Razpotja izseljencev: razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev
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| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | Slovenian |
| Published: |
Ljubljana
Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU
2000
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Inhaltsverzeichnis Abstract |
| Item Description: | Zsfassung in engl. Sprache |
| Physical Description: | 140 S. Ill. |
| ISBN: | 9616358065 |
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Record in the Search Index
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|---|---|
| adam_text | VSEBINA
NEKAJ BESED O
POSLEDICE
AVSTRALSKIHSLOVENCEV
IDENTITETA -KAJ JE TO?
DRUŽBENA REALNOST AVSTRALIJE
Obdobje asimilacije
Obdobje integracije
Obdobje multikulturalizma
DVOJNA IDENTITETA AVSTRALSKIHSLOVENCEV
ZAKAJ DVOJNA IDENTITETA
ŠTIRI ZGODBE ZA
»OČI NE VIDIJO, SRCE NE BOLI«
»NIČ
»NIMAM DRUGE
»U AVSTRAJLIJI JE TKO, DATINIMAŠ MEJE«
UPORABLJENI
SEZNAM
POVZETEK
SUMMARY
Summary
SUMMARY
Ethnological research on Slovenes in Australia started in
Department of the Faculty of Arts at the Ljubljana University participated in an
interdisciplinary research project titled
Emigration and Culture) initiated by the faculty s Scientific Institute. At
undergraduate level of the study of ethnology my two contributions to this project
were my seminary paper entitled
Who Had Returned from Australia, Ljubljana,
on the material, social and spiritual culture of Australian Slovenes presented in
the form of an exhibition at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum in Ljubljana,
and the catalog Ljudjezdvema
1985).
Emigration Studies of the Centre of Scientific Studies of the Slovenian Academy
of Sciences and Arts (ZRC
on Australian Slovenes. This topic was also incorporated into the institute s basic
research project on Slovene emigration. Due to an abundance of collected
material my
Slovenes in Australia) centered mainly on the process of emigration of Slovenes
from the time they had left Slovenia until they had settled on the fifth continent
between the end of the 19 1 century and
supplemented by several autobiographic life stories of Slovene emigrants, was
published a year later under the title
(Between Happiness and Freedom: Australian Slovenes about Themselves, Ljubljana
published by the author)
The result of this research was in my Ph.D. thesis
v vsakdanjem
Everyday Lives of Australian Slovenes), subtitled
kontekstu etnološkega
Autobiographies Within the Context of Ethnological Research on Slovene Emigration,
132
Summary
Ljubljana
an analysis of published ethnological texts on Slovene emigration between
and
connected with this topic; the second, based on their autobiographies and placed
within the historical context in Australia and in former Yugoslavia between
and 1980 s, deals with the way Australian Slovenes express, preserve and transform
their Slovene ethnic identity amidst Australian society. This division of contents
is repeated in both publications of the extensive thesis with supplements
pages). The first, published at the beginning of
Rnjižnica
Slovene Ethnological Society Library)
and Emigration)
deal with this topic. The second part of the thesis, published in this book, has
been written a for wider audience both at home and abroad. Since I was no
longer interested in the process of emigration from Slovenia to the Australian
continent, but merely in the events in everyday lives of Australian Slovenes in the
course of their several decades of living there, the contents is a logical continuation
of the publication Between Happiness and Freedom. These two publications, both
with summaries in the English language, therefore attempt to highlight the life
of Australian Slovenes through their previously unpublished autobiographies.
This publication, like others before it, has largely been based on field work
research, application of the autobiographic method between the first generations
of Slovene immigrants in the Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra,
and Wollongong (in
professional ethnological, historic, sociological, anthropological, demographic,
geographic, and economic literature pertaining to migration studies. I have also
used archival data from Australian/Slovene associations, religious centers and
private documents of immigrants. The material thus collected has been analyzed
from the aspect of the way the ethnic identity of a given group of informants is
manifested in a foreign environment, which in the course of numerous interviews
with immigrants has turned out to be the key problem of their way of life.
Let us summarize the three extensive chapters which comprise this
publication:
Slovencev
Slovenes)
konec
133
Summary
CONSEQUENCES OF A DOUBLE IDENTITY IN THE EVERYDAY LIFE
OF AUSTRALIAN SLOVENES
The first section, titled
attempts to define the notion of identity, striving to fill in the gap in ethnological
research of Slovene emigration. My definition of this notion has been summarized
after researchers from different fields, for instance
anthropologist.
personal and group identity (which I shall not explain at this point);
Niedermüller, an
in an individual s relation towards him- or herself and towards others. Both authors
agree that an individual s identity is formed by others. Through his or her personal
identity an individual takes part in a group (social) identity which is as unstable
and diverse as the identity of an individual is multilayered and stratified. This
group identity often corresponds, at least partly, to other kinds of group identities.
One of them is »movable identity« brought about by the general mobility of our
modern, developed society. Among other things, the changing status of an
individual in the process of social changes and in the process of one s physical
mobility such as emigration/immigration, for instance, is incorporated into this
process. A characteristic feature of immigrant identity is the fact that in a new
environment it assumes »innumerable aspects«, namely as many as there are
differences (i.e. racial, ethnic, cultural, etc.) between immigrants and the native
population. These »aspects« form an integral part of group identity as well.
According to social psychologists such as
process of socialization, especially social interaction between an individual and
others in a given social environment, is of utmost importance for the formation
of identity. Social psychologists therefore divide identity into personal identity,
social identity, and the identity of the self. These, and especially the latter,
frequently fall into a crisis since the stable, firm self often succumbs in modern
post-industrial societies in which the traditional role of individuals transform
and change. The identity of an individual gradually becomes dispersed; social
psychologists have named such identity the »patchwork identity.«
Let us also briefly mention the ethnological aspect of defining identity
which is often equal to ethnic identity; the latter is namely the most common
subject of ethnological research. According to available literature ethnic identity
is defined as a specific location, time, nation and, last but not least, individual. It
originates through inter-connections and inter-dependence between different
elements of cultural, social and psychological spheres without which it cannot
be analyzed as a whole. As a rule it is in the center of ethnological research of
134
Summary
Slovene migrations. In the past ethnologists were mainly interested in its
manifestations in the life of a given immigrant group. These cultural elements
were manifested in the way immigrants lived, dressed, evaluated things, organized
their societies, etc., and constituted, aside from the language, the principal ethnic
characteristics of immigrants. Ethnological research has lately shifted towards
ungraspable elements of ethnic identity (immaterial, psychological mechanisms,
symbolic feelings of one s mantality, etc), all of which have turned out to be of
key importance in the manifestation of ethnic identity in a foreign environment
such as is the case of Australian Slovenes as well.
Formation of identity is therefore a dynamic process taking place within a
given society, which has also been stressed by Australian sociologists such as Tim
Rowse or Albert
placed within the existing social reality. This (functioning almost as a principle)
is the reason for my detailed analysis of the social situation in Australia which
had taken place at the time when the majority of Slovene emigrants came to this
continent. This is the theme of the following chapter of this book entitled
Družbena realnost
Slovenes Within It)
This was the period after the end of the Second World War during which
the official Australian immigration policy more than ever thoroughly influenced
the way of life of ethnically more and more diversified immigrants. With their
rapidly growing numbers especially after the war they soon became an influential
factor in Australian politics, economy, culture and everyday life. The previous
pattern of »the British«, a synonym for the »Australian« at the time, gradually
started to change. »British« no longer necessarily equalled »Australian« and the
latter became a mixture of different life styles of over one hundred ethnic groups;
the policy of assimilation and then integration thus shifted towards multi-
culturalism which transformed the Australian society into what it is today. The
three periods of the post-war immigration policy are dealtwith in this publication,
highlighted by the principal ideas of political leaders who in the course of the
past decades marked the relation of the so-called »old« Australians (Anglo-Saxon
whites, born in Australia) toward the »new« (immigrant) Australians.
Among the latter are also Australian Slovenes. Most of them came to the
fifth continent during the first two and a half decades after the Second World
War, thus in the period of the policy of assimilation of new immigrants advocated
by the Australian government. How they experienced the period of the »complete
melting with the Australian culture« (between
went back to the prewar racist and British aspirations to preserve an ethnically
homogenous »Australian race,« is illustrated in their life stories which reveal
135
Summary
social processes in the history of postwar Australia. Likewise, their interpretations
of the »objective historical truths« continue with descriptions of the brief transitional
period, the so-called period of integration
pressures of non-Anglo-Saxons the British identity of the Australian population
gradually started to change. This was the period in which, although unofficially,
one was already allowed to manifest one s ethnic adherence. This was finally
legalized by the politics of multiculturalism (since
recognized the ethnic diversity of the Australian society. This part of the book
offers a direct comparison between the course of history written in professional
and scientific literature and between re-experiencing these events by some of its
participants, among others also Australian Slovenes. Clearly evident are thus the
discrepancies between »theory« and »practice«, which is especially true of the
current period of multiculturalism: despite the legalization of equality between
the »old« and the »new« Australians the extreme political right again starts to
voice ideas of assimilation and the »preservation of Great Britain on the other side
of the ocean.«
Since the continuous immigration of Slovenes to Australia ceased in the
1970 s the lives of Australian Slovenes are no longer affected by these ideas. The
first generations have (probably) already attained the final stage of independence
and of incorporation into the Australian way of life. More than the problem of
melting with the foreign culture their everyday life style reflects the split between
their adherence to two different worlds: the one to which they were born and the
one in which they created their home
The final part of the first chapter of this book is dedicated to this process of
the formation of the double identity of Australian Slovenes. The on-going process
is illustrated by the us-others relation which in the case of Australian Slovenes took
place within the family, neighborhood, broader environment (in relation to other
ethnic groups and the Australian society per
relationship towards one s ethnic group and the original homeland. When referring
to individual cases and situations which continually prove and reaffirm the identity
split I have, as before, proceeded from individual narratives and from the narrators
spontaneous listing of key problems and moments in their everyday lives in which
they perceive themselves as more Slovene (that is foreign within the Australian
society) or, on the other hand, as predominantly Australian (that is foreign within
their ethnic group or even their original homeland)
my informants have reached a satisfactory standard of living and, at the same time,
possess at least the knowledge of colloquial English, both of which they perceived
as a necessary condition for their successful incorporation into the Australian society.
This, however, does not denote that they perceive themselves as Australians as
136
Summary
well. Their very need to publicly manifest their ethnic origins in the past
(participation in ethnic festivals and similar events, for instance) and the
preservation of tlae traditions of their original homeland within their families and
the community (reflected by their cuisine, songs, the preservation of customs and
Slovene festivities, and the like) has always placed them in the role of an immigrant,
not a native, within the immigrant society. In that period of searching for a new
social role in a foreign environment these clearly visible symbols of ethnic identity
had been of primary importance; they enabled recognition by others and also
differentiated Slovenes from other ethnic groups and from »old« Australians. After
they had settled down and their new role
stable, these visible symbols with which Slovene immigrants manifested their
adherence to Slovenia were replaced by feelings and by the way they perceive this
adherence. Australian Slovenes analyzed in this publication most often express
these feelings by voicing their nostalgia for the place of their birth, for relatives in
Slovenia, by yearning for everything they had left behind and for everything that
they miss in Australia. The relation towards their homeland and their relatives is
thus formed on an emotional level while the relation towards the Australian society
is based on material goods which this society makes possible, and especially on the
fact that their children, most of which were born in Australia, are first Australians
and only secondly Slovenes. This is also the main reason why the majority of first-
generations Slovenes in Australia does not think of returning to Slovenia
permanently. Because of this their split in manifesting their ethnic identity has
become a customary part of their everyday
WHY A DOUBLE IDENTITY?
The second chapter is dedicated to the adjustment of practical research
results concerning the real and actual existence of double ethnic identity among
the immigrants which have been dealt with in the course of my research work
with theoretical suppositions of this phenomenon. In order to achieve this I
have tried to analyze their ethnic identity during the period in which their life
stories originated, comparing it with the current criteria which (according to
Južnič)
-
emotional adherence to the territory of »domesticity and security«, which
they define geographically- it namely denotes the place where they were born
(professional literature defines this adherence with the notion of symbolic
territoriali
137
Summary
in my opinion theirs is also the case of »actual territoriality«, consequently
belonging to the area in which they live;
-
immigrants were born (the community of origin)
they moved permanently, and which is different from the community of origin
(it can also be termed the »immigrant« community). Since immigrants are
incorporated into it only gradually, we can also speak about a simultaneous
process in which the formation of their new
being formed as well: adherence to the old, original community, and to the
new, »immigrant« one. Two other kinds of adherence form within this
adherence to the community:
-
-
become split in immigration.
Bearing in mind that for an individual it is »Almost impossible
ethnically split or to have a double ethnic identity« (according
situation of an immigrant in a foreign environment is so specific that it is getting
nearer to, if not entirely identical with, the indicated possibilities of a double
identity. In accordance with the criteria analyzed above this identity can be termed
ethnic identity. And since the condition of their community in Australia is
reflected through the experiences of several individuals
it is possible to speak about a double ethnic identity on this level as well.
Identity therefore had not been given to a person at the time of birth, but
evolves, as has been stressed by social psychologists, through interactions with
others. In order to fulfill this condition it is necessary to live in a social environment
in which an individual assumes his or her role and strategy in relation to others.
It is this very strategy that enables a manipulation in expressing one s ethnic
identity, especially in a multi-ethnic society such as an Australian one. According
to Australian sociologist
of cohabitation of members of different ethnic groups which form such a society.
These groups combine the knowledge about their emigrant as well as immigrant
societies. Their identification with the original country, community, culture, and
language becomes just as acceptable for them as their identification with the
country, community, culture, and the language of their immigrant society. This
is aptly illustrated by the rhetorical question of an Australian Slovene after he
was asked whether he was Slovene or Australian: »Well, how should I put it?«
Eventually it is the specific social situation which decisively influences an
immigrant s strategy of expressing his or her double ethnic identity. In the case
of ethnic groups in an ethnically diverse society in which their ethnic, cultural,
138
Summary
religious and other differences are slowly diminishing, even the term »multi¬
ethnic identity« (after
reservations about the possible existence of double ethnic identity. Last but not
least, it could be classified as one of the »patchwork identities«, and certainly it
also belongs to the complex of »movable identities.« As has already been
mentioned, there are »endless« aspects of immigrant identity, and of ethnic
identity as well. A double identity is but one of them. According to the reviewed
sources and literature, however, it does not appear solely among Australian
Slovenes, but is a kind of common denominator in the lives of the first generations
of immigrants anywhere in the world. In the case of Slovene immigrants it is
manifested through visible as well as through »ungraspable« elements or symbols
of discord in ethnic adherence. In relation to their homeland it is preserved by
nursing the myth or the stereotype of homeland in a foreign country (in the case
of Australian Slovenes this is the stereotype of traditional rural culture since
most emigrants spent their childhood and early adult years in rural parts of
Slovenia. This is further enhanced by the feelings of nostalgia and homesickness)
This stereotype of homeland is transmitted from parents to children. These mostly
foreign-born children at the same time create a bridge between the first
generations of immigrants and the immigrant society; through them a foreign
country becomes more acceptable for their parents and, eventually, also becomes
the country in which they settle permanently.
The first generations of Slovenes abroad thus do not differ in the manner in
which they preserve the homeland stereotype conditioned by their original
environment. Among most of them it is manifested in the part of their ethnic identity
which was formed through the relationship between the immigrant and the original
homeland. What differentiates them from one another, however, is manifested mainly
in the part of their ethnic identity in which they assumed the roles of immigrants in
immigrant societies. Because of this we can speak about American, Australian,
Canadian, etc. Slovenes. It is my opinion that only by combining both poles of ethnic
identity of the first immigrants we can, at least up to a point, highlight their way of
life which is split between two worlds and which results also in the way their children
manifest their ethnic adherence. In the case of Australian Slovenes these next
generations yet need to be researched and analyzed.
FOUR STORIES FOR THE END
The final chapter of this book consists of life stories of four men and a woman,
all of whom are Slovenes living in Sydney. Like other autobiographies they
139
Summary
originated during my field work sojourn among Slovene immigrants in 1980 s.
Since this was the period in which the notion of emigration still carried a political
connotation in ex-Yugoslavia it is imperative to understand the authors and their
narrations in this context. Due to political and economic reasons three of the
narrators had left their homeland at the end of 1940 s; two followed their
adventurous nature at the end of 1960 s and the beginning of
prior to their departure all of them worked as industrial workers in light or heavy
industry at the time of my interviews two were already retired, one worked as a
farmer, and the remaining two retained their original professions from Slovenia:
one was a mechanic, the other a worker.
On the one hand these narrations (»Eyes Do Not See, the Heart Does Not
Hurt,« »We Got Nothin Easy,« »I Had No Other Choice But to Stay Here,« »In
Australia There s No Limit«), written down in colloquial Slovene/Australian
language, are original and unique interpretations of past social events which
had been the cause of their authors departure to a foreign land in which they
had remained. On the other hand, however, a similar fate was shared by a
multitude of Slovene immigrants on the fifth continent and also elsewhere. Such
sources therefore obligate researchers to scientifically analyze them and to
consider them as an entirely equivalent source for the research of (in our case)
migrational processes. Until very recently these processes had been analyzed with
the help of the so-called »objective
in which any trace of the immigrants individualities became completely lost.
The first attempts at publishing such sources had already taken place even before
the volume entitled Between Happiness and Freedom, which comprised as many as
thirteen original autobiographies of Australian Slovenes written down in
colloquial language, was published. After its publication, however, other Slovene
researchers of migration from other disciplines started to portray in a similar
manner the destinies of emigrants in their own publications.
The book concludes with the words of immigrants themselves; it is because
of them that it came into existence in the first place.
Translated by Nives Sulic
140
|
| adam_txt |
VSEBINA
NEKAJ BESED O
POSLEDICE
AVSTRALSKIHSLOVENCEV
IDENTITETA -KAJ JE TO?
DRUŽBENA REALNOST AVSTRALIJE
Obdobje asimilacije
Obdobje integracije
Obdobje multikulturalizma
DVOJNA IDENTITETA AVSTRALSKIHSLOVENCEV
ZAKAJ DVOJNA IDENTITETA
ŠTIRI ZGODBE ZA
»OČI NE VIDIJO, SRCE NE BOLI«
»NIČ
»NIMAM DRUGE
»U AVSTRAJLIJI JE TKO, DATINIMAŠ MEJE«
UPORABLJENI
SEZNAM
POVZETEK
SUMMARY
Summary
SUMMARY
Ethnological research on Slovenes in Australia started in
Department of the Faculty of Arts at the Ljubljana University participated in an
interdisciplinary research project titled
Emigration and Culture) initiated by the faculty's Scientific Institute. At
undergraduate level of the study of ethnology my two contributions to this project
were my seminary paper entitled
Who Had Returned from Australia, Ljubljana,
on the material, social and spiritual culture of Australian Slovenes presented in
the form of an exhibition at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum in Ljubljana,
and the catalog Ljudjezdvema
1985).
Emigration Studies of the Centre of Scientific Studies of the Slovenian Academy
of Sciences and Arts (ZRC
on Australian Slovenes. This topic was also incorporated into the institute's basic
research project on Slovene emigration. Due to an abundance of collected
material my
Slovenes in Australia) centered mainly on the process of emigration of Slovenes
from the time they had left Slovenia until they had settled on the fifth continent
between the end of the 19"1 century and
supplemented by several autobiographic life stories of Slovene emigrants, was
published a year later under the title
(Between Happiness and Freedom: Australian Slovenes about Themselves, Ljubljana
published by the author)
The result of this research was in my Ph.D. thesis
v vsakdanjem
Everyday Lives of Australian Slovenes), subtitled
kontekstu etnološkega
Autobiographies Within the Context of Ethnological Research on Slovene Emigration,
132
Summary
Ljubljana
an analysis of published ethnological texts on Slovene emigration between
and
connected with this topic; the second, based on their autobiographies and placed
within the historical context in Australia and in former Yugoslavia between
and 1980's, deals with the way Australian Slovenes express, preserve and transform
their Slovene ethnic identity amidst Australian society. This division of contents
is repeated in both publications of the extensive thesis with supplements
pages). The first, published at the beginning of
Rnjižnica
Slovene Ethnological Society Library)
and Emigration)
deal with this topic. The second part of the thesis, published in this book, has
been written a for wider audience both at home and abroad. Since I was no
longer interested in the process of emigration from Slovenia to the Australian
continent, but merely in the events in everyday lives of Australian Slovenes in the
course of their several decades of living there, the contents is a logical continuation
of the publication Between Happiness and Freedom. These two publications, both
with summaries in the English language, therefore attempt to highlight the life
of Australian Slovenes through their previously unpublished autobiographies.
This publication, like others before it, has largely been based on field work
research, application of the autobiographic method between the first generations
of Slovene immigrants in the Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra,
and Wollongong (in
professional ethnological, historic, sociological, anthropological, demographic,
geographic, and economic literature pertaining to migration studies. I have also
used archival data from Australian/Slovene associations, religious centers and
private documents of immigrants. The material thus collected has been analyzed
from the aspect of the way the ethnic identity of a given group of informants is
manifested in a foreign environment, which in the course of numerous interviews
with immigrants has turned out to be the key problem of their way of life.
Let us summarize the three extensive chapters which comprise this
publication:
Slovencev
Slovenes)
konec
133
Summary
CONSEQUENCES OF A DOUBLE IDENTITY IN THE EVERYDAY LIFE
OF AUSTRALIAN SLOVENES
The first section, titled
attempts to define the notion of identity, striving to fill in the gap in ethnological
research of Slovene emigration. My definition of this notion has been summarized
after researchers from different fields, for instance
anthropologist.
personal and group identity (which I shall not explain at this point);
Niedermüller, an
in an individual's relation towards him- or herself and towards others. Both authors
agree that an individual's identity is formed by others. Through his or her personal
identity an individual takes part in a group (social) identity which is as unstable
and diverse as the identity of an individual is multilayered and stratified. This
group identity often corresponds, at least partly, to other kinds of group identities.
One of them is »movable identity« brought about by the general mobility of our
modern, developed society. Among other things, the changing status of an
individual in the process of social changes and in the process of one's physical
mobility such as emigration/immigration, for instance, is incorporated into this
process. A characteristic feature of immigrant identity is the fact that in a new
environment it assumes »innumerable aspects«, namely as many as there are
differences (i.e. racial, ethnic, cultural, etc.) between immigrants and the native
population. These »aspects« form an integral part of group identity as well.
According to social psychologists such as
process of socialization, especially social interaction between an individual and
others in a given social environment, is of utmost importance for the formation
of identity. Social psychologists therefore divide identity into personal identity,
social identity, and the identity of the self. These, and especially the latter,
frequently fall into a crisis since the stable, firm self often succumbs in modern
post-industrial societies in which the traditional role of individuals transform
and change. The identity of an individual gradually becomes dispersed; social
psychologists have named such identity the »patchwork identity.«
Let us also briefly mention the ethnological aspect of defining identity
which is often equal to ethnic identity; the latter is namely the most common
subject of ethnological research. According to available literature ethnic identity
is defined as a specific location, time, nation and, last but not least, individual. It
originates through inter-connections and inter-dependence between different
elements of cultural, social and psychological spheres without which it cannot
be analyzed as a whole. As a rule it is in the center of ethnological research of
134
Summary
Slovene migrations. In the past ethnologists were mainly interested in its
manifestations in the life of a given immigrant group. These cultural elements
were manifested in the way immigrants lived, dressed, evaluated things, organized
their societies, etc., and constituted, aside from the language, the principal ethnic
characteristics of immigrants. Ethnological research has lately shifted towards
ungraspable elements of ethnic identity (immaterial, psychological mechanisms,
symbolic feelings of one's mantality, etc), all of which have turned out to be of
key importance in the manifestation of ethnic identity in a foreign environment
such as is the case of Australian Slovenes as well.
Formation of identity is therefore a dynamic process taking place within a
given society, which has also been stressed by Australian sociologists such as Tim
Rowse or Albert
placed within the existing social reality. This (functioning almost as a principle)
is the reason for my detailed analysis of the social situation in Australia which
had taken place at the time when the majority of Slovene emigrants came to this
continent. This is the theme of the following chapter of this book entitled
Družbena realnost
Slovenes Within It)
This was the period after the end of the Second World War during which
the official Australian immigration policy more than ever thoroughly influenced
the way of life of ethnically more and more diversified immigrants. With their
rapidly growing numbers especially after the war they soon became an influential
factor in Australian politics, economy, culture and everyday life. The previous
pattern of »the British«, a synonym for the »Australian« at the time, gradually
started to change. »British« no longer necessarily equalled »Australian« and the
latter became a mixture of different life styles of over one hundred ethnic groups;
the policy of assimilation and then integration thus shifted towards multi-
culturalism which transformed the Australian society into what it is today. The
three periods of the post-war immigration policy are dealtwith in this publication,
highlighted by the principal ideas of political leaders who in the course of the
past decades marked the relation of the so-called »old« Australians (Anglo-Saxon
whites, born in Australia) toward the »new« (immigrant) Australians.
Among the latter are also Australian Slovenes. Most of them came to the
fifth continent during the first two and a half decades after the Second World
War, thus in the period of the policy of assimilation of new immigrants advocated
by the Australian government. How they experienced the period of the »complete
melting with the Australian culture« (between
went back to the prewar racist and British aspirations to preserve an ethnically
homogenous »Australian race,« is illustrated in their life stories which reveal
135
Summary
social processes in the history of postwar Australia. Likewise, their interpretations
of the »objective historical truths« continue with descriptions of the brief transitional
period, the so-called period of integration
pressures of non-Anglo-Saxons the British identity of the Australian population
gradually started to change. This was the period in which, although unofficially,
one was already allowed to manifest one's ethnic adherence. This was finally
legalized by the politics of multiculturalism (since
recognized the ethnic diversity of the Australian society. This part of the book
offers a direct comparison between the course of history written in professional
and scientific literature and between re-experiencing these events by some of its
participants, among others also Australian Slovenes. Clearly evident are thus the
discrepancies between »theory« and »practice«, which is especially true of the
current period of multiculturalism: despite the legalization of equality between
the »old« and the »new« Australians the extreme political right again starts to
voice ideas of assimilation and the »preservation of Great Britain on the other side
of the ocean.«
Since the continuous immigration of Slovenes to Australia ceased in the
1970's the lives of Australian Slovenes are no longer affected by these ideas. The
first generations have (probably) already attained the final stage of independence
and of incorporation into the Australian way of life. More than the problem of
melting with the foreign culture their everyday life style reflects the split between
their adherence to two different worlds: the one to which they were born and the
one in which they created their home
The final part of the first chapter of this book is dedicated to this process of
the formation of the double identity of Australian Slovenes. The on-going process
is illustrated by the us-others relation which in the case of Australian Slovenes took
place within the family, neighborhood, broader environment (in relation to other
ethnic groups and the Australian society per
relationship towards one's ethnic group and the original homeland. When referring
to individual cases and situations which continually prove and reaffirm the identity
split I have, as before, proceeded from individual narratives and from the narrators'
spontaneous listing of key problems and moments in their everyday lives in which
they perceive themselves as more Slovene (that is foreign within the Australian
society) or, on the other hand, as predominantly Australian (that is foreign within
their ethnic group or even their original homeland)
my informants have reached a satisfactory standard of living and, at the same time,
possess at least the knowledge of colloquial English, both of which they perceived
as a necessary condition for their successful incorporation into the Australian society.
This, however, does not denote that they perceive themselves as Australians as
136
Summary
well. Their very need to publicly manifest their ethnic origins in the past
(participation in ethnic festivals and similar events, for instance) and the
preservation of tlae traditions of their original homeland within their families and
the community (reflected by their cuisine, songs, the preservation of customs and
Slovene festivities, and the like) has always placed them in the role of an immigrant,
not a native, within the immigrant society. In that period of searching for a new
social role in a foreign environment these clearly visible symbols of ethnic identity
had been of primary importance; they enabled recognition by others and also
differentiated Slovenes from other ethnic groups and from »old« Australians. After
they had settled down and their new role
stable, these visible symbols with which Slovene immigrants manifested their
adherence to Slovenia were replaced by feelings and by the way they perceive this
adherence. Australian Slovenes analyzed in this publication most often express
these feelings by voicing their nostalgia for the place of their birth, for relatives in
Slovenia, by yearning for everything they had left behind and for everything that
they miss in Australia. The relation towards their homeland and their relatives is
thus formed on an emotional level while the relation towards the Australian society
is based on material goods which this society makes possible, and especially on the
fact that their children, most of which were born in Australia, are first Australians
and only secondly Slovenes. This is also the main reason why the majority of first-
generations Slovenes in Australia does not think of returning to Slovenia
permanently. Because of this their split in manifesting their ethnic identity has
become a customary part of their everyday
WHY A DOUBLE IDENTITY?
The second chapter is dedicated to the adjustment of practical research
results concerning the real and actual existence of double ethnic identity among
the immigrants which have been dealt with in the course of my research work
with theoretical suppositions of this phenomenon. In order to achieve this I
have tried to analyze their ethnic identity during the period in which their life
stories originated, comparing it with the current criteria which (according to
Južnič)
-
emotional adherence to the territory of »domesticity and security«, which
they define geographically- it namely denotes the place where they were born
(professional literature defines this adherence with the notion of symbolic
territoriali
137
Summary
in my opinion theirs is also the case of »actual territoriality«, consequently
belonging to the area in which they live;
-
immigrants were born (the community of origin)
they moved permanently, and which is different from the community of origin
(it can also be termed the »immigrant« community). Since immigrants are
incorporated into it only gradually, we can also speak about a simultaneous
process in which the formation of their new
being formed as well: adherence to the old, original community, and to the
new, »immigrant« one. Two other kinds of adherence form within this
adherence to the community:
-
-
become split in immigration.
Bearing in mind that for an individual it is »Almost impossible
'ethnically split' or to have a double ethnic identity« (according
situation of an immigrant in a foreign environment is so specific that it is getting
nearer to, if not entirely identical with, the indicated possibilities of a double
identity. In accordance with the criteria analyzed above this identity can be termed
ethnic identity. And since the condition of their community in Australia is
reflected through the experiences of several individuals
it is possible to speak about a double ethnic identity on this level as well.
Identity therefore had not been given to a person at the time of birth, but
evolves, as has been stressed by social psychologists, through interactions with
others. In order to fulfill this condition it is necessary to live in a social environment
in which an individual assumes his or her role and strategy in relation to others.
It is this very strategy that enables a manipulation in expressing one's ethnic
identity, especially in a multi-ethnic society such as an Australian one. According
to Australian sociologist
of cohabitation of members of different ethnic groups which form such a society.
These groups combine the knowledge about their emigrant as well as immigrant
societies. Their identification with the original country, community, culture, and
language becomes just as acceptable for them as their identification with the
country, community, culture, and the language of their immigrant society. This
is aptly illustrated by the rhetorical question of an Australian Slovene after he
was asked whether he was Slovene or Australian: »Well, how should I put it?«
Eventually it is the specific social situation which decisively influences an
immigrant's strategy of expressing his or her double ethnic identity. In the case
of ethnic groups in an ethnically diverse society in which their ethnic, cultural,
138
Summary
religious and other differences are slowly diminishing, even the term »multi¬
ethnic identity« (after
reservations about the possible existence of double ethnic identity. Last but not
least, it could be classified as one of the »patchwork identities«, and certainly it
also belongs to the complex of »movable identities.« As has already been
mentioned, there are »endless« aspects of immigrant identity, and of ethnic
identity as well. A double identity is but one of them. According to the reviewed
sources and literature, however, it does not appear solely among Australian
Slovenes, but is a kind of common denominator in the lives of the first generations
of immigrants anywhere in the world. In the case of Slovene immigrants it is
manifested through visible as well as through »ungraspable« elements or symbols
of discord in ethnic adherence. In relation to their homeland it is preserved by
nursing the myth or the stereotype of homeland in a foreign country (in the case
of Australian Slovenes this is the stereotype of traditional rural culture since
most emigrants spent their childhood and early adult years in rural parts of
Slovenia. This is further enhanced by the feelings of nostalgia and homesickness)
This stereotype of homeland is transmitted from parents to children. These mostly
foreign-born children at the same time create a bridge between the first
generations of immigrants and the immigrant society; through them a foreign
country becomes more acceptable for their parents and, eventually, also becomes
the country in which they settle permanently.
The first generations of Slovenes abroad thus do not differ in the manner in
which they preserve the homeland stereotype conditioned by their original
environment. Among most of them it is manifested in the part of their ethnic identity
which was formed through the relationship between the immigrant and the original
homeland. What differentiates them from one another, however, is manifested mainly
in the part of their ethnic identity in which they assumed the roles of immigrants in
immigrant societies. Because of this we can speak about American, Australian,
Canadian, etc. Slovenes. It is my opinion that only by combining both poles of ethnic
identity of the first immigrants we can, at least up to a point, highlight their way of
life which is split between two worlds and which results also in the way their children
manifest their ethnic adherence. In the case of Australian Slovenes these next
generations yet need to be researched and analyzed.
FOUR STORIES FOR THE END
The final chapter of this book consists of life stories of four men and a woman,
all of whom are Slovenes living in Sydney. Like other autobiographies they
139
Summary
originated during my field work sojourn among Slovene immigrants in 1980's.
Since this was the period in which the notion of emigration still carried a political
connotation in ex-Yugoslavia it is imperative to understand the authors and their
narrations in this context. Due to political and economic reasons three of the
narrators had left their homeland at the end of 1940's; two followed their
adventurous nature at the end of 1960's and the beginning of
prior to their departure all of them worked as industrial workers in light or heavy
industry at the time of my interviews two were already retired, one worked as a
farmer, and the remaining two retained their original professions from Slovenia:
one was a mechanic, the other a worker.
On the one hand these narrations (»Eyes Do Not See, the Heart Does Not
Hurt,« »We Got Nothin' Easy,« »I Had No Other Choice But to Stay Here,« »In
Australia There's No Limit«), written down in colloquial Slovene/Australian
language, are original and unique interpretations of past social events which
had been the cause of their authors' departure to a foreign land in which they
had remained. On the other hand, however, a similar fate was shared by a
multitude of Slovene immigrants on the fifth continent and also elsewhere. Such
sources therefore obligate researchers to scientifically analyze them and to
consider them as an entirely equivalent source for the research of (in our case)
migrational processes. Until very recently these processes had been analyzed with
the help of the so-called »objective
in which any trace of the immigrants' individualities became completely lost.
The first attempts at publishing such sources had already taken place even before
the volume entitled Between Happiness and Freedom, which comprised as many as
thirteen original autobiographies of Australian Slovenes written down in
colloquial language, was published. After its publication, however, other Slovene
researchers of migration from other disciplines started to portray in a similar
manner the destinies of emigrants in their own publications.
The book concludes with the words of immigrants themselves; it is because
of them that it came into existence in the first place.
Translated by Nives Sulic
140 |
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| id | DE-604.BV022242080 |
| illustrated | Illustrated |
| index_date | 2024-07-02T16:36:18Z |
| indexdate | 2024-07-09T20:53:09Z |
| institution | BVB |
| isbn | 9616358065 |
| language | Slovenian |
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| physical | 140 S. Ill. |
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| spelling | Čebulj Sajko, Breda Verfasser aut Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev Breda Čebulj Sajko Ljubljana Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU 2000 140 S. Ill. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Zsfassung in engl. Sprache Slovenes Australia Ethnic identity Kulturelle Identität (DE-588)4033542-2 gnd rswk-swf Slowenischer Einwanderer (DE-588)4575224-2 gnd rswk-swf Australien Australien (DE-588)4003900-6 gnd rswk-swf Australien (DE-588)4003900-6 g Kulturelle Identität (DE-588)4033542-2 s Slowenischer Einwanderer (DE-588)4575224-2 s DE-604 Digitalisierung BSBMuenchen application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=015452987&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Inhaltsverzeichnis Digitalisierung BSB Muenchen application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=015452987&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Abstract |
| spellingShingle | Čebulj Sajko, Breda Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev Slovenes Australia Ethnic identity Kulturelle Identität (DE-588)4033542-2 gnd Slowenischer Einwanderer (DE-588)4575224-2 gnd |
| subject_GND | (DE-588)4033542-2 (DE-588)4575224-2 (DE-588)4003900-6 |
| title | Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev |
| title_auth | Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev |
| title_exact_search | Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev |
| title_exact_search_txtP | Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev |
| title_full | Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev Breda Čebulj Sajko |
| title_fullStr | Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev Breda Čebulj Sajko |
| title_full_unstemmed | Razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev Breda Čebulj Sajko |
| title_short | Razpotja izseljencev |
| title_sort | razpotja izseljencev razdvojena identiteta avstralskih slovencev |
| title_sub | razdvojena identiteta avstralskih Slovencev |
| topic | Slovenes Australia Ethnic identity Kulturelle Identität (DE-588)4033542-2 gnd Slowenischer Einwanderer (DE-588)4575224-2 gnd |
| topic_facet | Slovenes Australia Ethnic identity Kulturelle Identität Slowenischer Einwanderer Australien |
| url | http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=015452987&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=015452987&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA |
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