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Political Memories and Migration

Belonging, Society, and Australia Day

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  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. J. Olaf Kleist

    1. Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), Universität of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

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  • Makes a conceptual and empirical contribution to both memory and migration studies
  • First in-depth analysis of how political memories inform and are formed by the politics of migration in Australia
  • Propose a novel approach to thinking about memories as political categories with relevance for the construction of social relations

Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies (PMMS)

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Table of contents (4 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Memories and Migration: Politics of Belonging

    • J. Olaf Kleist
    Pages 1-39

  3. Australia Day from Colony to Citizenship: 1788–1948

    • J. Olaf Kleist
    Pages 41-101

  4. Australia Day from Citizenship to Multiculturalism: 1948–1988

    • J. Olaf Kleist
    Pages 103-189

  5. Pasts and Politics: Beyond the Boundaries of Belonging

    • J. Olaf Kleist
    Pages 191-211

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 213-222
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Keywords

About this book

This book explores the relationship between political memories of migration and the politics of migration, following over two hundred years of commemorating Australia Day. References to Europeans’ original migration to the continent have been engaged in social and political conflicts to define who should belong to Australian society, who should gain access, and based on what criteria. These political memories were instrumental in negotiating inherent conflicts in the formation of the Australian Commonwealth from settler colonies to an immigrant society. By the second half of the twentieth century, the Commonwealth employed Australia Day commemorations specifically to incorporate new arrivals, promoting at first citizenship and, later on, multiculturalism. The commemoration has been contested throughout its history based on two distinct forms of political memories providing conflicting modes of civic and communal belonging to Australian politics and policies of migration. Introducing the concept of Political Memories, this book offers a novel understanding of the social and political role of memories, not only in regard to migration. 

Reviews

“What makes memories political, and what does politics do to memory?  In this important book, Olaf Kleist develops the concept of political memory to understand the role of memory in migration, and vice versa.  This is an enormously sophisticated work of both high theory and close empirical analysis, and makes an outstanding contribution to the growing field of memory studies, with implications far beyond the issue (migration) and case (Australia) it examines.” (Professor Jeffrey Olick, University of Virginia)

“In this book Olaf Kleist has produced a tour de force for migration historians and theorists of memory alike. He brings a fresh German perspective to the key debates about remembrance, migration and belonging in Australia by exploring the history of Australia Day commemoration from a political science perspective. By using a concept called ‘political memory’ he not only explores the inherently political nature of remembering but also the way memories have impact in various political arenas across time, such as government policies and practice, and how these in turn influence memory work in the present.  In doing so he makes a vital contribution to the contemporary concerns about how we imagine ‘belonging’ in the increasingly culturally diverse societies of the world in the twenty-first century.” (Professor Paula Hamilton, UTS Sydney)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), Universität of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

    J. Olaf Kleist

About the author

J. Olaf Kleist is a Researcher at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, University of Osnabrück, Germany. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Political Memories and Migration

  • Book Subtitle: Belonging, Society, and Australia Day

  • Authors: J. Olaf Kleist

  • Series Title: Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57589-0

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-57588-3Published: 23 November 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-57589-0Published: 15 November 2016

  • Series ISSN: 2634-6257

  • Series E-ISSN: 2634-6265

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 222

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Memory Studies, Cultural Heritage, Migration, Political History

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