Analyzing the undertones of racism in multi-culture Australia
The world over the recent years has been referred to as a global village. Globalization or rather Americanization has contributed to the fact that the world has all become one, conquering borders and boundaries over space and time. However, in the current era of globalization where the world is personified as a cultural melting pot, cultural diversity or multiculturalism has become a fad – a boutique concept rather, strategically adopted by countries to appear tolerant, adaptable, and welcoming. The purpose of this article is to draw upon relevant literature to discuss and justify how cultural diversity or multiculturalism is only a hypothetical ‘fad’ in Australia that surfaces over the underlying existence of racism which, to a certain extent, is still institutionalized in the country.
Australia is one of the most racially diverse nations in the world where 260 different languages are spoken by people belonging to 270 different ancestries (Australian Government DIAC, 2012). Despite the existence of such culturally diverse population, marketing and communication initiatives in Australia are not yet free from racism, and neither are employment opportunities which are further subject to institutionalized racism. For instance, when two rescue missions in two different ends of Australia happened – one where two miners (both of white and of Anglo-Celtic origin) were rescued, and the other where three Torres Strait Islanders (identified as indigenous) were rescued after having survived at sea for 22 days in an open dinghy, the Australian media attention brought the two white miners to stardom, while the indigenous survivors were conveniently ignored (Stratton 2006). Television commercials have also misrepresented stereotypes (eg. Rhonda goes to Bali ad. showed a bunch of Balinese women rushing to touch Rhonda, the white woman’s feet, an act which is otherwise culturally rendered to revere elders, or the husband in Bali, and therefore voices the underlying message of social, economic, and cultural imperialism of the ‘white populous’ that places them in a stature equal to the most revered individuals in the Balinese culture). Moreover, according to a study, victims encountering racism have reported of being commonly subject to rather old-fashioned racism in intergroup encounters instead of the subtle and modern tone of racism, and this has contributed to the maintenance of social institutions that impact negatively on the minority population (Mellor 2003). Even today, these particular existing social constructs and ‘hierarchies of Otherness and whiteness’ (McLeod & Yates 2003) in institutionalized racism extends to create discrimination in workforce and preferential treatment of whites as opposed to people belonging to a different race and color.
However, amidst the ubiquitous undertones of racism, certain policies adopted by the Australian government have supported multiculturalism. Fotis Kapetopoulos, Multicultural Media Advisor (Office of the Premier), Government of Victoria, had once stated that the Victorian government understands multiculturalism as being a by-partisan policy, which has led them to formulate a major second language learning policy in the region. The reason behind this policy is particularly owing to the fact that Victoria has a lot of ethnic services and trade, and despite a staggering 26% of small ethnic businesses operating in entire Australia, ethnic businesses are reckoned as being underutilized, and learning a second language is thus deemed essential for aspirational marketing in ethnic clusters, and is also strategic for the government to earn more votes from migrant and ethnic communities. Furthermore, communication initiatives favoring the culturally diverse population in Australia include:
- The Age’s Forever Curious ‘Just a Cabbie’ campaign (launched in the last week of February 2013 by Fairfax Metro Media) to provide a distinct, new brand positioning through narrating the story of Pakistani cab driver to showcase a real example of knowing no boundaries and promoting the ability of The Age’s target audiences to delve deeper to see different perspectives
- And the Yarra trams ‘Beware the Rhino’ advert, with the message written in different languages to appeal to the broad culturally diverse and migrant audience.
Existence of ethnic media platforms – a range of online database and websites like Neo Kosmos (for Greeks in Australia) and Indianlink (for Indians in Australia) also signify the efforts of ethnic communities to market themselves and communicate with Australians. Through their inclusion of a range of Asian and Indian food items in stores located in and near areas with migrant demography, supermarket giants like Woolworths and Coles have also tapped into ethnic markets. These marketing initiatives further include special deals on specific food items like hummus, dates, etc., offered during the holy month of Ramadan observed by Muslims. Contrarily, Cocacola’s integrated marketing communication initiative that customized Coke cans, mostly comprised of English names, thereby ignoring the country’s massive migrant and culturally diverse population.
Though it is welcome news that the mentioned marketing and communication initiatives are being taken and other policies are adopted by government for the culturally diverse population, it must be understood that multiculturalism or diversity has a meaning that cannot be tangibly weighed but is felt rather intangibly through a display of acceptance of other race, color, and faith. This is still quite lacking in Australia and can be explained by the existence of contemporary anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia that is derived from a racialization of Muslims and well-rehearsed stereotypes of Islam (Dunn, Klocker & Salabay 2007). However, despite a certain level of tolerance shown towards fair-skinned Muslims employed in the Australian army, there have been instances where ‘brown Muslims’ were subject to open racism when they were once denied to perform their Friday prayer ritual. Cultural diversity itself is not a product in a supermarket aisle. It is about the internalization of tolerance, respect and about self-realization. Racism has become a fact of life transcending urban, rural and traditional social layers in Australia (Forrest & Dunn 2006). Despite the positive communication and marketing initiatives supporting multiculturalism, as long as strong support for anti-racism policy continues to co-exist with daily experience of racism encountered in contexts of ethnocentrism, prejudice and ethnic-based hatred in Australia’s highest immigrant receiving cities namely, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth (Dunn et al. 2009), cultural diversity is a fad only.
Dashboard Dialogues 