Idea in History

CIDH Assessment 2:

“Choose a site, space or installation in Sydney and analyze it through key ideas in the two themes (modernity and post modernity) that are the focus of this subject. Build your argument around what you see as the connection between the site, the two themes and the present moment in which we live”.

Considering the ways in which people are living and based on the combination of traditional and modern values it is possible to evaluate multiculturalism in Australian society. It is the combination of both traditional cultural values and modern cultural values that make up the diverse cultures of the East and West. The Europe colonized Australia and transformed the traditional Aboriginal society to a civil and modern society that represents Western ideals. However immigration of other peoples from different nations such as, China, Vietnam and Africa now make up multicultural Australia. A case study of Campsie suburb will reveal the modern values of the ‘West’ such as technological development, the urbanized architecture and public infrastructure that facilitate people to live a convenient life. The suburb of Campsie also represents traditional lifestyles of immigrant populations, exemplified by religious spaces, traditional stores and so on that embody the diversity of contemporary Australian society. This essay will argue that multiculturalism is a great idea in theory but in reality it is difficult to attain.

Campsie suburb may be an appropriate example for the two rubrics modernity and post-modernity. This suburb may present the ‘modern environment’ in terms of modernity because the life in there is the mingling between people from not only Australia but also various nations, cultures and religions. Berman argues that “modern environments and experiences cut across all boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and nationality, of religion and ideology…modernity can be said to unite all mankind” (Berman 1982, p 15). Moreover, according to Berman:

“To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world – and, at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are” (Berman, 1982,p15) Further, Campsie suburb can also exemplify the theories of postmodernity. According to Morley postmodernity can be defined based on modernity its “the three processes of industrialization, urbanization and mechanization” (Berman 1983, cited in Morley 1996, p 52). He also believes that “the transition to the information society” in which new services, new products and new beliefs replace the old items step by step (Morley 1996, p52). Moreover, Morley argues that in the postmodern period, we can see not only “the rise of regional cultures across Europe” but also “a contradictory process of globalization”, in which advertising, marketing and satellite television, with its international movements of information and culture exceeded the geographical borders of the country (Morley 1996, p52). Referring to Campsie, the transformation of this suburb is significant over time because of the cutting edge technology as well as the development of industry. Also, the immigration of foreign people with multiple cultures associates with the life of Australians to create a mingling of communities in Campsie.

A key idea of modernity is colonialism, which refers to political controlling, occupying, and economical exploiting of settler to colonies. Gillen and Ghosh (2007, p7) argues that:

“In one sense, a colony is a community of emigrants to a new territory, the previous inhabitants, if any, being killed, driven out, enslaved, assimilated or accommodated in some way. In a different, but closely related sense, colonization includes situations in which states impose sovereignty on foreign peoples, even when there is little or no permanent settlement by the foreign rulers. This meaning of colonialism, roughly synonymous with imperialism, requires the qualifier 'settler colonialism' when there is permanent and extensive migration” (Gillen and Gosh, 2007, p7)

Indigenous citizens in Australia were supposed to be westernized upon British settlement in 1788. European settlers expelled the freedom to use estate of Aboriginal people because they believed that native people were not developed enough to administrate a society. Additionally, the progress of modernity is reflected in this period. Simoes (2011) argues that:

“Colonial historicism was the colonisers way of saying ‘not yet’ to non- European peoples, who were forced to wait until they became ‘civilised enough to rule themselves” (Lu 2010, p.156). The primitive nature of Aboriginal lifestyle was considered to be insufficient to govern a society; hence historicism legitimised the European racial superiority over these inhabitants. This period in time reflects the development of modernity where society was to organise its own self-improvement, which would evolve (Ghosh & Gillen, 2005) to a utopian end” (Simoes, 2011, p2)

However, today colonialism refers not only to military and occupying but also to extraneous hegemony, that means foreign domination is in intellectual imperialism and cultural force. Gillen and Ghosh (2007, p7) indicate, “today, imperialism and colonialism are also used metaphorically to refer to foreign hegemony, that is, to foreign domination of any kind, as in 'mental colonization' and 'cultural imperialism'” (Gillen and Ghosh, 2007, p7).

Colonialism can be exemplified in Campsie because apart from the inhabitant of ‘white’ people, the immigration of foreign people contributes a significant part of population in this suburb. Citizens in Campsie have various national backgrounds such as Australian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Lebanese and Indian with various religious backgrounds such as Catholic, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Eastern Orthodox (No name 2012). They came to Australia with various purposes such as travelling, studying, working, immigration and so on. Statistic indicates that in Campsie, 28.8% of people were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were China 21.8%, Korea 5.1%, Lebanon 4%, India 4%, Vietnam 4%. (No name 2012).

Foreign people coming to Campsie bring with them their traditions, which contribute a significant part in constructing a multiple-culture society. Their deep traditions are remained despite the impacts of other cultures; therefore, these traditions will add dissimilar characteristic to multicultural society. Horowitz (2005, p2356) argues that:

“The English tradition refers to a social or cultural institution that is handed down from the past...tradition closely related extension of the idea of tradition opposes it to modernity. If modernity is a state of ceaseless change, tradition, as unchanging repetition, is its antithesis.... these problems with the concept seem to intensify the farther its objects lie from what we take to be modernity. Within societies felt to be mainly modern, for instance, an emphasis on static rather than changing continuity is much more pronounced in talk about folk art and custom than it is in high cultural criticism.” (Horowitz, 2005, p2356)

Moreover, Campsie can be an example in terms of multiculturalism because people from various backgrounds will bring the diverse cultures to this suburb.
According to Meien (2006, p3), The most enclosed use multiculturalism is that it “only refers to specific districts within mostly big cities where different cultures live side by side on a small sized (in comparison to a whole country) area” (Meien 2006, p3).

Meien (2006, p3) also argues “multiculturalism is “the doctrine that several different cultures can co-exist peacefully and equitably in a single country.” Multiculturalism is often seen as cultural pluralism describing the equal co-existence of many cultures in a locality, without any culture dominating the region.” (Meien 2006, p3). Architecture and infrastructure in Campsie can represent the multi-cultural society there. Considering at the architecture and infrastructure will be a way to examine the term multiculturalism. According to Lu (2010), “...modernist architecture embodied modern modes of living, thinking, and production based on rationality, efficiency, calculation, and the obsession with novelty and abstraction” (Lu, 2010, p.147 cited in Simoes 2011, p3). For example, in order to provide appropriate services citizens with several background, Campsie has a significant retail mix, with supermarket and variety store anchors that from multiple countries. In terms of religion, church groups are various in this suburb with a Baptist Church, a Salvation Army Corps commenced, a Congregational Church and a Catholic Church. (Madden 1984)

Furthermore, multiculturalism can be a wonderful idea for human life. Particularly multiculturalism has brought to Australia various advantages. The National Multicultural Advisory Council (2013) argues, “multicultural principles and practices…have served Australia well… freedom and compassion for others, are considered to be the basis for building a cohesive multicultural society for the future” (The National Multicultural Advisory Council, 2013).

Firstly, diverse cultures can bring commercial benefits to Australia. The National Multicultural Advisory Council believes that several migrants from around the world bring “a wealth of different languages and cultural understandings” to Australia. Diversity can contribute to economic growth, employment and standard of living because it improves “Australia's ability to compete and market ourselves globally”. Immigrants also “link Australia into a wealth of business and personal contacts in countries where we want to do business” (The National Multicultural Advisory Council, 2013). The Council also provides an example of Australia society:

“Australia has significant advantages in terms of economic opportunities in Asia which would not have been readily available if Australia had remained a closed society. A harmonious and cohesive society together with cultural and linguistic skills facilitates Australia's attraction as a tourist destination and as an education export country”. (The National Multicultural Advisory Council, 2013)

Secondly, multiculturalism can support the human life because multiculturalism enables people who come from various nations interact and understand other groups to create a peaceful society. A multicultural society tolerates people maintain and share their cultures and understand other cultures; as a result, people can feel like they are in home. For example, numerous Chinese restaurants in Campsie are attractive destinations for not only Chinese people but also others such as Vietnamese, Indian and Korean. This means that citizens in Campsie sustain their lifestyles meanwhile they experience other cultures. The National Multicultural Advisory Council (2013) believes that: "There are also social and cultural benefits which add significantly to the culture and quality of our lifestyles, and interactions between individuals and groups domestically and internationally” (The National Multicultural Advisory Council 2013).

Although it is no doubt that multiculturalism is a great idea for human society, this idea is certainly difficult to obtain in practice. Multiculturalism can only be gained in reality if there are respective receptions of cultural groups as well as the appropriate policy of the government. In terms of policy, Meien (2006, p3) argues that multiculturalism is:

“…A certain kind of public policy with an approach for managing cultural diversity in a multiethnic society and thereby officially stressing mutual respect and tolerance for cultural differences within a country’s boarders. The policy definition of multiculturalism rather deals with an active procedure of how to behave in order to achieve a multicultural society or what to do in order to guarantee best living together in an already existing multicultural society” (Meien, 2006, p3).

Referring to Australian, a multicultural country in the world, examining the immigration issue in Australian history will clarify how difficult society can gain multiculturalism. In 1901, the ‘White Australia’ policy or the Immigration Restriction Act was put in to practice until the early 1970s. The main purpose of this policy was to keep out Asian immigrants through a dictation test. The reason for that is the Australian government wanted to support an Australian lifestyle and national identity. According to Dunn (2004), “the policy was motivated by Australia’s deep seated fear of being ‘invaded’ by Asians (‘the Yellow Peril’) who were intent upon ‘threatening’ and ‘polluting’ Australia’s ‘superior’ white race“ (Dunn et.al. 2004, cited in Babacan & Babacan 2007, p3).

The “immigration nation” documentary (2010) also revealed how the ‘White Australia Policy’ challenged multiculturalism. The fist act of this policy would destroy diversity. The Australian government wanted to ensure that next generations would be exclusively white communities. They believed that non-European would destroy the progressive democracy. As Mc Dermott (2010) gives information about the government’s concern: “if we do not take care, our civilization will be overwhelmed by China, India and other civilization cultures” (Mc Dermott 2010, cited in Ashandil 2010). Therefore, the government proposed all immigrants wanting to enter to Australia would have to pass a fifty-word dictation test. The test was that “a person will sit down with you and read out fifty words. You have to write down… If you can not, that’s it” (Mc Dermott 2010, cited in Ashadil 2010). Moreover, Markus (2010) provides that dictation tests had complicated words; if you past the first test, you will have to take the harder one that makes sure no one can past (Markus 2010, cited in Ashandil 2010). Early 1920s, the Australian government proscribed 50% of Chines immigrants mean while thousands of Britain arrived; as a result by World War 2, the population of Australia was 7 millions and 99% was white (Ashadil 2010). However, Australia had to face with a new issue that Australian population was not enough to develop the country. Nevertheless they did not want to threat white Australia; hence, the government released a new strategy to increase white immigrations. They still eradicated Asian but welcomed European. They kept encouraging British people to come to Australia. Meanwhile they imported people from Europe who are young, healthy, having blond hair and blue eyes (Ashadil 2010).

In terms of Cold War period, in 1950s, the Australian government still wanted Australia to become a ‘white’ country. They had different way letting Asian in. They educated Asian students that Australia was not racist and these students could become ambassadors to protect White policy. Meanwhile, the government still encouraged British coming to Australia through the media. However, Australian people realized Asian students were kind; hence, they protested to against ‘white Australia’ in agenda (Ashadil 2010).

After going through the mill, multiculturalism could be realized as a great idea for Australian society. In 1972, the Whitlam Labor Government ended the ‘White Australia Policy’. Babacan & Babacan (2007) provides that “Jupp defines multiculturalism as ‘the public acceptance of immigrants and minority communities as distinct communities, which are distinguishable from the majority population with regard to their language, culture and social behavior and which have their own associations and social infrastructure’ (Jupp et.al. 2001:807)” and then this definition was “adopted as a public policy in Australia by the Whitlam Labour Government in 1973 for ‘managing diversity’” (Jupp et.al. 2001, cited in Babacan & Babacan 2007, p4). The policy might have gone, but the Vietnamese war proofed it really was in practice (Ashadil 2010). In 1975, the first boat of Vietnamese refugees came to Australia that created a phenomenon of immigration. Although the government were concerned about refugees coming to Australia might represent a significant hostile for labor and it was hard to control, they still allowed Asian refugees to come to Australia. By 1979, 10.000 Vietnamese refugees were agreed arrived and 40.000 Chinese refugees were accepted. The Australian government succeeds in managing immigration, maintaining harmony and avoiding conflicts. Mc Dermott (2010) argues that multiculturalism has been achieved and it brings to Australia “universal values such as freedom, tolerance and fairness” (Mc Dermott 2010, cited in Ashadil 2010)

Therefore, Australian now has become an ‘immigration nation’, where “any one in any corner of the world is able to come and participate in” (Mc Dermott 2010, cited in Ashadil 2010). The documentary shows that “Australia has one of the highest rates in the world of inter marriage me between cultural groups…Today, Australia is made up of 199 nationalities. In less than a life time the country has transformed it self from one of the least multiple-culture places on earth to one of the most diverse” (Ashandil 2010).

In conclusion, Australia is a multiple-culture nation where both traditional cultural values and modern cultural values exist. Therefore, examining the way people are living in a suburb like Campsie can evaluate multiculturalism. In addition, it is no doubt that multiculturalism is such a wonderful sense for human society. Particularly, multiculturalism brings not only financial benefits but also social advantages to Australia. However, this ideal is absolutely difficult to obtain in reality. After overcoming challenges, multiculturalism now is seen as a policy in Australia and the Australian government has been successful in managing the multicultural nation. As the National Multicultural Advisor Council (2013) argues:

“We should never under-estimate the greatness of our accomplishment in building a tolerant, inclusive and diverse society of which we can all be proud. This accomplishment has not occurred by accident. It is built on Australia's traditional values and active government policies for managing diversity in the interests of all Australians. There has been international and national acknowledgment of Australia's good record of social cohesion...this significant achievement should be celebrated by all Australians" (The National Multicultural Advisory Council, 2013)

Reference:

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.1: White Australia Policy -Part 1/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptxlehKaBE4&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2&index=1

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.1: White Australia Policy –Part 2/4 , viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-pWpv9O8aw&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2 Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.1: White Australia Policy -Part 3/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAz-TSmjnFc&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2 Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.1: White Australia Policy -Part 4/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BAsR1YSpC8&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.2: White Australia Policy –Part 1/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnHKKX6FUhk&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.2: White Australia Policy -Part 2/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiOvBob5d1I&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.2: White Australia Policy -Part 3/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocvPjhLgOVg&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.2: White Australia Policy -Part 4/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AULd_pOvIHY&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.3: White Australia Policy –Part 1/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNpAKAADdwI&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.3: White Australia Policy -Part 2/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yreinsFxiIU&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.3: White Australia Policy -Part 3/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbhwO0uyqNQ&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2

Ashandil 2010, Immigration Nation Ep.3: White Australia Policy -Part 4/4, viewed 8th of December 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Yet4NiHlE&list=PLFE512CE97DEF93A2 Babacan, A & Babacan, H. 2007, Multiculturalism in Australia, viewed 8th of November 2013,

Berman, M. 1982, Introduction Modernity-Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, viewed 8th of November 2013,
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Horowitz. M, 2005, Tradition, viewed 8th of November 2013, p2356-2360 https://online.uts.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-1013206-dt-content-rid-5010649_1/courses/incidh001/Gale%20Virtual%20Reference%20Library%20-%20Document%20-%20Tradition.pdf

Madden, B. 1984, History of Campsie, viewed 8th of November 2013

Meien, J. 2006, The Multiculturalism Vs. Integration Debate in Great Britain, viewed in 8th of November,

Morely D, Postmodernism, The Rough Guide, chapter 3, Communication and Cultural Studies, Curran J, Morely D & Walkerdine, V (ed's) St Martins Press, New York, 1996, pp. 50-65

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The National Multicultural Advisor Council, 2013, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, viewed 28th of November 2013

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