Jenny Song
High Distinction and Studies of Asia Prize
Hornsby Girls High School
Chinese Dundee: Racialisation and Chinese-Australian Identities

[From introduction]
“Where do you come from?”
Perhaps this is the golden question that has propelled my Personal Interest Project into existence. My PIP is essentially my search to understand the underlying assumptions behind the Australian identity, that is, why Chinese-Australians are still not completely accepted as “Aussies”, despite rights of birth and generational longevity in Australia. I hypothesise that, because of their Chinese appearance, Chinese-Australians are assumed to be foreigners in own their country, and consequently, they develop an incongruous identity and conditional sense of belonging in Australia. I also aim to investigate the Chinese-Australian responses to such attitudes and if there have been any changes in their experiences over time, which forms the basis of my cross-cultural component.

[From conclusion]

Through my Personal Interest Project, I have realised that there is still an underlying association between “White” and “Australianness”, resulting in Chinese-Australians not being initially accepted as Australians. Yet the story does not end here.

My Personal Interest Project has been an inspiring process and I have realised that nothing is as straightforward as it seems. Though Chinese-Australians are affected by racialisation, which can be manifested into assumptions of foreignness and racism, their experiences are subjective to time and the environment. Younger Chinese-Australians, having grown up in a more tolerant society, are less aware of their Chinese appearance than older Chinese-Australians. Hence, the continuity of “White Australianness” has impacted on Chinese-Australians in different ways as, depending on the circumstances, such attitudes can either make Chinese-Australians forget their Chinese appearance by assuming that they are White too, or reinforce their Chineseness. It is far from the clear-cut “incongruous” identity that I had expected to find.

[…] Indeed, I believe that my PIP has changed the way I view things. The question of “Where do you come from?” had catalysed my PIP into action. Now, it draws my PIP to a close, showing exactly how far I have come.