Race, Ethnicity and Representation Essay Example

RАСЕ, ЕTHNIСITY АND RЕРRЕSЕNTАTIОN

RАСЕ, ЕTHNIСITY АND RЕРRЕSЕNTАTIОN

Multiculturalism in Australia interests me, this is because of the multicultural composition of Australia which is attributed to the diverse people from different cultures who reside here. Moreover, Australia has a significant number of immigrants from a variety of countries hence the concept of multiculturalism. Personally, I like travelling a lot and as such being able to understand the various cultures will give an edge while touring the world as well as helping me to understand and appreciate diversity. I have come to realize that every culture in the society deserves respect and appreciation on an equal measure

I have come across research on what makes Australia a multicultural county and the factors that have contributed to this. In this research I have realized there are a number of factors which have fostered multiculturalism in Australia. Factors like the adoption of immigration policies in the country have encouraged more immigrants to relocate into this country due to the cohesiveness that these policies guarantee them (Rye r 2011, pp.487-488). Prohibition of discrimination among immigrants and minority groups in Australia is an essential factor that has fostered multiculturalism in the country. This therefore, ensures that all non-Australian communities and groups are treated with respect and appreciation. I have also released that adoption of these multicultural policies by various agencies has helped foster multiculturalism in Australia by ensuring that the cultures of the non-Australians, immigrants as well as other foreign groups are respected therefore, fostering a conducive inter-cultural environment (Laimber 2016, pp.985-990). The abolishment of the white Australian policy which called for assimilation to the white ‘Australian’ culture helped in fostering multiculturalism by encouraging every individual in Australia to abide by their own culture as long as it did not endanger anybody including themselves

The gaps in our knowledge is vital in estimating the rate at which Australia has become a multicultural country. In this case, there is no evident metric which can be used to measure the shift of Australia to a multi-cultural country. Thus, the claim that Australia has embraced the aspect of multiculturalism is speculative based on the correlation of other factors such as adoption of immigration policies and the increment of the number of migrants coming into Australia (Miah 2011, pp.145-147). One limitation of the current research is the lack of accuracy on the research study data. Some of these data are retrieved from sources such as census data and well as voting polls which could be said not to be quite accurate since they were not initially structured for the generation of this data. Furthermore, it is not possible to measure adoption of culture within Australia since there lacks a clearly defined metric created for this purpose (Dillard 2012, pp.87-93). Therefore, this has led to most research data and information to be retrieved from other resources leading to speculations which could alter the accuracy of the research. The current research also lacks enough tools such as the sources of data which is mainly census and other non-specific surveys of various immigrant groups which are not conclusive. This has therefore led to this research to depend more on assumptions and speculation which might alter the researches’ results. The difficulty in comparing languages of ethnicity and race across the country presents a challenge for multiculturalism research. In this case, the adoption of various cultures and languages of different cultural groups within Australia varies depending on different factors, this could therefore alter the speculated and assumed results in this research.

Due to the lack of a proper metric to measure the adoptability, the bureau of statistic in Australia should come up with a workable metric which is more conclusive and not entirely dependent on assumption and speculation due to the false results that this measurement method could have on the final research problem as evidently seen (Kalua 2015, pp.147-149). On the other hand, the Australian bureau of statistic should on the other hand come up with more conclusive variables which could be used in linking the assumptions and speculation of this study in order to come up with more conclusive study research in case a relatively effective metric is not achieved. Further, it should work closely with other important data research such as census and minority groups’ statistics in coming up with more accurate data that could be more effective in drawing conclusive results(Laimber 2016, pp.985-990). The use of effective variables should also be embraced in order to come up with more conclusive research findings which are more reliable and not entirely dependent on speculation and assumption, as this takes away the conclusive aspect of these research findings. On the other hand, evidence of these research findings should be provided in order to build on further research hence, gradually improving on this research consequently eliminating gaps in the future (Miah 2011, pp.145-147).

References

Dillard, C. 2012. Re‐membering culture: bearing witness to the spirit of identity in research. Race Ethnicity and Education, 111, pp.87-93.

Kalua, F. 2015. Race and ethnicity: culture, identity and representation. Scrutiny2, 201, pp.147-149.

Laimber, W. 2016. Race and Ethnicity. International Journal of Psychology, 51, pp.985-990.

Miah, A. 2011. Book Review: Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. Media, Culture & Society, 271, pp.145-147.

Ryer, P. 2011. Re-Situating Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture. American Ethnologist, 262, pp.487-488.

Appendix

I agree that prejudice, racism and discrimination may be in existence in main political institutions in Australia. In this case, I think that the implementation of the anti-racism policies is not followed up by the implementation of the same policies in other micro environment within these institutions. This therefore, results to the institutions’ stand on racism to overlap each other within these political institutions in Australia. Additionally, prejudice, discrimination and racism remain existent in the House of Representatives in Australia by the prevalent notion and perception of white privilege.

Thus, it is evident from these Australia political institutions that non-white crimes are taken up with a relatively high magnitude compared to the crimes involving whites. This notion has contributed to the growing perception of the blacks in Australia who are commonly associated with violence and crime. Surprisingly the main political institutions idle by as this happens on a daily basis a clear indication on how prevalent discrimination, racism and prejudice in Australian society is. Minority groups’ misrepresentations is also an issues that depicts prejudice and discrimination in Australian Political institution which is relatively high over the years.

I choose the Sea Islanders who are considered as a minority group due to their relatively low population which is estimated to be 11,000 and not usually widely spread rather they are concentrated in Mackay in north Queensland. In the 1990s’ it was claimed that this minority group was disadvantaged due to their relatively low population therefore they lacked basic needs such as, access to proper medical care, home ownership, employment, education. In line with this, the unemployment rate in for this group was estimated to be 28.5 per cent which is relatively higher than that of Australia’s nations by close to two times. Moreover, the Sea Islanders have experienced history of racial discrimination and were always referred to a distant group.

The Census Table Builder reveals that by the year 2011 there were 11,000 people listed as Sea Islanders that is merely 0.67% of the entire Australian population. Besides no Sea Islander is yet to be appointed as a representative in federal parliament. The Sea Islanders were only formerly recognized in the year 2000 despite being in Australia from the 1950s’. This shows some degree of misrepresentation of the Sea Islanders. Evidence on underrepresentation can be based on a number of factors where further research could be carried out however, I suspect institutional racism and the under representation of this ethnic group within major political parties in Australia will not change in the recent future.

Buddhist Council of NSW, St Leonards is an ethic based organization in Australia. It is founded on four main functions which include; helping members, Buddhist education, Buddhist care and Buddhist connection. This ethnic based organization in Australia has both a social and political role. Its political role includes; representation of the Buddhist community to the government, provision of low cost insurance to the Buddhist community and organizing community events and projects. Some of the social roles include; engaging in public relation where it links the Buddhist to the media, government as well as other interfaith organizations. Reaching out to the Buddhist through social media and the internet and conducting Buddhist ethnic classes in government schools. The organization is publicly funded where it receives donation from well-wishers who are either Buddhist or non-Buddhist. Additionally, this organization also receives government’s grants. Some of the strength of this organization is that it has contributed to the growth and empowerment of the society through funding various community projects in an effort of improving the lives of both the Buddhist and non-Buddhist communities in that area. This has fostered multiculturalism within various ethnic communities in Australia. Nevertheless, one limitation of this ethnic organization is that it has not be quite aggressive in its efforts to foster multiculturalism which could be attributed to limited funds.

I think that the citizen in the Western Democratic countries are constrained morally especially in countries where the birth of children does not guarantee them citizenship. However, such countries benefit from low labour costs by utilising immigrants workers. This is likely to create the perception that these immigrants are less human due to the low wages and relatively poor working conditions that they are occasionally subjected to. It is encouraged that the immigrants should be provided with entitlement despite the period of time that they stay in a particular foreign country. However, after a period of time these immigrants should be refrained from being provided with these entitlements in order to encourage more immigrants to the country. In addition to this, various rights should be granted to the immigrants who stay in a particular country for relatively longer period of time due to the great value that they have had in that country.

However, it is agreeable that some countries are cautioned by the fact that assimilation and integration of these immigrants is quite time consuming therefore taking away the value that these immigrants might have in a particular country. However, there is evidently need for making the citizenship attainment procedure more reasonable and fair as well as making it more valuable for the country to host the immigrants workers.

MP, Hong Lim the current Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Asia Engagement has been an ethnic minority political representative in his years in politics. Hong’s Cambodian-Chinese backgrounds have made him an ethnic minority political representative where he has assisted many refugees in Australia. Hong also contributed to the equitable inclusion of Asian-Australians in public and political life enabling them not to be overlooked as a minority group. On the other hand, Mr Hong has also contributed to the representation of the interest of the wider Australian community as wells as the representation of the immigrant community and other ethnic communities. With evident problems facing the ethnic minority groups in Australia being lack of representation in peak positions Mr Hong through his seat of Clayton is in a position to represent minority interests in the electorate.

I decided to look at Australian Census Study and found the TableBuilder website. The results of this census study in some way relate to some determinants of MEM participants such as race and generation there are also some social issues which are considered in this study. As per the census data of the year the perceived view of the immigrants in Australia were relatively more hostile compared to the other census data. This data also revealed that the number of immigrants into the country had gone relatively higher compared to the other years. Thus, their political influence is expected to go high as they seek representation

However, this source is not quite accurate especially when focusing on the participation of the MEM groups on activities like election as they often vote depending on the best policies that will favour them. On the other hand, this sources quite resourceful in revealing crucial information of the Austrian views on immigrants. This therefore makes it quite useful in regards to statistics.

In the DIBP test I got all the answers correct, I think I performed well since I had read intensively on this topic and has also conducted conclusive research on the topic. I do think that this test assesses the responsibilities and privileges’ in regards to international research on birthplace origin and host society factors. This is because the test questions ranges from the topic on Australia and his people, the democratic, rights beliefs and liberties of Australia and Australia’s government and law. The change and on race and ethnicity that I think should be made is enforcing the policies on this topic especially in the organization and political environment to make them more effective.