ABSTRACT

Enemy aliens were undesirable migrants in Australia during World War I, right? Yet enemy alien women who sought naturalisation were largely successful. Using the concept of ‘desire’, this article uses quantitative and qualitative material from women’s naturalisation applications to consider why women applied and subsequent state decision-making. The narratives of applicants and administrators reflect wider negotiations over different types of citizenship, where women could challenge their very labelling as enemy aliens, or employ highly gendered notions of vulnerability and respectability. Particular groups were treated favourably, revealing practices which challenge existing historiography about how migration and citizenship laws worked throughout the British empire, especially concerning race and denaturalised women. This is part of a wider need to reassess the relationship between migration law and practice, especially the role of gender and the use of executive privilege. While important to recognise the overlapping push for a ‘global color line’ in creating the system which developed within the British empire, it was less a legal system and more of a constant negotiation between different actors, based on laws that were often imprecise. In this case they gave space for enemy alien women to circumvent the legislative restrictions on their naturalisation, despite the politics of war.

摘要

第一次世界大战期间，敌对的外星人是澳大利亚不受欢迎的移民，对吧？然而，寻求入籍的敌对外星女性在很大程度上取得了成功。使用“愿望”的概念，本文使用来自女性入籍申请的定量和定性材料来考虑女性申请入籍的原因以及随后的国家决策。申请人和管理人员的叙述反映了关于不同类型公民身份的更广泛谈判，女性可以挑战她们作为敌人外星人的标签，或者采用高度性别化的脆弱性和受人尊敬的概念。特定群体受到了优待，揭示了挑战现有史学的做法，即移民和公民法在整个大英帝国的运作方式，特别是在种族和非自然化妇女方面。这是重新评估移民法与实践之间关系的更广泛需求的一部分，特别是性别的作用和行政特权的使用。虽然重要的是要认识到在创建大英帝国内部发展的体系时对“全球色彩线”的重叠推动，但它与其说是一个法律体系，不如说是不同参与者之间基于通常不精确的法律进行的不断谈判。在这种情况下，尽管存在战争政治，但他们为敌对的外星女性提供了规避对其入籍的立法限制的空间。它与其说是一个法律体系，不如说是不同行为者之间基于通常不精确的法律进行的不断谈判。在这种情况下，尽管存在战争政治，但他们为敌对的外星女性提供了规避对其入籍的立法限制的空间。它与其说是一个法律体系，不如说是不同行为者之间基于通常不精确的法律进行的不断谈判。在这种情况下，尽管存在战争政治，但他们为敌对的外星女性提供了规避对其入籍的立法限制的空间。