Monday, October 28, 2013

Asylum seekers and racism in the neo-liberal age




It’s not a topic that deliberately infiltrates the educational sphere, but the current racist climate of Australian politics in regards to the national stance on asylum seekers essentially sets the standards on the way our culture tolerates racism. The Sydney Morning Herald’s comments in the above article are a confusing array of paradoxes. Referencing several widely publicized racial controversies, it then goes on to list the statistic that 84% of Australians regard multiculturalism as a good thing. Surely, this is all contradictory? How can Australia have a problem with racism when multiculturalism is the venerable key-word of the week?

Simple: As Alana Lentin and Gavan Titley point out, what constitutes as racism has changed in the neoliberal age. While less than 16% of Australians are outrightly against multiculturalism the article continues, stating “Fewer than one in five of us think asylum seekers who arrive by boat should be eligible for permanent settlement. (Those most likely to think this are those with higher education.)”

Isn’t this a contradiction in terms? Naturally the issue isn’t a black and white (excuse the horrid pun) matter of race. The political fear mongering of both parties, which uses sensationalised language such as ‘illegals’ rather than ‘asylum seekers’ is partly to blame. And yet Lentin and Titley’s suggestion on the matter holds weight:

“Because immigrants are said to threaten national unity by being unable or unwilling to assimilate into the British way of life, the whole meaning of racial prejudice is inverted. Racism now becomes the very refusal of immigrants to adopt the national lifestyle of their host country. According to this unfolding theory, it becomes natural for the ordinary person to want to defend herself by protesting against the rise in immigration. This reformulation of racist discourse strips it of its very racism by purposefully refusing a proposition of racial hierarchy that would characterise immigrants as the members of inferior races.”

The new reiteration of racism without racism is confusing the issue at handing and allowing a broad portion of the population to skirt around the problem without facing it.

As significant as all of this is, it isn’t the part of the article that caught my eye- I want to question why it is that the 1 in 5 who believe asylum seekers deserve permanent settlement are more likely to possess higher education? Perhaps it’s a generalisation on the part of the reporter, to simply assume all uni students are neo-liberal greenies operating on the behalf of the far left. But perhaps there is some weight to the notion that engagement with extensive education is more likely to produce individuals critical not only of the language throughout politics and media, but of their own personally held ideals. If that is the case, if by virtue of reading theorists such as Lentin and Titley, university students are likely to form idea’s separate from the broad majority of the public, the question then becomes- who’s right? Are we cloistered in our own separate bubble- estranged from the ‘real world’ or as students studying to be teachers, is it our responsibility to bring our theories ideals and perspectives to all our students, so that in the next ten years the viewpoint on racism and the asylum seekers can be challenged without the necessity of a university degree.

Then again, perhaps that’s the crazy, leftist greenie in me.



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Baird, J. (2013, October 26). Racial tolerance begins in Parliament. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://www.smh.com.au/comment/racial-tolerance-begins-in-parliament-20131025-2w6p2.html


Lentin, A., & Titley, G. (2011). The crises of multiculturalism: racism in a neoliberal age. London: Zed Books.



Comedy or Tragedy- Privilege and the Australian school system.




Apparently, the state of the Australian education system is a laughing matter- or at least, the stereotypes that inhabit it are. Chris Lilley’s newest comedy ‘Ja’mie: Private school girl’ attracted approximately 920 000 views on its debut episode this week, and the spin-off of summer heights high is only set to continue the ‘critique’ of the Australian school system. I use the word critique somewhat liberally: Humour is definitely one of the sharpest tools of criticism, but in this instance the caricature figure of Ja’mie King, a white girl from extreme privilege dredges up some severe questions without providing many answers.

 Jane Caro, a media commentator and advocate of both feminism and author of ‘The Stupid Country: How Australia is Dismantling Public Education’, however, rated the comedy as a hit, stating the “magnificent comic creation” had “just enough truth about her to make us squirm as we laugh”.
Ja’mie Kings’ spoilt behaviour and privileged existence might be a cause for comedy, but the fact is the show is plainly pointing out one of the deeper issues of the education system.
“Because, as Private School Girl makes abundantly clear, Australia is rapidly creating a class system via the mechanism most of the rest of the world has at least attempted to use to dismantle theirs - school education. As I have experienced personally, it has become an act of some courage for a relatively prosperous family to actually choose a public, comprehensive school for their children.”
Jane Caro might be able to point it out clearly, but whether the issue is understood by the broader public is yet to be seen- is this show highlighting the issue or obscuring it?

What’s even more disturbing is the clear obviousness of Ja’mie’s privilege: “Ja’mie accepts her privilege as nothing less than her right and her due as, I suspect, do most of the offspring of the well-to-do”

Does this go against Peggy McIntosh’ insights on the nature of white privilege? McIntosh after all describes ”white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious.” Granted the privilege Ja’mie experience is only partly on the basis of race, and more so on economic advantage, but regardless: What does it say about the state of the Australian public-private divide when the privilege which is meant to be a background phenomenon, is brought to the forefront, laughed at, and regarded as the status quo? 

Perhaps there is an argument however, that just showing the privilege of the groups who attend private schools is not enough to truly exhibit the reach of the problem and the breadth of the divide. Christina Ho comes to the crux of the matter when illustrating what the public-private divide truly achieves: “As a result of the withdrawal of children to the private sector public schools are increasingly left with the ‘residual’ student body- students from poorer backgrounds, sometimes coinciding with disadvantaged migrant backgrounds”
So for the issue to be truly addressed and brought to public awareness there’d need to be some sort of comedy show, depicting a public school with a range of disadvantage students and the struggle they face? Then the issue would be taken seriously by the public?

Oh wait. 

Sounds familiar. 

Summer Heights High aired in 2007, six years ago. The mockumentary followed the story of the same private school girl character, Ja’mie, along with Tongan underprivileged student Jonah. Six years later the same essential theme is still being ‘explored’, is still considered funny and is still a driving force which inhibits the Australian education systems ability to deliver a fair and equal level of education regardless of background.

Forgive me if I’ve missed the joke.

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Caro, J. (2013, October 25). Comment: Like, no offence but Ja'mie's private school stereotypes will make you laugh... and cry. News. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/10/25/comment-no-offence-jamies-private-school-stereotypes-will-make-you-laugh-and-cry


McIntosh, P. (1988). White privilege and male privilege: a personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women's studies. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College, Center for Research on Women.