Australian Public Opinion on Citizenship and Transnational Ties in Asia

Abstract

At a time of increasing national security, this article explores the ways in which migrant communities from Asia feel a sense of attachment to exclusive and inclusive forms of national citizenship while at the same time maintaining transnational links. Drawing on data from the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (2003), the study utilises a quantitative methodology. The strength of this methodological approach lies in its capacity to describe the importance of different categories in shaping public opinion on citizenship and transnational connections in Asia. This study compares the views of AsianAustralians with the rest of the Australian population.

More-than-human, emergent belongings

“…Theorists such as Alexander (2008), Dunn et al (2007) and Veronis (2007) have explored the ways that marginalized social groups make claims to citizenship and belonging through, for example, voluntary and unpaid care activities. Others, such as Clark (2008), Ehrkamp and Leitner (2006), Ervine (2008) and Ho (2006), have considered the intersections of transnationalism, claims to citizenship and belonging. Citizenship, here, is dynamic, multiscalared, complex and contested.…”

“…Indeed, many discussions of belonging focus on this question of migration and the migrant experience. A focus on migration shows the complicated ways people belong to multiple groups, places and nations (see, for example, Christou, 2011;Clark, 2008;Clayton, 2012;Ralph and Staehali, 2011;Waite and Cook, 2011) and the ways that the nation itself is made through competing claims to and performances of belonging (Anderson and Taylor, 2005). Anderson and Taylor (2005), for example, discuss the importance of understanding Australian nation-building processes within the historical and transnational contexts of colonialism and migration.…”

“…Throughout the literature, the term 'sense of belonging' emerges through participants' words (Lawson, 2000;Trigger et al, 2008;Walsh, 2006) and through the commentary of authors (Pink, 2008). A feeling of belonging is associated with citizenship (Clark, 2008;Desforges et al, 2005), whether in terms of the construction of civic identities through 'lived citizenship' (Alexander, 2008), in terms of national identity (Bond, 2006) or as multiple and transnational (Dunn, 2008;Dunn and Ip, 2008;Nagel and Staeli, 2005;Richter, 2011). Feelings of belonging can be based on exclusionary ideas of sameness and uniformity, as in Carter and Merrill's (2007) investigation of right-wing groups and militarized borders in Italy (see also Welch and Panelli, 2007), or inclusive, as in the case of Nordberg's (2006) work with Finnish Roma which emphasizes diverse and often noninstitutional forms of belonging (see also Nelson and Hiemstra, 2008).…”

Geographies of Belonging

“…However, there was another session at that conference specifically addressing transnationalism, which has also resulted in journal special issue. All the papers from that special issue address belonging as a central issue [see particularly Dunn (2008), and also Clark (2008), Dunn and Ip (2008), Friesen (2008), McAuliffe (2008), Zevallos (2008)]. A number of other papers that were initially presented at the IGU and subsequently appeared as published papers address issues of belonging (Fenster and Vizel, 2007;Malone, 2007;Power, 2007;Trigger et al, 2008).…”

“…As Desforges et al (2005) note,``(h)istorically citizenship was a mark of belonging and commitment to a specific space and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship were performed in this civic context'' (page 440). Geographers exploring the relationship between citizenship and belonging have used multiple entry points, including examining the interconnections between transnationalism, claims to citizenship, and belonging (Clark, 2008;Ehrkamp and Leitner, 2006;Ervine, 2008;Friesen, 2008;Ho, 2006;Mavroudi, 2008), exploring the claims to citizenship and belonging of marginalised social groups (Alexander, 2008;Dunn et al, 2007;Hopkins, 2007;Nagel and Staeheli, 2005;Nordberg, 2006;Valentine and Skelton, 2007;Veronis, 2007), and examining the impact of supranational organisations and agreements on national belonging (Gilbert, 2007a;2007b). Such work focuses on the politics of belonging, asking questions about who belongs and how is such belonging imagined and achieved.…”