Cultural and linguistic diversity in Australia: navigating between the Scylla of nationhood and the Charybdis of globalisation

Abstract

This paper examines the marginalisation of multicultural and multilingual discourses that occurred in Australia in the mid-1990s and that continues to the present day. The contemporary struggle between national and multicultural identities is considered against the background of the re-emergence of nationalist discourses across many Western democracies as a consequence of changing global social and economic forces. This is the new age of ‘liquid’ modernity, as theorised by Bauman, a kind of chaotic continuation of ‘solid’ modernity where risk and uncertainty accentuate the vulnerability of the individual rather than uniting individuals to defend their rights. During this time, Australian governments, both Liberal and Labor, have increasingly supported universalising social inclusion/social cohesion policies to the detriment of multicultural policies. In the concluding section, this paper reflects on current trends and future challenges and provides a perspective on what may be required for a successful programme of accommodation and incorporation of cultural and linguistic diversity in Australia.

Keywords:

• cultural diversity
• linguistic diversity
• multiculturalism
• globalisation
• nationhood

Notes

1. The substantial inflow of Chinese immigrants who came to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century to work in the gold fields of Victoria and later New South Wales led to anti-Chinese immigration legislation in New South Wales and other colonies (Chinese Immigration Restriction And Regulation Act 1861).

2. The inter-war years in particular were characterised by the increase in the Anglo-Celtic element of Australia's population, which reached its zenith of 89.8% in 1947 (Price, 1999, p. 14).

3. Such attitudes have been retained by a significant proportion of the population, as is attested by social surveys that have consistently shown the persistence of nationalist and racist attitudes (Jackman, 1998). The Challenging Racism Project, conducted by the University of Western Sydney (http://www.uws.edu.au/ssap/ssap/research/challenging_racism) over a 10-year period in all Australian states and territories, asked more than 12,000 participants to identify their own prejudices and misgivings about other cultural groups and to report their own experiences of racism in work, education, the housing market and the community. Respondents were asked if they were prejudiced against other cultures, and if Australia was ‘weakened by people of different ethnic origins sticking to their old ways’. They were asked to measure how secure they felt with people of other ethnic backgrounds, and how they would feel if a ‘close relative’ married someone of different racial background and/or religious faith. More than 1 in 10 of those polled identified themselves as ‘prejudiced against other cultures’. Furthermore, 41.4% of Australians believe that Muslims, Aboriginals, Asians or Jews ‘don't fit into Australian society’. When asked about particular cultural groups, 48.6% of those polled reported anti-Muslim sentiment, while 27.9% expressed anti-Aboriginal sentiments, 23.8% had anti-Asian attitudes and 23.3% expressed anti-Semitic views. On the other hand, anti-British, Italian and Christian sentiments were recorded across Australia at less than 10% (cf. Dunn et al., 2012).

4. For a time, One Nation received great exposure in the national popular media and became a significant new player in Australian politics. At its height in 1998, it polled 8% of the national vote and 25% in the Queensland State election.