Suchergebnisse

Australian society has been shaped more by immigration and immigrants than most countries in the world today. This paper examines the changes to the character and composition of Australian immigration in the post-1945 period and analyses the impact of these changes on the public discourses and policy responses related to Australian immigration and settlement philosophies and practices in Australia today. It first looks at the Australian immigration experience, and how immigration policy has changed in recent decades as a result of globalisation. It then outlines the changing composition and character of the Australian immigration intake as a consequence of these policy changes, and at the key discourses about Australian immigration that have accompanied these changes. The paper then examines the way in which immigrant settlement or integration policies and practices have changed in light of the impact of globalisation on the political, economic and social climate in Australian society, with a particular emphasis on the debates about Australian multiculturalism. Finally, the paper addresses the new challenges for government policy makers and for decision makers in the private and non-government sectors of Australian society that are a consequence to the changing dynamics of the Australian immigration experience in a changing global world.

In Australia and the European Union today there is a very negative immigration discourse linked to the (alleged) criminality of immigrant minorities -particularly those from Asia and the Middle East - and the existence of ethnic criminal gangs. The issue of immigrant crime - linked to the issue of undocumented migrants and refugees - is driving much of the political agenda in Australia and Europe. This paper first reviews the recent European and Australian experience of immigrant crime and the politicisation and racialisation of the immigrant crime issue. It then draws on the findings from a two-year research project into Youth, Ethnicity and Crime in Sydney - funded by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and 25 industry partners, including 10 local government authorities and 10 ethnic community organizations in Sydney - to explore the myths and realities of immigrant crime in Sydney, including gender dimensions. The paper then critically analyses media portrayals of such crime and investigates appropriate policy responses at federal, provincial and local government level. Finally, the implications of the immigrant crime debate for immigration and settlement policies in Australia and Europe are discussed.

Même si la législation australienne en matière de droits sociaux et civiques accordés aux immigrés est plus souple que celle de la plupart des pays européens, des inégalités subsistent entre immigrés et Australiens de souche , et au sein même des populations immigrées , en fonction de leur origine et de leur maîtrise de la langue anglaise. Les restrictions actuellement envisagées sur le plan social risquent d'aggraver ces inégalités, et de déboucher sur l'exclusion de certains groupes d'immigrés.

Australia has relatively more immigrant families, of greater ethnic diversity, than most western societies. In order to understand the diversity of experiences of immigrant families in Australia it is necessary to reject simplistic "culturalist" explanations in favour of a political economy approach. The immigrant family in Australia is viewed as a social construct emerging in different ways at different times in response to changing structural, political, economic, cultural and ideological conditions at a national and international level. The dynamic intersection of ethnicity, class, gender, state practices and the racialisation of immigrant labour in Australia are the keys to understanding immigrant families in Australia.

Australia has received one of the relatively largest and most diverse intakes of immigrants of any of the Western nations, with more than half of the population of Australia's largest cities first- or second-generation immigrants. The tourism literature places great importance on the cultural industries and the growth of cultural tourism in countries like Australia. But the link between immigration, ethnic diversity, and tourism, which we call ethnic tourism, in Australia and elsewhere has received little attention by scholars. By ethnic tourism we mean not only the tourism by ethnic minorities to countries like Australia but also the way that nonminority tourists-in Australia, this means British, New Zealand, and North American tourists-are attracted to ethnic tourist sites such as ethnic precincts. The cosmopolitan character of Australia's largest cities, a result of the great ethnic diversity of Australia's immigration intake over the past 60 years, has lead to the development of ethnic tourism, a subset of cultural tourism. Ethnic tourism thus includes tourism to destinations that are labeled, marketed, and identified with the cultural diversity of a particular minority ethnic group. Ethnic precincts such as Chinatown, Little Italy, Thaitown, and Koreatown attract customers who are locals, national tourists, or international tourists to experience the "ethnic neighborhoods" of the city. These customers are often attracted by the presence of ethnic businesses-restaurants, shops, services-set up by ethnic entrepreneurs. Some tourists may be seeking an "authentic" ethnic experience in the precinct. This may involve the quality and style of food, the smells and sounds arising from restaurants, the presence of locals and "co-ethnic" customers and staff, and the de´cor and iconography of the streetscape, buildings, and landmarks. Ethnic communities and local governments may also hold ethnic festivals and events which attract both tourists and locals. Focusing on the links between immigration, ethnic diversity, and tourism, this article concentrates on the supply side of one site of the ethnic tourism industry in Australia: that of ethnic precincts in Australian cities. Drawing on recent fieldwork with tourists, entrepreneurs, ethnic community leaders, and local and state government officials in two metropolitan ethnic precincts (Sydney's Chinatown and Perth's Northbridge), this article explores some critical dimensions of the interface between immigration, ethnic diversity, and tourism. The positioning of ethnic precincts as tourism products includes contradictory and complex issues of authenticity, employment, the representation of ethnicity, consultation with migrant communities, negotiations with local government authorities, and marketing and promotion activities. The article concludes that while historical patterns of immigration and immigrant settlement have changed over time, ethnic precincts are important, though changing, sites of urban ethnic tourism in Australia and thus fertile sites to begin to understand the complex and changing links between immigration, ethnic diversity, and tourism in contemporary cosmopolitan cities.