of Australia and calling it home.
~*~MariaM~*~ » Blog Archive » what is “home”?
Mariam’s excerpt in her blog sparked something in me. This was somewhat my topic for my online doco. My actual topic was how internationals suffer from the effects of implementing two cultures into their lives; their old culture from their home country and the culture of their host country.
but in reference to Mariam’s topic, certain people leave their home country as its ravaged by war (at the time), Vietnam, Croatia or Bosnia. I’m speaking for my boyfriend’s behalf, he’s Vietnamese and his parents came to Melbourne in 1978 on a boat. His mother, time and time again, tells me of when they had to endure 4 days without food or water. They drank piss when it didnt’ rain and when it DID rain, they rejoiced. They have no intention of going back home as (according to them), they’ve settled down and its’ a good life here in Melbourne.
In relation to myself, I have been studying here for almost 5 years now and I love it here. I love it so much, I intend to apply for PR here. The main reason being that the quality of life in Australia is better and more laid-back; where materialism isn’t important like back in my home country. Jobs are easier to come by, Australia has facilities that aren’t available in Malaysia such as industrial recycling, welfare organisations (Centrelink) and so on. Some times, Australians don’t know how lucky they are.
Such examples i can think of is, protesting the VSU legislation. So you’ll have to excuse me, if I think that protesting the VSu legislation is something pretty miniscule. Because if my uni decided to make me pay for the student union, there is nothing I can do about it. If i were to hold a protest in Malaysia, I’d be thrown in jail and that’s just the way it is. Australians have so much freedom here that they don’t appreciate. I’m sorry but sometimes I walk by Swanston and there’s another protest going on and i think, “What now… what else is wrong with their system?” But then again, its something I admire. Call it just an internationals point of view, considering that i am not given the freedom to protest and speak out my opinions, my hats off to you Australians.
In answering, Mariam’s question, maybe some people decide to leave their country to settle down here because the quality of life is better than their own and they know it’ll take a long time before their own home country comes up to par with the Australian lifestyle and economy. And home; in my opinion, is not a geographical point on a map, its a place where you feel you belong. And i feel that i belong here. So other than Malaysia, this is my home as well.
Nor here nor there.
This is in reference to Farah’s trackback entry to one of my earlier scraps “what is home?” Farah has given some honest thoughts about how immigrants, visitors or students from war struck or third world countries( dont really like this expression but still using it) feel when they come to a stable and open minded country like australia.
This is one of the answers for my question which was why do people leave their counteries and come and settle in other counteries far away from their homeland. Please see my trackback entry to natasha’s post for some thoughts on the identity crisis that is present in many diasporas.
Identity crisis does not nessecarily mean that the person going through it does not know who he/she is but it includes people who are struggling to maintain a balance between their past identity and their new identity. In diaspora the past identity is th origins of these people while the prsesnt identity is linked to their current home country where they have been living for many years.
Some of the things diasporas go through are:
The mother tongue is forced to become your second language now as to communicate you have to adopt English as your fisrt language. Taste buds have to be trained to get used to the local food. There is a constant battle with your inlaid morals grinding against western morals. Religion has to be practiced in modertaion. These are only some of the things that diasporas have to experience. Bringing up questions of “self” and “cultural” identity.
John Sorenson in his article Learning to be Oromo: Nationalist Discourse in the Diaspora says:
” Processes of migration, diaspora and exile offer diverse and complex environments for the renegotiation of social identities. Immigrants and refugees must not only adapt to the material circumstances of uprooting but must also confront, maintain or recreate a sense of self, often in contexts which are vastly different and fraught with constraints, in which they are removed from their familiar social networks and in which their previous identities may be of little meaning or relevance to the new society. In confronting an altered social status and radically different circumstances, individuals may be required to come to terms with a new or reconstructed sense of ethnic or national identity.”
Artist’s like Shirin Neshat, who is an Iranian born but has lived all her life in the US, adresses the notion of “a feeling of being an outsider here(US) and when you go back to your country (Iran) you feel like you dont belong there anymore either.”
These notion of “not belonging anywhere anymore” whcih can be seen in diaspora is also experienced by people (such as international students) who have lived abroad for a couple of years.
References:
Sorenson, John. “Learning to be Oromo: Nationalist Discourse in the Diaspora.” Taylor and Francis 2 (1996).
[...] Farah finds Australian students have very different value systems and politics than in malaysia. The VSU campaign is an example: So you’ll have to excuse me, if I think that protesting the VSu legislation is something pretty miniscule. Because if my uni decided to make me pay for the student union, there is nothing I can do about it. If i were to hold a protest in Malaysia, I’d be thrown in jail and that’s just the way it is. Australians have so much freedom here that they don’t appreciate. I’m sorry but sometimes I walk by Swanston and there’s another protest going on and i think, ‘What now… what else is wrong with their system?’ But then again, its something I admire. Call it just an internationals point of view, considering that i am not given the freedom to protest and speak out my opinions, my hats off to you Australians. [...]