Who we really are : exegesis and collaborative documentary

Abstract

Who We Really Are is practice-lead research that consists of two parts: a collaborative documentary and a written exegesis. Both are arguments and narratives that complement each other. The documentary follows the settlement process of a Capoeira Angola Master and a group of young African refugees who attend Cabramatta High School, in the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. It uses a mixture of the objective representation of the observational documentary tradition with the subjective approaches of the participatory, performative and reflexive modes (Nichols, 2001), which presents the filmmaker as one of the characters of the film and exposes some of the production processes. The film, both in its production process and its screen content, is situated at the intersection of a complex set of narratives of diaspora and multiculturalism that, in their construction and development, have been subject to competing perspectives and values. This exegesis proposes that the diasporic and multicultural narratives mediated by the film are similarly constructed in terms of Brubaker's notions of 'boundary-maintenance' and 'homeland orientation' (Brubaker, 2005). While these theories highlight the similarity of the narratives they also inform an understanding of their competing narrative projections. Drawing from Ang et al. (2008) and Danforth's (2001) insights this exegesis presents some of the paradoxes of the Australian multicultural narrative and its link with a history of government acts and policies (e.g., Immigration Restriction Act, the White Australian policy, and multicultural policy). Ideas and concepts about diaspora and multiculturalism are framed in a narrative style combining personal and national narratives that stand-alone but also which shape each other (Appiah, 1996; Danforth, 2001; Freiwald, 2002).

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English