Citation

Maree C. Melb. Asia Rev. 2023; 16.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, University of Melbourne, Asia Institute)

DOI

10.37839/mar2652-550x16.9

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Belonging is situated temporally, spatially and intersectionally. And, the context of global im/mobilities brought on by a pandemic causes us to pause and re-examine the common understanding of belonging as anchored in an 'emotional (or even ontological) attachment about 'feeling at home'.' We only have to reflect on how, as the pandemic began to unfold, then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison instructed many international students (most of whom are from Asian nations) and temporary visitors it was 'time to make their way home.' This instruction to 'go home' mimics racist tropes of 'go back to your own country' and signals to the recipients that they do not belong in their place of current residence.

Sinophobic discourses and anti-Asian racism spiralled in new and very visible ways during the global pandemic. Asian women in Australia in particular noted higher instances of harassment, and Asian youth with higher levels of engagement with COVID-19 related content on social media in Australia were exposed to greater levels of anti-Asian sentiment. Sinophobic discourses which resurged in the face of the pandemic, have a long history in settler-colonial Australia. And, as Gilbert Caluya's examination of the invocation of the nation as 'homely' by Australian Senator Pauline Hanson in the 1990s shows, the conflation of 'nation' and 'home,' facilitates racist discourses which re-centre and re-privilege White national belonging. As Caluya notes, this critical reading of the intimate publics of home does not negate how migrants have found belonging and created homes...

Language: en