With partners:
Theme 4: Stereotypes & Cultural Perceptions
This theme explores the controversial and complex issue of ethnic and cultural stereotypes. Following on from the issues of identity explored in Theme 1, students’ interviews suggest that their understanding of identitity “shifts” between home and school, and sometimes between various groups at school. As one student put it, she feels “sometimes Lebbo, sometimes Aussie”, suggesting that identity can be constructed in a way that eases the passage through various situations. In a broader sense, students’ core identity is often with their culture of origin. For example, students born in Australia of Lebanese parents will often identify themselves as Lebanese first; while emphasising their attachment to Australia as citizens. Some Iraqi students, however, were much more likely to have been born in Iraq. Several of these students still nurse a desire to return to the country of their birth, weakening their attachment to the idea of “Australianness”.