Stories and Histories of Immigrants - Essay Example

Nationalism and National Identity In Latham's Australian Immigration Policy & Horne's The Lucky Country Introduction In an analysis of race and ethnicity, the history of identities should be able to explain primarily the culture, values, and traditions of a people. Stories and histories of immigrants, especially those that include their feelings and actions, would reveal much for understanding these people. A multicultural concept of becoming and being a nation would include a history of marginalization and oppression which should be studied. The concept of cultural unity and faith in one nation's exceptional superiority is pass that the trend now is through the notion of diversity. Latham's Australian Immigration Policy and Horne's The Lucky Country are examples of primary documents that may be used for this objective. This paper summarizes each document first, then tackles them both in an integrated section, and finally makes a conclusion. Latham, J.G. 1961 'Australian Immigration Policy', Quadrant, Vol 5, no. 2 pp3-8 In this document, J.G. Latham was reacting to a pamphlet entitled "Control or Color Bar" said to be published by the Immigration Reform Group of the University of Melbourne. The pamphlet criticizes the Australian Immigration Policy and Latham was concerned for fear that Australia's' reputation might be harmed and its relations with other countries prejudiced. The proposal of the pamphlet was that Australia initiate offer to non-European countries for agreements admitting people from these countries into Australia as permanent residents Latham, however, is of the view that there is common sense in controlling immigration to one's country, which does not necessarily foster racial hatred. First off, Latham said, criticism should be based on accurate statements and proper understanding of the policy. In the Australian Immigration Policy, he says, color is not a criterion as it does not count whiteness as racial superiority. True, he said, there are differences in Oriental civilizations and European civilizations as to color, race, language, tradition, history, and loyalties including in social and political outlook and organization, in religion, in manner of living, and standards of living - but color and race are not tests of character and quality. So, to the proposal of the pamphlet that Australia be opened to immigrants as permanent residents, Latham said - If the Australian government went out of its way even to discuss with all of them how many of their people they would like Australia to take as settlers annually, the government would, it would be suggested, simply be asking for trouble. The Government might even discover that millions of people in Africa believe strenuously in a "Black Africa." Would the government undertake a campaign to get them to change their minds The point of Latham is that the pamphlet thinks Australia's immigration policy absolutely excludes Asians and suggests that there should instead be control of immigration. The pamphlet also thinks Australian Immigration Policy is only after filtering colors without wise control. Explaining his side, Latham says - "A man can have friends without inviting them all to his house. If a person says that he has a right to be invited - or at least to complain because he has not been invited, - there will not be a good prospect for friendship. If a person goes so far as to say that he has a right to come into the house (of a friend or anyone), whether has been invited or not - and to stay - then friendship will be impossible. Concluding with emphasis that the Australian Immigration Policy is not based on color prejudice or racial superiority, Latham says Australia had in the past been admitting merchants, tourists and students which many know nothing of, beginning with the critics. Horne, Donald.1968 (1964). The First Suburban Nation. The Lucky Country: Australia in The Sixties, Ringwood: Penguin, pp28-31, 97-100 Horne's piece is about the real Australia that lacks a serious writer to write about it; therefore Horne takes on the task of recording for posterity Australia's true national identity as he sees it. It is a comprehensive history that traces the roots of the bloodline with some English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish strain of the new person that is the Australian, to explain his unflinching fight for independence in the early 1900s, and the slackened or forsaken fight for national identity as the decades rolled on, finally ending in wanting to be identified as British or European. At the same time, Horne explains why, in trying to identify himself as English/British, the Australian retains his dislike for being such. Horne heavily takes to task Australian writers, for over the years they should have recorded the true Australian, his identity, his culture, his aspirations, his dreams. Having failed in this social responsibility, writers now even have come up to the level of seeing the world through London eyes, and looking up to them as standards upon which one should trust as good and proper, in effect betraying their people who come up confused about themselves. Failing to have explained the many myths that prevail about the Australian, these writers display a dislike for the suburban life as though it were a curse instead of discovering its worth. Accordingly, they attack the self-satisfaction of the Australian and identify the happy-go-lucky wage earner as applying to the whole of the working class. They laugh at the Australian accent, yet they, themselves are London-oriented Australians, he said. Counting Australia as British is wrong, Horne (1968) says. From here, he does a pathetic patching up of what had been lacking all along. He lets on a flood of history and explanations for the Australian mind with a discriminated sense of self who feels such discrimination particularly by the English/British themselves with whom they share national identity. For example, he explains that Australia and Britain may be using the same terms like democracy, monarchy, trades union, parliament, upper class, working class, in their language but they differ in their meanings. Australians are not merely transplanted English, he says, because they drink from English arts and culture, language, politics, but fail to achieve rapport with the English. (Ibid). Fifty-years ago, the trend was to be anti-British, to be nationalist, fighting for nationhood or for independent Australian republic, Horne (1968) said. Now, the spirit had died with the generations and without a fight yet, Australian writers succumbed to accepting London's definitions of what is supposed to be. But, accordingly, this "ceremonial claming to be British" is part of the delusions of the people running Australia. Horne (1968) then concludes that fighting for independent nationhood has slowed down or stopped, because "perhaps the world has become too puzzling for Australians for them to make the final effort." Jones (1996), in fact, records that one hundred years ago, the Australian forebears resisted the concept that Australia was only a new or inferior version of England. But now, the cultural cry has re-surfaced with "Australia is a part of Asia." (Ibid). Integration Both Latham and Horne were discussing about Australians as they, themselves, are. The difference lies only in the first identifying himself as European, with the latter feeling as Asian and yet was happy about it. Latham (I961) was saying, "Ours is a European civilization, aren't we entitled to keep it so if we wish - just as other countries are entitled to preserve their traditional and preferred civilizations" On the contrary, as recorded by Blom (1999), Horne was happy, saying, "We're Asians, too!" and the reason for such was that Horne had much interaction with Asians, and liked what he had experienced with them. The 1960s saw young Australians traveling through Asian countries to England, which encounters helped change Australian attitudes to Asian peoples and their cultures (Ibid). Horne appeared a progressive writer of his times, too. In the case of Latham, he was a traditionalist politician whose role in government was not to initiate social change, but to defend those parts of the system that he and the Government wished to maintain (Lewis, n.d.). What is clear is that Australians are minorities - even beginning with the perception of London-based Australians themselves, who, having safely ensconced themselves in wealth and education, laugh at Australian accent and disdain the Australian suburban life (Horne 1964). According to Bhabha (1997), the person becomes a minority, at the moment of becoming a hybrid, acting within his culture and the culture of the majority, and yet being neither of this culture exclusively nor the sum of these two cultures. Australians are minorities in the land of the English. They share with the queen of England (Healy 2000), and according to Horne (1964), they have no national anthem but sing England's national anthem. The minority condition of hybridity is not easily resolved, however, according to Bhabha (1997). There is no liberation from it, implying the minority person's constant anxiety and eternal conflicts (Ibid). This may explain why by 2000, Australia is still squirming with issues of national identity and asking itself questions of reconciliation. Addressed to Australia in Healey (2000) is this - "How far have we come in the last hundred years as a nation and what is the challenge facing our nationhood in the new millennium What does it mean to be an Australian Recently Australia has rejected both the proposed preamble and a Republic.what does this mean for our sense of national identity when we are fundamentally divided over issues of symbolism and government The process of Reconciliation seems to have stalled - would a formal apology to the Aboriginal people help to define our values and sense of nationhood" Conclusion Latham's (1961) piece emphasizes that there is no racial hatred in putting control in immigration; just that order is necessary in managing people's affairs. He also digs deep into meanings of personhood and dwells on the absurdity of looking at color as a basis for any policy on human beings. He points out a very important fact that should ring through for everybody, for all times: that color is not equivalent to character and quality, and whiteness does not mean racial superiority. On the other hand, Horne (1968) takes to task the intellectuals among the Australians to have written the score on the Australian, on plain text, so that the younger generations may be able to understand themselves. But as it is, there is a vacuum in literature explaining the Australian, resulting in confused generations. As recorded by Lewis (n.d.), Latham was an officer for Naval Intelligence during the First World War, "and in many ways, this mentality never left him." He had no records revealing any social interactions with Asians, whereas Horne was described by Blom (1999) as having helped other Australians express their feelings as being Asians too, in his book, Lucky Country. Differences in perception of other nations may be explained at times by the intensity of one's social interaction with them or the lack of it. References Bhabha, Homi. "Editor's Introduction: Minority Maneuvers and Unsettled Negotiations," Critical Inquiry, spring 1997, 431-439. Blom, Diana. "Minimalism isn't dead it just smells funny: phases in the Australian experience of minimal music." 18 Sept 1999. 1 Dec 2005 Read More