Going Overboard? Representing Hazara Afghan Refugees as Just Like Us

Abstract

In this paper we analyse two Australian television programs, Marking Time (2003) and Molly & Mobarak (2004), foregrounding the ways in which ethnic Hazara refugees from Afghanistan have been (re)presented. We argue that by minimising cultural and religious differences both Marking Time and Molly & Mobarak construct and represent Hazara Afghan refugees as like a “certain us”, that is, as members of Australian core culture who are predominately white, family oriented and inclusivist. However, their differences are not concealed entirely and in both programs the Hazara also appear as the “other”, that is, unlike us. We point out some problems associated with privileging similarity and the possible consequences of these representations within policy making and Australian society more generally.

Keywords:

• Citizenship
• Drama
• Hazara
• Media
• Refugees
• Social Documentary

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Migration Research Network WA members, two anonymous referees and John Hall for their comments on drafts of this paper.

Notes

1. The positioning of the “other” as a kind of global humanitarianism is evident in the editorial by Lelia Green and Liz Jacka, “The New ‘Others’: Media and Society Post-September 11.” Media International Australia no. 109 (November 2003).

2. The decision of the Hazara to live in rural areas complied with Recommendation 29 of the Review of Settlement Services for Migrants and Humanitarian Entrants (DIMIA 177) – that the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs seek opportunities to settle refugees in regional areas and to liaise with stakeholders where employment opportunities and community support existed.

3. Ali (177) in her study of children's everyday use of discourses about race in England found that the discourse of “whiteness” has remained “centralised and unspoken”.

4. Lydia Lange drew our attention to this double meaning of the word “(Y)young”.

5. Hijab means modest dress, which both Muslim men and women are expected to observe. Modest dress is interpreted differently by different Muslims <http://www.answers.com/topic/hijab> (accessed 12 May 2005). The Taliban in Afghanistan decreed that women cover themselves from head to toe (burkha), have no skin showing including their face, a slit was made in their burkhas to allow them some vision.

6. This form of molestation of Muslim women is a well-documented form of abuse in Australia (HREOC).

7. The ABC and SBS between them have approximately 20 per cent of the Australian viewing audience. The charters of SBS and the ABC mention that their programs should both inform and entertain.

8. For example, Molly & Mobarak and Marking Time have been shown or referred to in Migration and Australian Studies units at the University of Western Australia. Teaching notes for Years 11 and 12 Australia-wide with the video of Molly & Mobarak.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Debbie Rodan

Dr Debbie Rodan is a senior lecturer in Media & Cultural Studies at Edith Cowan University. She is a member of the editorial collective of Continuum and a reviewer for Borderlands. She is the author of Identity and Justice: Conflicts, Contradictions and Contingencies (2004) and her most recent work is published in Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies (2003 and 2007) and Illumina (2007). Over the last five years, she has been researching the recurring discourses around refugees and national identity (within letters to the editor and television documentaries), and the phenomena of new television screens

Cheryl Lange

Dr Cheryl Lange is Graduate Research Coordinator in the School of Social and Cultural Studies, UWA. Her current research interest is in the relationships between migration, citizenship, identity and belonging. Her most recent publication, focusing on the construction of Hazara refugees as Australian citizens, was published in Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture (2007)