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

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

V. Colic-Peisker
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol.31(4), pp.615-638
2005
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Abstract

This paper explores the Australian resettlement of the largest recent refugee group, Bosmans. 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.

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#10 Reduced Inequalities

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Citation topics
6 Social Sciences
6.86 Human Geography
6.86.442 Migration Dynamics
Web Of Science research areas
Demography
Ethnic Studies
ESI research areas
Social Sciences, general
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