Cultural Diversity and the Transformation of Public Space in Melbourne
Melbourne has been described as Australia’s most liveable city and its most multicultural city. What relation do these descriptions have to each other? How has the public culture of Victoria been influenced by the cultural diversity of the state? The political class in Victoria has tended to be more in favour of multiculturalism as a policy, more resistant to populist racism and more positive about immigration than elsewhere in Australia. How has this orientation been affected by the institutional embedding of ethnic power over the past four decades? The organization of ethnic groups into political lobbies, which have collaborated across ethnic borders, has brought about the cultural transformations in the “mainstream”. Often the public experiences these transformations through changing uses of public spaces.
Seminar presented by Andrew Jakubowicz & Mara Moustafine on Wednesday 29 April 2009 as part of the UTS Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre Seminar Series 2009. Seminar 1 – ‘Migration and Cultural Diversity – Exploring different dimensions of migration and cultural diversity in relation to public policy issues’.
Living On The Outside Lecture Slides (PDF, 111kb, 12 pages)
The following are some video interviews that accompany the slides. They can be accessed here or directly via the Multicultural Australia website.
Visit the Multicultural Australia website to learn more about the project http://multiculturalaustralia.edu.au
