Through an analysis of qualitative interviews, this article explores the ethnic identities of Australian women aged 17–25 years of South and Central American backgrounds. The interviews show that expressions of Latin ethnicity are constructed around four ‘emblems’ symbolizing Latin ‘culture’– food, language, music and dancing, and festivity. Adopting a social constructionist perspective, this article details the respondents’ agency in the reconstruction of Latin ethnicity, and the consequences of the racial categorizations of ‘Australian-ness’ encountered by the participants. Their emphatic rejection of an Australian identity arises from their experiences growing up in Australia, where they are not ‘seen’ as Australian, highlighting that Australian identity continues to be regarded as synonymous with an Anglo-Celtic appearance. Nevertheless the respondents acknowledge Australian values of egalitarianism as significant when negotiating gender and sexuality. This ‘paradox’ of ethnic identity in the context of this study is best exemplified by the recurring comment, ‘That’s my Australian side’, and will be investigated through a critique on the limitations of ‘multicultural’ ideology and its lived experience.
Amezquita, L. , R. Amezquita and R. Vittorino (1995) ‘Latin American Families in Australia’, pp. 167–190 in R. Hartley (ed.) Families and Cultural Diversity in Australia. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin in association with the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
2.
Ang, I. (1996) ‘The Curse of the Smile: Ambivalence and the “Asian” Woman in Australian Multiculturalism’, Feminist Review52: 36–49.
3.
Baldassar, L. (1999) ‘Marias and Marriage: Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Among Italo-Australian Youth in Perth’, Journal of Sociology35(1): 1–22.
4.
Banks, M. (1996) Ethnicity: Anthropological Constructions. London: Routledge.
5.
Barth, F. (1969) ‘Introduction’, pp. 9–39 in F. Barth (ed.) Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.
6.
Bennett, D. (1998) ‘Introduction’, pp. 1–25 in D. Bennett (ed.) Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity. London: Routledge.
7.
Bennett, D. and H.K. Bhabha (1998) ‘Liberalism and Minority Culture: Reflections on “Culture’s In Between”’, pp. 37–47 in D. Bennett (ed.) Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity. London: Routledge.
8.
Bhabha, H.K. (1990) ‘The Third Space: Interview with Homi Bhabha’, pp. 207–221 in J. Rutherford (ed.) Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
9.
Bhabha, H.K. (1998) ‘Culture’s In Between’, pp. 29–36 in D. Bennett (ed.) Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity. London: Routledge.
10.
Bottomley, G. (1979) After the Odyssey: A Study of Greek Australians. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
11.
Bottomley, G. (1991) ‘Representing the “Second Generation”: Subjects, Objects and Ways of Knowing’, pp. 92–109 in G. Bottomley, M. de Lepervanche and J. Martin (eds) Intersexions: Gender/Class/Culture/Ethnicity. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
12.
Bottomley, G. (1992a) ‘Culture, Ethnicity and the Politics/Poetics of Representation’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology28(2): 208–223.
13.
Bottomley, G. (1992b) From Another Place. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14.
Bottomley, G. (1994) ‘Living Across Difference: Connecting Gender, Ethnicity, Class and Ageing in Australia’, pp. 59–69 in N. Grieve and A. Burns (eds) Australian Women: Contemporary Feminist Thought. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
15.
Bottomley, G. (1997) ‘Identification: Ethnicity, Gender and Culture’, Journal of Intercultural Studies18(1): 41[8]. Accessed online: Infotract Expanded Academic ASAP International 08/02/02.
16.
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17.
Brook, B. (1997) ‘Femininity and Culture’, pp. 104–133 in K.P. Hughes (ed.) Contemporary Australian Feminism 2. Melbourne: Longman.
18.
Bryson, L. (1992) Welfare and the State. London: Macmillan.
19.
Butler, C. (1999) ‘Cultural Diversity and Religious Conformity: Dimensions of Social Change Among Second-generation Muslim Women’, pp. 135–151 in R. Barot, H. Bradley and S. Fenton (eds) Ethnicity, Gender and Social Change. New York: St Martin’s Press.
20.
Castles, S. and E. Vasta (1996) ‘Introduction: Multicultural or Multi-racist Australia?’, pp. 1–16 in E. Vasta and S. Castles (eds) The Teeth Are Smiling: The Persistence of Racism in Multicultural Australia. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin.
21.
Castles, S. , B. Cope, M. Kalantzis and M. Morrissey (1988) Mistaken Identity: Multiculturalism and the Demise of Nationalism in Australia, 3rd edn.Sydney: Pluto Press.
22.
De Lepervanche, M. (1980) ‘From Race to Ethnicity’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology16(1): 24–37.
23.
Eipper, C. (1983) ‘The Magician’s Hat: A Critique of the Concept of Ethnicity’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology19(3): 427–446.
24.
Elley, J. and C. Inglis (1995) ‘Ethnicity and Gender: The Two Worlds of Australian Turkish Youth’, pp. 193–202 in C. Guerra and R. White (eds) Ethnic Minority Youth in Australia. Canberra: National Clearinghouse for Youth Studies Australia.
25.
Goot, M. (1993) ‘Multiculturalists, Monoculturalists and the Many in Between: Attitudes to Cultural Diversity and their Correlates’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology29(2): 226–253.
26.
Hage, G. (1998) White Nation: Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society. Annandale: Pluto Press.
27.
Hutchinson, J. and A.D. Smith (1996) ‘Introduction’, pp. 3–14 in J. Hutchinson and A.D. Smith (eds) Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
28.
Jakubowicz, A. , H. Goodall, J. Martin, L. Mitchell, L. Randall and K. Seneviratne (1994) Racism, Ethnicity and the Media. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin.
29.
Jaquette, J.S. (ed.) (1994) The Women’s Movement in Latin America: Participation and Democracy, 2nd edn.Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
30.
Jenkins, R. (1997) Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations. London: Sage Publications.
31.
Kaufman, T. and A. Seitz (1994) Dirty Linen Should be Washed at Home/ La Ropa Sucia se Lava en la Casa: Latin American Perceptions of Family Violence and Child Sexual Abuse. Melbourne: Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.
32.
Kilic, S. (1997) ‘Who Is an Australian Woman?’, pp. 30–51 in K.P. Hughes (ed.) Contemporary Australian Feminism 2. Melbourne: Longman.
33.
Kukathas, C. (1993) ‘Multiculturalism and the Idea of an Australian Identity’, pp. 144–157 in C. Kukathas (ed.) Multicultural Citizens: The Philosophy of Politics of Identity. St Leonards: The Centre for Independent Studies.
34.
Langer, B. (1998) ‘Globalisation and the Myth of Ethnic Community: Salvadoran Refugees in Multicultural States’, pp. 136–177 in D. Bennett (ed.) Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity. London: Routledge.
35.
Lopez, M. (2000) The Origins of Multiculturalism in Australian Politics. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
36.
Martin, J. (1978) The Migrant Presence. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
37.
Martin, J. (1996) ‘Signs of the Time: Race, Sex and Media Representations’, pp. 145–159 in E. Vasta and S. Castles (eds) The Teeth Are Smiling: The Persistence of Racism in Multicultural Australia. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin.
38.
Moraes-Gorecki, V. (1988) ‘Cultural Variations on Gender: Latin American Marianismo/Machismo in Australia’, Mankind18(1): 26–35.
39.
Moraes-Gorecki, V. (1991) ‘Domesticity and Latin American Women in Australia’, pp. 178–186 in G. Bottomley, M. de Lepervanche and J. Martin (eds) Intersexions: Gender/Class/Culture/Ethnicity. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
40.
Morrissey, M. (1997) ‘The Use of Culture’, Journal of Intercultural Studies18(2): 93[15]. Accessed online: Infotract Expanded Academic ASAP International 08/02/02.
41.
Murcott, A. (1996) ‘Food as an Expression of Identity’, pp. 49–77 in S. Gustavsson and L. Lewin (eds) The Future of the Nation State. London: Routledge.
42.
Pallotta-Chiarolli, M. and Z. Skrbis (1994) ‘Authority, Compliance and Rebellion in Second-generation Cultural Minorities’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology30(3): 259–272.
43.
Phillips, T. (1998) ‘Popular Views about Australian Identity: Research and Analysis’, Journal of Sociology34(3): 281–302.
44.
Stratton, J. and I. Ang (1998) ‘Multicultural Imagined Communities: Cultural Difference and National Identity in the USA and Australia’, pp. 135–162 in D. Bennett (ed.) Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity. London: Routledge.
45.
Vasta, E. (1992) ‘The Second Generation’, pp. 155–168 in S. Castles, C. Allorse, G. Rando and E. Vasta (eds) Australia’s Italians: Culture and Communities in a Changing Society. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
46.
Vasta, E. (1993) ‘Multiculturalism and Ethnic Identity: The Relationship Between Racism and Resistance’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology29(2): 209–225.
47.
Vasta, E. (1994) ‘Youth and Ethnicity: The Second Generation’, Family Matters38: 21–25.
48.
Waylen, G. (1993) ‘Women’s Movements and Democratisation in Latin America’, Third World Quarterly14(3): 573[15]. Accessed online: EBSCOhost 03/02/00.
