Evolving ideologies of the intercultural in Australian multicultural and language education policy

Abstract

Australia's language and multicultural policies have constructed the intercultural dimension of Australian identity and practice in a number of different ways relating to different community groups. This paper traces the evolution of multicultural policy from the 1970s until the present through the main national policy documents in order to examine how understandings of multiculturalism and the participation of various cultural groups within a multicultural society has changed over time. It demonstrates that although the ways in which multiculturalism and the interrelationship of ethnic groups within Australian identity has evolved over time, the positioning of the monocultural majority and ethnic minorities within the overall multicultural framework has consistently been understood in different ways. The result is a policy context in which there are multiple ideologies of multiculturalism at play and the existence of tensions between the forces of diversity and integration within the same policy context.

Keywords:

• cultural pluralism
• ethnic identity
• language ideologies
• language policy
• linguistic diversity

Notes

1. In Australian policy documents the intercultural consists of a number of terms, of which ‘multicultural’ and its derivatives is the most widely known, however, terms such as ‘intercultural’, ‘cross-cultural’ are also found as part of a semantic complex. In this paper ‘intercultural’ implies this general semantic complex, while the term multicultural is used for a specific policy domain relating to ethnic diversity in Australia.

2. Language policies have existed in Australia since the colonial period but prior to the 1980s tended to be ad hoc policies dealing with aspects of languages education, broadcasting and the media. Language policy as such began to gather momentum from the 1950s. For an historical overview of language policy in Australia see Clyne (1991b) or Ozolins (1993).

3. Anglo-Australian is a term which is often used, but sits uncomfortably as many members of this group would not identify as ‘anglo’. The term is used as a portmanteau category for those Australians who do not identify as indigenous or immigrant, regardless of personal histories, although would appear to excluded Australians of non-European origin regardless of their histories within Australia. The Anglo group is therefore characterised by assimilation to the dominant language, culture and appearance and a ‘forgetting’ of their immigrant experiences.

4. The section devoted to language begins by stating that English is the national language.

5. The primary author of the report on which the NALSAS programme was based, Kevin Rudd, became the Prime Minister of Australia following the 2006 election.

6. At the time of writing, the Labour government is proposing introducing a National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Programme (NALSSP), but details of the programme have not been finalised.

7. The NALSAS Programme was based on a national level report (COAG 1994), however, the programme was an activity of the commonwealth government and state/territory initiatives were carried out with commonwealth funding.

8. The Labour government has recently begun a review of the citizenship test. This review is oriented to the content, operation and impact of the test rather than questioning the need for the test per se.

9. ‘Non-conformity’ here refers to those elements of British Protestantism which did not accept the established Church of England.

10. This name seems to have survived the change of government in November 2007.