Abstract
This chapter applies Aleida Assmann’s suggestion that memory is a social and dynamic process and Michael Rothberg’s concept of memory as multidirectional to investigate how South Sudanese reconstruct collective memory in an Anglo-centric but multicultural Australian society. Trauma and cultural identity narratives emerge as dominant themes. The chapter demonstrates how the trauma discourse as the justification of the provision of settlement support services and cultural discourse promoted by multicultural policies legitimizes the reconstruction of South Sudanese collective memory and identity based on trauma and cultural narratives. However, since the emerging collective memory is based on memory that is multidirectional in nature and open to influence, the chapter concludes that South Sudanese reconstructed collective memory is flexible enough to incorporate aspects of the dominant Anglo-Australian culture.
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Notes
- 1.
Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, trans. Lewis A. Coser (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 37; for discussion on “collective memory” see Amy Corning and Howard Schuman, Generations and Collective Memory (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2015), 1, 6.
- 2.
David Lucas, Monica Jamali and Barbara Edgar, “South Sudanese in Australia: A Statistical Profile,” Australian Review of African Studies 32, no. 2 (2011): 10–24.
- 3.
Jay Marlowe, “South Sudanese Diaspora in Australasia,” Australian Review of African Studies 32, no. 2 (2011): 3–9.
- 4.
The fieldwork with the South Sudanese community in Sydney which forms the basis of this study was conducted between July and December 2011, and included community social gatherings, meetings and other events. I took audio recordings and made written notes. The records are currently privately held. The PhD research titled “Settlement Experiences of Sudanese Community in Western Sydney” at the Australian National University is current.
- 5.
Commonwealth Department of Social Services, Sudanese Community Profile (Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Social Services, 2007). https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/11_2013/community-profile-sudan.pdf.
- 6.
Mary Hutchinson and Pat Dorsett, “What Does the Literature Say about Resilience in Refugee People? Implications for Practice,” Journal of Social Inclusion 3, no. 2 (2012): 55–78. Jay Marlowe, “Using a Narrative Approach of Double-listening in Research Contexts,” International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work 3 (2010): 41–51.
- 7.
Gavin Jones, 2003. “White Australia, National Identity and Population Change,” in Laksiri Jayasuriya, David Walker and Jan Gothard eds, Legacies of White Australia: Race, Culture and Nation (Sydney: University of NSW Press), 124–25.
- 8.
See Andrew Theophanous, Access and Equity in the Role of Commonwealth Government (Canberra: Department of Social Services, 2014); Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2012 Access and Equity Enquiry Report (Canberra: Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2012).
- 9.
Gordon Milton, Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), 88; for historic context see Jean Martin, The Migrant Presence: Australian Response 1947–1977 (Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1978).
- 10.
Aleida Assmann, Shadows of Trauma: Memory and the Politics of Postwar Identity, trans. Sarah Clift (New York: Fordham University Press, 2016), 9–23.
- 11.
Michael Rothberg, Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization (California: Stanford University Press, 2009).
- 12.
Chava Frankfort-Nachmias and David Nachmias, Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 5th edition (London: Arnold, 1997), 282.
- 13.
See Juliet Corbin, and Anselm Strauss, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory (Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2008).
- 14.
Liisa Malkki makes similar observations about Burundi refugees in Tanzania. See Liisa Malkki, Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
- 15.
Cath Hart, and Samantha Maiden, “Race to Point Finger of Blame,” The Australian, https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/race-to-point-finger-of-blame/news-story/1e49ed9ad27f5240ebac8c9d5b7ee311; Andrew Bolt, “Who Let In the Sudanese? Amanda Vanstone,” The Herald Sun, 22 December 2016, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/who-let-in-the-sudanese-amanda-vanstone/news-story/9497646aaac16f3fdfa11673d2a12ea4.
- 16.
See Parliamentary Joint committee on Migration, No One Teaches You How to Become an Australian: Report into Migrant Settlement Outcomes (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2017).
Bibliography
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Bolt, Andrew. “Who Let In the Sudanese? Amanda Vanstone.” The Herald Sun, 22 December 2016, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/who-let-in-the-sudanese-amanda-vanstone/news-story/9497646aaac16f3fdfa11673d2a12ea4.
Commonwealth Department of Social Services. Sudanese Community Profile. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Social Services, 2007. https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/11_2013/community-profile-sudan.pdf.
Corbin, Juliet, and Anselm Strauss. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2008.
Corning, Amy, and Howard Schuman. Generations and Collective Memory. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 2015.
Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Access and Equity Enquiry Report. Canberra: Department of immigration and Citizenship, 2012.
Frankfort-Nachmias, Chava, and David Nachmias. Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 5th edition. London: Arnold, 1997.
Gordon, Milton. Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.
Halbwachs, Maurice. On Collective Memory, trans. Lewis A. Coser. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
Hart, Cath, and Samantha Maiden. “Race to Point Finger of Blame.” The Australian. 2007. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/race-to-point-finger-of-blame/news-story/1e49ed9ad27f5240ebac8c9d5b7ee311.
Hutchinson, Mary, and Pat Dorsett. “What Does the Literature Say about Resilience in Refugee People? Implications for Practice.” Journal of Social Inclusion 3, no. 2 (2012): 55–78.
Jones, Gavin. “White Australia, National Identity and Population Change.” In Legacies of White Australia: Race, Culture and Nation, edited by Laksiri Jayasuriya, David Walker and Jan Gothard. Sydney: University of NSW Press, 2003.
Lucas, David, Monica Jamali, and Barbara Edgar. “South Sudanese in Australia: A Statistical Profile.” Australian Review of African Studies 32, no. 2 (2011): 10–24.
Malkki, Liisa. Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Marlowe, Jay. “South Sudanese Diaspora in Australasia.” Australian Review of African Studies 32, no. 2 (2011): 3–9.
Marlowe, Jay. “Using a Narrative Approach of Double-listening in Research Contexts.” International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work 3 (2010): 41–51.
Martin, Jean. The Migrant Presence: Australian Response 1947–1977. Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1978.
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Migration. No One Teaches You to Become an Australian: Report into Migrant Settlement Outcomes. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2017.
Rothberg, Michael. Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009.
Theophanous, Andrew. Access and Equity in the Role of Commonwealth Government. Canberra: Department of Social Services, 2014.
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Atem, A. (2019). Negotiating Trauma and Cultural Dislocation Through Memory: South Sudanese in Western Sydney. In: Darian-Smith, K., Hamilton, P. (eds) Remembering Migration. Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17751-5_11
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