'At least you're the right colour': Identity and social inclusion of Bosnian refugees in Australia

'At least you're the right colour': Identity and social inclusion of Bosnian refugees in Australia

Colic-Peisker, V 2005, ''At least you're the right colour': Identity and social inclusion of Bosnian refugees in Australia', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 615-638.

Document type:	Journal Article
Collection:	Journal Articles

Title	'At least you're the right colour': Identity and social inclusion of Bosnian refugees in Australia
Author(s)	Colic-Peisker, V
Year	2005
Journal name	Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Volume number	31
Issue number	4
Start page	615
End page	638
Total pages	24
Publisher	Routledge
Abstract	This paper explores the Australian resettlement of the largest recent refugee group, Bosnians. It is argued that Bosnians (and other ex-Yugoslavs) were Australia's preferred humanitarian immigrants during the 1990s because of their European background (based on social-cohesion and 'resettlement-potential' arguments) and because of the presence of ex-Yugoslav communities in Australia which were expected to support newly arrived refugees during their early resettlement (the 'community argument'). The 'whiteness'/'Europeanness' of Bosnians enabled them to remain largely 'invisible' in the country they perceived as 'white Australia' and to initially claim an 'insider status'. For many people, however, this self-inclusion is thwarted in the second stage of resettlement when they are expected to find jobs and 'acculturate', as the language barrier and their non-English-speaking background become a basis of difference and potential exclusion. Their economic and social inclusion thus appears to be determined by factors beyond visibility and remains limited almost a decade after the largest wave of Bosnians arrived in Australia.
Keyword(s)	Bosnian refugees Australia identity race social inclusion
Copyright notice	© 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd
ISSN	1369-183X

Citation counts:	Cited 27 times in Scopus Article \| Citations
Access Statistics:	32 Abstract Views - Detailed Statistics
Created:	Wed, 17 Nov 2010, 16:09:00 EST by Catalyst Administrator