What Is Australian Identity
What is the Australian Identity?
Introduction
For years, many sociologists defined national identity simply as shared feelings of understanding, national sense of self and cultural heritage. In 2012, Holmes, D., Hughes, K. & Julian, R. (2012) made a compelling statement that national identity, while reinforcing a shared sense of character and uniqueness, creates a rather singular identity that not all people within the country will necessarily share. In Australia, national identity has become a social issue that has been argued and debated by Australians. This issue has become a problematic subject for various reasons.
One reason is that an influx of migrants has caused citizens to question the appropriateness of asserting a national character that migrants are not in conformity with. A second reason is that the internet has facilitated the flow of ideas so that likeminded subcultures based on music, religions, TV shows, cooking, and politics now operate in various countries around the world. These subcultures provide a more meaningful sense of belonging than that provided by vague concepts of a national character.(www.convictcreation.com)
This paper will discuss the key aspect of Australian national identity and how is this national identity being re-shaped by immigration. This paper will also identify if the Australian identity is increasingly “hybrid” one.
Many questions have arisen addressing the Australian national identity. There has been claimed that ethnicity and multiculturalism are two of the factors that influence our sense of national identity. Van Krieken et al (2006, p.277) explained that the Australian national identity could be seen “as having been historically formed around a distinctive Anglo-Celtic ethnic core and at the same time it can be understood as an “invented tradition” or “imagined community” in which variety of disparate phenomena have been thrown together to create a national mythology, a sense of common
Introduction
For years, many sociologists defined national identity simply as shared feelings of understanding, national sense of self and cultural heritage. In 2012, Holmes, D., Hughes, K. & Julian, R. (2012) made a compelling statement that national identity, while reinforcing a shared sense of character and uniqueness, creates a rather singular identity that not all people within the country will necessarily share. In Australia, national identity has become a social issue that has been argued and debated by Australians. This issue has become a problematic subject for various reasons.
One reason is that an influx of migrants has caused citizens to question the appropriateness of asserting a national character that migrants are not in conformity with. A second reason is that the internet has facilitated the flow of ideas so that likeminded subcultures based on music, religions, TV shows, cooking, and politics now operate in various countries around the world. These subcultures provide a more meaningful sense of belonging than that provided by vague concepts of a national character.(www.convictcreation.com)
This paper will discuss the key aspect of Australian national identity and how is this national identity being re-shaped by immigration. This paper will also identify if the Australian identity is increasingly “hybrid” one.
Many questions have arisen addressing the Australian national identity. There has been claimed that ethnicity and multiculturalism are two of the factors that influence our sense of national identity. Van Krieken et al (2006, p.277) explained that the Australian national identity could be seen “as having been historically formed around a distinctive Anglo-Celtic ethnic core and at the same time it can be understood as an “invented tradition” or “imagined community” in which variety of disparate phenomena have been thrown together to create a national mythology, a sense of common
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