Multicultural Australia - fact, fiction or aspiration?

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McLaren, John (1985) Multicultural Australia - fact, fiction or aspiration? Footscray Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities.

Abstract

The seminar paper presented by Dr. John McLaren focuses on the meaning and value of multiculturalism in education, history and in society at large, as an indication of the tenacity with which a dominant culture, in this case that of British Australia, clings to its privileges. While this tenacity may in part be attributed to the relationship between this culture and the economic power to which it gives access and by which its dominance is maintained, the ferocity of the debate suggests deeper insecurities. Thus, Mr Hugh Morgan's opposition to Aboriginal land rights can easily be explained by Western Mining's desire to turn Australia into a quarry, but his apparent belief that if we acknowledge the violence of white settlement or validity of Aboriginal spiritual beliefs we are jeopardising the survival of both the nation and Christianity demands psychological rather than economic explanation.

Additional Information

This paper in Number 2 in a series of Occasional Papers in Australian Cultural Studies published by the Department of Humanities, Footscray Institute of Technology.
Item type Book
URI https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/17111
Subjects Historical > FOR Classification > 1608 Sociology
Historical > FOR Classification > 2002 Cultural Studies
Current > Collections > McLaren Papers
Keywords Australia, multiculturalism, migrants, multicultural society, British Australians, dominant culture, minority cultures, Asian immigration, Aboriginal land rights, cultural differences, democracy, language policies, post-war immigration policy, MCLAREN-BOXB1-DOC34
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