Cities of race hatred? The spheres of racism and anti-racism in contemporary Australian cities

Kevin M Dunn; James Forrest; Rogelia Pe-Pua; Maria Hynes; Karin Maeder-Han

doi:10.5130/ccs.v1i1.833

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Published: Aug 6, 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/ccs.v1i1.833

Keywords:

Racism, anti-racism, race talk, Australian cities

Kevin M Dunn

University of Western Sydney

James Forrest

Macquarie University

Rogelia Pe-Pua

University of NSW

Maria Hynes

Australian National University

Karin Maeder-Han

University of Western Sydney

Abstract

Cities are indeed places of everyday racism, experienced as ethnocentrism, prejudice and ethnic-based hatred. Drawing on an Australia-wide telephone survey of respondents' experiences of 'everyday' racism in various contexts, conducted in 2006, we examine forms of racist experience, as well as the contexts and responses to those experiences for Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, Australia’s main immigrant-receiving cities. Results show that between 1 in 10, and 1 in 3 respondents, depending on their background and situation, experience some form of 'everyday' racism. However, this particular aspect of urban incivility is shadowed by everyday good relations. There is what might be called a ‘geography of cultural repair’ and cultural maintenance within the cosmopolitan city. There is strong support for anti-racism policy. Where action is taken in response racism it is determined by everyday confrontations and attempts at direct reconciliation. Formal complaints and reports are much rarer forms of anti-racism. In this paper we advocate a pragmatic on-going, agonistic politics of cultural exchange and tolerance.

Issue

Vol 1 No 1 (2009)

Section

Articles (refereed)

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Author Biographies

Kevin M Dunn, University of Western Sydney

Kevin Dunn is Professor in Human Geography and Urban Studies, in the School of Social Sciences, University of Western Sydney. His areas of research include: the geographies of racism; immigration and settlement; Islam in Australia; and local government and multiculturalism. He teaches cultural and social geography, migration and urban studies. Professor Dunn’s recent articles are published in Society and Space, Ethnicities, The Australian Geographer, Studia Islamika, Urban Studies, and the Australian Journal of Social Issues. Professor Dunn’s recent books include Landscapes: Ways of Imagining the World (2003) and Introducing Human Geography: Globalisation, Difference and Inequality (2000). Professor Dunn is a Fellow of the New South Wales Geographical Society (FNGS) and President (2008-). He was a founding member of the Cultural Geography Study Group of the Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG) (1994) and Chair (1997-1998).

James Forrest, Macquarie University

James Forrest is Associate Professor in the Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, Sydney. Areas of reserch interest include geographies of racism, immigration and settlement of ethnic groups, including work on segregation and desegregation. Recent papers appear in Annals, Association of American Geographers, Geographical Review, Urban Studies, Urban Geography, Australian Geographer, Ethnicities, Environment & Planning A.

Rogelia Pe-Pua, University of NSW

Rogelia Pe-Pua, Ph.D., is Head of School and Associate Professor at the School of Social Sciences and International Studies at The University of New South Wales. She taught at the Department of Psychology at the University of the Philippines for 15 years before migrating to Australia in 1992. She is a strong force in the indigenization movement in the Philippines, known for her contribution in the development of indigenous research methodology. Her research and publications have focused on indigenous psychology and migration psychology. She has also conducted several research on acculturation, cultural diversity and cross-cultural issues in Australia during the last 15 years. Among these are research that involve examining the experiences of international students in Australian universities, street-frequenting ethnic youth, refugee families, Hong Kong immigrants in Australia, and the legal needs of ethnic residents in western Sydney. She has also worked collaboratively with international researchers such as international research looking at comparing ethnocultural youth identity and acculturation in 13 countries, and research on culture and trait involving 4 countries. She was one of the chief investigators in a major 3-year research on Racism and Anti-racism supported by an ARC Discovery Grant.

Maria Hynes, Australian National University

Dr Maria Hynes is a visiting fellow in the School of Social Sciences, ANU. Her research interests include the politics of humour, anti-globalization politics, racism and anti-racism and the relationship between science, art and ethics.

Karin Maeder-Han, University of Western Sydney

Karin Maeder-Han recently completed a Masters on Chinese perceptions of Australia. She has been working as research assistant on the Challenging Racism Project since 2006.

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