Migrant Nation: Australian Culture, Society and Identity

Focusing on particular historical blind spots by telling stories of individuals and groups that did not fit the favoured identity mould, the essays in ‘Migrant Nation’ work within the gap between Australian image and experience and offer fresh insights into the ‘other’ side of identity construction. The volume casts light on the hidden face of Australian identity and remembers the experiences of a wide variety of people who have generally been excluded, neglected or simply forgotten in the long-running quest to tell a unified story of Australian culture and identity. Drawing upon memories, letters, interviews and documentary fragments, as well as rich archives, the authors have in common a commitment to give life to neglected histories and thus to include, in an expanding and open-ended national narrative, people who were cast as strangers in the place that was their home.