ABSTRACT

Australia has one of the largest Hazara diasporic communities outside of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. Their identities as Hazara, Afghans, Muslims and recently arrived refugees/asylum seekers are often subject to negative representations in public discourses in Australia and compete with a dominant version of Australian identity that remains largely Anglo-centric. This research highlights the importance of agency and social context as Hazara Australians negotiate belonging and their multiple or hybrid identities. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Hazara Australians, this paper explores the participants’ self-perceptions as Hazara (ethnic), Afghan (homeland), Muslim (religious), Australian (host nation), and (former) refugees, and the ways these were negotiated and experienced. The participants in this research offer a re-imagining of Australian national identity, defined by its multicultural nature and the sharing of rights and responsibilities through Australian citizenship, enabling Hazara to describe themselves as ‘Australians’ or ‘Aussies’; and to find belonging that includes their multiple identities, as Hazara/Afghans, Muslims, and former refugees.

摘要

澳大利亚是阿富汗，伊朗和巴基斯坦以外最大的哈扎拉流散社区之一。他们在哈扎拉（Hazara），阿富汗人，穆斯林和最近抵达的难民/寻求庇护者中的身份经常在澳大利亚的公开场合中遭到负面评价，并与仍然主要以英语为中心的澳大利亚身份的主导版本竞争。这项研究强调了在澳大利亚哈扎拉人谈判归属和他们的多重或混合身份时，代理和社会环境的重要性。通过对参与者的观察和对哈扎拉澳大利亚人的半结构化访谈，本文探讨了参与者对哈扎拉（种族），阿富汗人（祖国），穆斯林（宗教），澳大利亚人（收容国）和（以前的）难民的自我认知，以及这些谈判和经验的方式。这项研究的参与者重新构想了澳大利亚的民族身份，这一身份由其多元文化性质以及通过澳大利亚公民身份分担的权利和责任所界定，使哈扎拉能够将自己描述为“澳大利亚人”或“澳大利亚人”；并找到包括他们多重身份的财产，例如哈扎拉/阿富汗人，穆斯林和前难民。