration or belonging, and how these dynamics play out in Australian society. Now we need the final piece of the puzzle: theory, scary? Not really, theory just helps to explain why things are the way they are.
Here is an interesting article by Matereke (2009), that addresses the second half of the research question concerning the centrality of race within the Australian identity. Here is an example
“In the Australian context, nativism is “the belief that being ‘truly Australian’ means being born in Australia, having Australian ancestors, and living here most our lives.” The belief has a strong bearing in shaping the social attitudes of Australians towards immigration and immigrants, as it is a constant reminder of the reality of ‘true Australians’ who stand opposed to the ‘foreign other’. Nativism results in ethnic absolutism as it rests on the essentialist claims meant to strategically position the native at the vantage point of culture and render the migrant as the cultural outsider.” (p.136)
Here is another theory-based article by Grosfoguel, Oso and Christou (2015) that speaks to the global dynamics of racism and how this impacts migrant experiences. Here is an example:
“Racism is a global hierarchy of human superiority and inferiority, politically, culturally and economically produced and reproduced for centuries by the institutions of the ‘capitalist/patriarchal western-centric/Christian-centric modern/colonial world-system’… The people classified as above the line dividing superior from inferior human beings are recognised socially as human beings and thus enjoy access to rights (human rights, civil rights, women’s rights and/or labour rights) and social recognition of their subjectivities, identities, epistemologies and spiritualities. Those classified below this line are considered subhuman or non-human; that is, their humanity is questioned and, as such, negated.” (p. 636)
Now, let’s take this a few steps further, I found that Grosfoguel, Oso and Christou’s (2015) thoughts about power relations in settler colonial states might be relevant to my essay, so I continued reading and found this interesting passage:
“Migrants do not arrive in an empty or neutral space, but in metropolitan spaces that are already ‘polluted’ by racial power relations with a long colonial history, colonial imaginary, colonial knowledge and racial/ethnic hierarchies linking to a history of empire; in other words, migrants arrive in a space of power relations that is already informed and constituted by coloniality.” (p. 641)
Ok, great, we have found a reliable theory that suggests many migrants are automatically disadvantaged by prexisting racialised power relations in countries like Canada and Australia. Now we need to apply it to a passage from the book (Msimang, 2018). Here’s one I found that fits quite well:
“And then, one day , in the middle of everything that was becoming mundane and ordinary, on a day just like the ones that had come before it, I was called an African monkey. The culprit was a boy who had not seemed at all sinister before he said it, so it caught me off guard. The scene remains vivid in my mind mainly because it was brutal and I was the only one who cared… What mattered then and still matters now, was that nobody came to my defense. They heard him. They all heard him. There were snickers and there was laughter…Then the taunts began” (p. 77)
Now we need to bring these ideas together (synthesis) using paraphrasing and the thoughtful use of quotes, here is an example of how that might look:
Only a short time after migrating from Kenya and settling in Canada, Msimang started attending school. Everything appeared “mundane and ordinary” until unexpectedly another child directed an overt racial slur towards Msimang catching her off guard (Msimang, 2018, p. 77). Msimang (2018) highlights the brutality of this event in her childhood, noting the absence of any intervention in her defence by those around her. On the contrary, the other children in the playground either remained silent or joined in mocking and taunting Msimang because of her physical and cultural differences. Grosfoguel, Oso and Christou (2015, p. 641) assert that settler colonial states, like Canada and Australia, have long established “racial/ethnic hierarchies” that pollute contemporary metropolitan spaces with racialised power relations. Migrants who arrive in these spaces are confronted with this enduring colonial legacy that informs everyday social interactions and places them at the bottom of a racialised hierarchy (Grosfoguel, Oso and Christou, 2015).
‘What’ – this paragraph describes the continued presence of racism in many modern countries and how this can significantly damage migrants’ sense of belonging and wellbeing.
‘Why’ – this paragraph demonstrates that racist colonial attitudes and logic still eminate from the cultural and structual foundations of settler colonial states like Australia.
‘So What’ – draws our attention to the importance of critical reflection, as individuals and as a nation, of the ongoing collective practices and beliefs that persist from Australia’s long and destructive history of open racism and oppression.
Academics call writing like this synthesis. That is just a fancy word for weaving ideas from different places together, but markers love it! It demonstrates that you really understand the topic you are writing about.
Paraphrasing: To repeat something written or spoken using different words, often in a simpler and shorter form that makes the original meaning clearer
Quoting: Involves copying short passages word-for-word from the original text and placing these within “quotation marks.” Notice how the quote is embedded within my own sentence, it is NOT the whole sentence, this aids readability but most importantly it demonstrates you understand what you are saying
Synthesis: Employs higher level thinking to draw connections between sources and formulate new ideas or arguments. To write using synthesis requires you to seek out and utilise the relationships you find between journal articles, books, reports etc.
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