Australian-South Asian migration: changing concepts of citizenship

Description

This panel proposes to address questions concerning the familiar practices and concepts of citizenship raised by increased migration from South Asia to Australia, with reference to their current research in diaspora studies and readings of Asian Australian literature. Referring to the inadequacies and limitations of the state centred distribution paradigm of Australian citizenship that transnationalism and the Asian diaspora in Australia have exposed, and to the seemingly more inclusive concept of multi-cultural citizenship, the panelists will discuss literary representations of tensions within citizenship that might have effects on legal interpretations and categories, noting as case studies particular challenges to or questionings of the practices and policies of citizenship. Issues that may be covered include grievances caused by national exclusions, the status of refugees and statelessness, neo-racist hostility, the restrictions of immigration law, the socio-economic integration of migrants. The approach will be interdisciplinary and will draw on the well established intersection between legal and literary studies insofar as these interface with Citizenship Studies, in focusing on how literary representations can point to the re/framing of questions of citizenship in relation to legal frameworks.

Period	27 Jan 2017
Event title	European Association for Studies of Australia Conference: Australia-South Asia: Contestations and Remonstrances
Event type	Conference