'At least you're the right colour': Identity and social inclusion of Bosnian refugees in Australia

Abstract

This paper explores the Australian resettlement of the largest recent refugee group, Bosmans. It is argued that Bosnians (and other ex-Yugoslavs) were Australia's preferred humanitarian immigrants during the 1990s because of their European background (based on social-cohesion and 'resettlement-potential' arguments) and because of the presence of ex-Yugoslav communities in Australia which were expected to support newly arrived refugees during their early resettlement (the 'community argument'). The 'whiteness'/'Europeanness' of Bosnians enabled them to remain largely 'invisible' in the country they perceived as 'white Australia' and to initially claim an 'insider status'. For many people, how..