ethnicity, visual identity and conflict
...even compromises, and as such the effects of such dialogues can help us understand a lot about our own ignorance and bias. The reading written by Naomi Pabst exposes the many sides of attachments, the ones you choose to display and the ones you have no choice but to display. Blackness/Mixedness, Contestations over crossing signs also looks at discrimination based on perception. The idea that any black heritage constitutes enough to ignore other racial origins for the purpose of discrimination is explored, dissected and enlarged to the point that it almost becomes confusing. The work addresses many of the attitudes surrounding mixed race identity and were they explored in a more succinct manner would have resulted in an excellent reference text. However the points that the reading does cover help the reader to consider the complications that these attitudes would cause for cross cultural dialogue and to a certain extent to look at the possible effects on inter racial/ cross cultural relations. Downloading new identities provides many examples of how one community goes about assimilation while maintaining their heritage. It highlights the fact that through this process even the face of their diaspora is changing that technology allows some to maintain a stronger link to Greece/ Ellas than others, while those others maintain practices that do not require technology. It describes the importance of promoting a mixed identity, one that is clearly Greek but conforms to the multicultural ideals in addition to those of the wider nation. It discusses ‘virtual Greeks’; the reordering of daily habits and practices in both young and old, who through the use of technology express and relish in their ethnic heritage. This text provides a great series of examples that help the reader understand terms like ‘hybrid’, ‘global’ and the like, and it provides a tangible example of multiple attachments. Kamler and Threadgold’s paper Translating Difference is essentially a diary of the successes, failures and discoveries stemming from a series of workshops attended by Vietnamese women over the age of 55. It highlighted the troubles experienced in translation and less directly in cultural exchange, but was able to display how cultural norms and expectations are able to affect cross-cultural dialogue. This was possibly the most useful reading as it could be used to help define the borders between a cross cultural encounter, dialogue, mediation and practise. Australian society in general understands what multiculturalism is, however it p...