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Has a united or singular 鈥淐hinese Australian community鈥� ever actually existed? If so, is a united community a means to an end or an end in itself? And where might this community sit in contemporary multicultural Australia?
In the Face of Diversity offers answers to these questions with the history of more than a dozen Chinese Australian community organisations from across the country, drawing on the English- and Chinese-language materials produced by these organisations, as well as interviews with past and present leaders. Instead of a single community, the evidence demonstrates the existence of many diverse Chinese Australian communities.
Familiar and fascinating moments of recent Australian history are treated with new and evocative perspectives in relation to Chinese Australian communities, from the official turn away from the White Australia policy and embrace of multiculturalism in the 1970s to the debate about China鈥檚 influence upon Australian politics and society, beginning in the 2010s and continuing into the present.
In the Face of Diversity advances that 鈥渦nity鈥� has only ever been momentarily or partially grasped by Chinese Australian community organisations but that it has nonetheless produced real-world outcomes, the most prominent being a highly participatory style of Australian multiculturalism. Gardner Molina dismantles the myth of a single Chinese Australian community and rebuilds a solid understanding of many diverse communities instead; each with their own aims, needs and participatory capacities.
Dr Nathan D. Gardner Molina is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne taking part in an ARC Discovery Project to produce a history of Australia鈥檚 community sponsorship programs for refugee resettlement. As a historian of Australia鈥檚 immigration and ethnic diversity, Nathan delivered the 2024 Hancock Lecture for Australian Academy of Humanities, What Makes a Multicultural Nation?
鈥淚n this path-breaking book, Gardner Molina lays out with unprecedented clarity the diversity of Chinese Australian communities, and shows how repeated efforts to foster solidarity among them in response to racism or anti-China sentiment are challenged by internal divisions, often stemming from political and social realities within China. Unity may remain a distant mirage, but Gardner Molina deftly shows how increasing political and social participation by all variety of Chinese Australians contributes to a more robust and diverse multicultural Australia.鈥� 鈥� John Fitzgerald, Swinburne University of Technology 鈥淕ardner Molina uses wide analysis and examination of documents over the last several decades either from or related to Chinese community associations in Australia to show the richness and diversity of this story. This is a unique archive to draw from, and therefore presents a valid, original and fresh narrative of the important story both of the transformation of Australian identity in recent times, and the ways in which Chinese Australian identity has developed.鈥� 鈥� Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director, Lau China Institute 鈥淭he first in-depth historical account of Australia鈥檚 diverse Chinese communities in the post-White Australia era 鈥� from the beginnings of multiculturalism, through the Blainey and Hanson debates and Tiananmen, to the challenges of a rising China in the 21st century. Drawing on previously unused sources, including community newsletters and websites, in English and Chinese, as well as interviews with key players, In the Face of Diversity highlights the views and voices of Chinese Australians and challenges us to look beyond an essentialist understanding of who makes up the 鈥楥hinese Australian community鈥�, in the past and today.鈥� 鈥� Kate Bagnall, Senior Lecturer in Humanities (History), University of Tasmania 鈥淭his meticulously researched book does us excellent service by debunking the idea 鈥� illusory as it is pernicious 鈥� of a singular 鈥楥hinese Australian community鈥�. At the same time, In the Face of Diversity gives voice to Chinese Australians and their varied organisations as complex agents in the continuing process of making multicultural Australia. This is essential reading to bring much-needed nuance in our understanding of Australia-China relations.鈥� 鈥� Ien Ang, Western 宅男导航 University 鈥凌别补诲颈苍驳 In the Face of Diversity felt like being invited into a long, unfinished conversation 鈥� one shaped by care, conviction, and quiet endurance. Dr Nathan Gardner Molina doesn鈥檛 just write a history of Chinese Australian community organisations; he honours their contradictions, their forgotten moments, and their quiet strength. With remarkable sensitivity, he listens to the silences, tensions, and quiet resilience that have shaped public life in the shadow of race, migration, and national identity. What moved me most is the way this book honours complexity: it neither romanticises unity nor pathologises disunity, but treats both as part of the lived practice of representation. From the Blainey and Hanson debates to Tiananmen, the rise of China, and the COVID-19 pandemic, this book traces how Chinese Australian organisations have stood at the intersection of pride and pressure, belonging and scrutiny 鈥� sometimes fractured, sometimes unified, but always negotiating what it means to show up for community. This is an urgent and generous work鈥攐ne that not only documents history, but also calls us to reflect on how we live together, speak for one another, and sustain community across difference.鈥� 鈥� Dr Mei-fen Kuo, Macquarie University
Size: 210 x 148 mm
Pages: 408
Copyright: 2025
ISBN: 9781743329986
Publication: 01 May 2025
Series: China and the West in the Modern World