Australian-Chilean / Chilean-Australian... where to host the hyphen? : a post-national reading of identity for the travelling subject

This paper questions the concept of national identity in an increasingly transient world where human flows, the impact of technology, discourses of 'belonging' and the myriad relationships between states and their expatriate communities have changed the way we navigate and position ourselves in the world. Juxtaposing the Chilean-Australian experiences of identity formation, and the response of the Australian Spanish-language press to the 2001 'Tampa Crisis', this paper investigates how migrant communities negotiate ideas of home and host, belonging and exclusion, and the performance of freedom of movement, both physical and conceptual. Theoretical frameworks are drawn from migration theory, namely diaspora and transnational studies in order to critically engage with the ways in which Australian identity is discussed in relation to, and by, migrants from Chile.