Visibly Different: Face, Place and Race in Australia

by Maureen Perkins (Editor)

Overview

What does an Australian look like? Many Australians assume that there is such a thing as an 'ethnic' face, and that it indicates recent arrival or refugee status. This volume contains nine life narratives by Australians who reflect on the experience of being categorised on the basis of their facial appearance.
The problem of who is 'us' and who is 'them' is at the heart of some of the most important challenges facing the contemporary world. Assuming that facial appearance and identity are inextricably linked makes this challenge even harder.
The introduction by the editor provides the theoretical framework to these narratives. It discusses the relevance to notions of belonging and identity of the term 'mixed race', and concludes that we are all mixed race, whether we look white, black or 'ethnic'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783039113231
Publisher:	Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Publication date:	06/28/2007
Series:	Studies in Asia-Pacific "Mixed Race" , #2
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.66(h) x (d)

About the Author

The Editor: Maureen Perkins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia. She has published extensively in 19th century British history. Currently her teaching touches on the history and anthropology of race.

Table of Contents

Contents: Maureen Perkins: Visibly Different: Face, Place and Race in Australia – Jan Teagle Kapetas: Lubra Lips, Lubra Lips: Reflections on my Face – Jean Boladeras: The Desolate Loneliness of Racial Passing – Lynette Rodriguez: But Who Are You Really? – Wendy Holland: Rehearsing Multiple Identities – Christine Choo/Antoinette Carrier/Clarissa Choo/Simon Choo: Being Eurasian – Glenn D’Cruz: ‘Where Are You Coming From, Sir? ’ – Farida Tilbury: Hyphenated Realities: Growing up in an Indian-American-Bruneian Baha’i in ‘Multicultural’ Australia – Hsu-Ming Teo: Alien Asian in the Australian Nation – Ien Ang: Between Asia and the West.

Preface

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Editorial Reviews

'Visibly Different' is an important collection that does much to achieve its goals - and has wider lessons about the complexity and nuances of individual lives, and their interconnections with each other and with larger social forces. (Andrew Jakubowicz, Biography)
A new direction in Australian life writing, of interest not only to those of 'mixed race' descent, but also to those interested in connections between identity, culture and power more generally. [...] The Introduction is enormously valuable, succinct and provocative, offering a terrific summation of the field. An important contribution to the wider field of mixed race studies. (Jacqueline Lo, Australian National University)
A varied and interesting selection which shows how 'race' operates in the lived experience of various 'mixed race' Australians. It shows at the level of everyday life how a concept which most theorists claim has no scientific reality is able to have a constant, powerful role in the lives of people on a daily basis. [...] It is not a rehearsal of complaints about racism, but a study 'from the field' of how attitudes to race impact on the process of living. (David Moody, Murdoch University)

From the Publisher