This book explores the Afro-diasporic experiences of African skilled migrants in Australia. It explores research participants' experiences of migration and how these experiences inform their lives and the lives of their family. It provides theory-based arguments examining how mainstream immigration attitudes in Australia impact upon Black African migrants through the mediums of mediatised moral panics about Black criminality and acts of everyday racism that construct and enforce their 'strangerhood'.
The book presents theoretical writing on alternate African diasporic experiences and identities and the changing nature of such identities. The qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews to investigate multiple aspects of the migrant experience including employment, parenting, family dynamics and overall sense of belonging. This book advances our understanding of the resilience exercised by skilled Black African migrants as they adjust to a new life in Australia, with particular implications for social work, public health and community development practices.
Chapter 1—Contextualising Afrodiasporic cultures and identities
Chapter 2—The politics of blackness: Theorising Afrodiasporic identities and experiences
Chapter 3—The boundaries of belonging: Misrecognition and challenges of representation
Chapter 4—The workplace as a racial battleground and devaluation of Black expertise
Chapter 5—Families growing through change: Dynamics in the Afrodiasporic family
Chapter 6—Parenting Black children in white spaces
Chapter 7—Afro-masculinities in an Australian context
Chapter 8—Resilient narratives: Telling our stories, our way
Chapter 9—Conclusion: A way forward for policy, practitioners and researchers
Dr Kathomi Gatwiri is the author of African Womanhood and Incontinent Bodies (Springer ISBN 978-981-13-0564-1) and an award-winning researcher and senior lecturer. Dr Gatwiri is a social worker and psychotherapist whose research interest focuses on how complex trauma affects the development and life trajectory of children and young people in out-of-home care and how racialized trauma impacts how Africans navigate their lives in Australia. Kathomi also holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Social Work and Cultural Studies, a Master in Counselling and Psychotherapy, and a Bachelor of Arts and Social Work with First Class Honours.
Dr Leticia Anderson is a lecturer in Humanities and course coordinator for the Bachelor of Arts program at Southern Cross University. Leticia formerly worked as an academic at the University of Sydney, including roles as a lecturer at the National Centre for Cultural Competence and degree director for the Master of Peace and Conflict Studies. Prior to commencing her academic career, Leticia worked in the Indigenous rights and reconciliation movement, including as executive officer for the NSW Reconciliation Council. Leticia is an awarded researcher and practitioner who has a dual research speciality on race relations and Islamophobia in contemporary Australian society and in culturally inclusive and community engaged education research, teaching and partnerships.
This book explores the Afro-diasporic experiences of African skilled migrants in Australia. It explores research participants' experiences of migration and how these experiences inform their lives and the lives of their family. It provides theory-based arguments examining how mainstream immigration attitudes in Australia impact upon Black African migrants through the mediums of mediatised moral panics about Black criminality and acts of everyday racism that construct and enforce their 'strangerhood'.
The book presents theoretical writing on alternate African diasporic experiences and identities and the changing nature of such identities. The qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews to investigate multiple aspects of the migrant experience including employment, parenting, family dynamics and overall sense of belonging. This book advances our understanding of the resilience exercised by skilled Black African migrants as they adjust to a new life in Australia, with particular implications for social work, public health and community development practices.