Quo vadis: transplanting lives of South African women settling in Australia
Paper
Paper/Presentation Title | Quo vadis: transplanting lives of South African women settling in Australia |
---|---|
Presentation Type | Paper |
Authors | van Rensburg, Henriette (Author) and Hatoss, Aniko (Author) |
Editors | Albion, Majella J. and Collins, Pauline |
Journal or Proceedings Title | Refereed Proceedings of the 2007 International Women’s Conference: Education, Employment and Everything... the Triple Layers of a Woman's Life |
Number of Pages | 6 |
Year | 2007 |
Place of Publication | Toowoomba, Australia |
ISBN | 9781921420009 |
Web Address (URL) of Paper | http://eprints.usq.edu.au/3321/2/Albion_Collins_eds_IWC_Proceedings_2007.pdf |
Conference/Event | 2007 International Women's Conference: Education, Employment and Everything... theTriple Layers of a Woman's Life |
Event Details | 2007 International Women's Conference: Education, Employment and Everything... theTriple Layers of a Woman's Life Event Date 26 to end of 29 Sep 2007 Event Location Toowoomba, Australia |
Abstract | This paper reports the findings of a study which explored the emerging difficulties South African women experience while settling in Australia. The aim of the study was to discover whether (and how) South African women maintain their cultural heritage and whether they transmit it to the next generation; how they balance their identity and make cultural adjustments to acculturate in a new country; and how they manage communication difficulties that arise from being speakers of English as a Second Language (ESL). By examining survey and interview data, the paper discusses the complex issue of maintaining a home culture while embracing a new. As one woman explains, “I will always be a South African. I doubt whether I will ever be a “true blue” Aussie, as there are some cultural aspects connected to the term. I try to acquire the new culture wherever possible…will probably always be South African Aussie…” Two main themes of the study are discussed in this paper: (1) What attitudes do South African immigrant women have towards their cultural and language heritage and the maintenance of this heritage in Australia?; and (2) How do they reshape their identities as South African Australian women? In this paper it is argued that “transplanting lives” in a new country might be viewed as having three layers of an immigrant’s life: ‘uprooting’, ‘transplanting’ and ‘preserving’. |
Keywords | cultural and linguistic adjustment; immigrant communities; Australia; South Africans; Afrikaans; language maintenance and shift |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 470211. Migrant cultural studies |
470411. Sociolinguistics | |
440105. Linguistic anthropology | |
Public Notes | Copyright is retained by the author. |
Byline Affiliations | Faculty of Education |
Centre for Research in Transformative Pedagogies | |
Department of Psychology | |
University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/9zx88/quo-vadis-transplanting-lives-of-south-african-women-settling-in-australia
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