Citizenship, Diaspora & Belonging

Overview

Questions of citizenship and belonging have long featured in Australian public life. From the rights and citizenship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through to exclusionary immigration policies, from internment of ‘enemy aliens’ to citizenship controversies of the Australian parliament, from demands of loyalty from diaspora groups to cancelling the citizenship of terrorists, their widows and orphans.

Citizenship is both an externally protective and projective mechanism, and a marker of ‘who belongs’. Around the world, notions of citizenship are often divided between so called ‘civic’ and ‘ethnic’ principles. Australia’s own experience shows that forms of national belonging are more complex than this binary suggests.

The 53rd Annual Symposium will explore themes of loyalty and nationality, internationalism, mobility and how these interact with questions of participation, affiliation and the politics of ‘nativism’. Moving beyond legalistic approaches, it will imagine a new and unique Australian civilisational compact – a substantive kind of citizenship for a multicultural society with deep trans-national and diaspora connections and a reimagined polity negotiated with First Nations concepts and rights.

Event details

Convenor: Professor Joseph Lo Bianco AM FAHA Dates: Thursday 17 – Friday 18 November 2022  Location: A face-to-face program held in Ballarat, Victoria Registrations: Open late-July Sessions and speaker details: TBC

Our Symposium is open to all – bringing together a large cross-section of Fellows, scholars, early-career researchers and representatives from government, education, peak bodies, industry, media and the community.