1. The Project
2. Summary
3. Background
4. The Hmong in Tasmania - Some Preliminary Findings
We have been contracted by the Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research to conduct a research project on refugee settlement processes in Tasmania, an island state of Australia. The title of the project is "Refugees in Tasmania: Employment, Housing and Community Development".
The Researchers are:
Dr Roberta Julian, Dr Adrian Franklin and Dr Bruce Felmingham
University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia.
2. Summary
The research will document and analyse the settlement careers of refugees who have arrived in Tasmania since the early 1970s. It will focus on the relationship between employment, housing, family structure and community development in this process.The research will develop some practical policy suggestions for improving the settlement experiences of refugees.
The research focuses on the migration and settlement experiences of the following refugees and their families who have arrived in Tasmania since the 1970s: Hmong, Vietnamese, El Salvadoran, Chilean and Polish.
Some interviews will also be conducted with more recent refugee arrivals from Iran, Iraq and Bosnia-Herzogovina.
The research findings will be of immediate and direct value to service providers and, given the focus on eligibility categories, the study will provide valuable information for policy developers responsible for Australia's immigration and settlement policies.
Immigration Research
Over the last two decades the world's traditional immigrant-receiving nations of Australia, the United States, Canada and Britain have increasingly had to deal with the issue of refugees (Freeman and Jupp, 1992; DeVoe, 1992). In the immigration forum one of the major issues for contemporary debate is that of refugee intakes and refugee settlement.
In Australia there is a tendency for public debate on immigration to focus on the proportions of immigrants arriving in different eligibility categories and on changes in the source countries (Jupp, 1993). The issues are sensitive ones and debate in the area can often degenerate into opinions and rhetoric. For any rational debate to occur there is clearly a need for research to provide empirical information on the way in which immigrants arriving under different eligibility categories have settled in Australia.
Australia's migration programme has two essential streams: first, economic migration and, secondly, non-economic migration (which includes the Refugee, Special Humanitarian, Special Assistance and Family Reunion Schemes). However, most research has tended to concentrate on eligibility categories associated with economic migration. A number of consequences flow from this focus.
First, our knowledge and understanding of immigrant settlement processes is largely based on the experiences of immigrants in the economic stream. Secondly, discussion of the economic contribution of immigrants tends not to include those who arrive under the non-economic stream. By implication, this suggests they make no economic contribution. Refugees are accepted on non-economic, humanitarian grounds and, as such, it is assumed that they must be costs to the country rather than resources which could potentially benefit Australia, both culturally and economically. Thirdly, discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of Australia's immigration and settlement policy takes place without much knowledge of the way in which non-economic immigrants fit into Australian society.
A significant proportion of immigrants enter Australia under non-economic eligibility categories. The 1980s and early 1990s have seen a steady increase in this proportion, a trend which is likely to increase in the latter half of the 1990s. Given this trend, the dearth of research on non-economic migrants is cause for concern. There is an urgent need to examine the settlement experiences of refugees and to assess the extent of their economic contribution. Such information can make an important contribution to developing settlement policies which would enable the economic contribution of refugees to be enhanced and secondly, would contribute to rational debate on the implications of Australia's immigration policy, particularly debates focussing on the various eligibility categories.
Refugee Settlement
The research addresses the need to develop a greater understanding of the process of settlement among recently arrived refugees in Australia. Wooden et al. (1990) have identified a need for studies which focus on elucidating the settlement processes of immigrants in individual policy categories rather than for groups identified by birthplace. Arguably the least researched of the various policy categories is that of refugees. Much research conducted in Australia focuses on birthplace categories and the ethnic origin of immigrants (e.g. Inglis et al., 1992). It can be argued that such research reinforces the tendency to assume the causal significance of ethnicity over and above factors such as entry status (e.g. refugee, business migrants) in the settlement process (Julian, 1989). Some recent research has recognised the need to disaggregate immigrant categories along variables other than ethnic origin (e.g. Madden and Young, 1993).
To date most research on refugees in Australia has focussed on the larger communities in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (e.g.Viviani,1985; Lewins and Ly,1985; Langer,1989; Viviani et al., 1993). Very little research has been conducted in any of the other smaller possible destinations. Much of the literature on refugees focusses on one refugee community, making comparative analysis difficult. Furthermore, it is difficult in such studies to separate cultural factors affecting settlement from factors associated with refugee status. There is also a tendency for research on refugees in Australia to produce unanalysed material which aims to present the refugees' perspectives on Australian society (e.g. Hawthorne, 1982). While this is valuable, there is clearly a need for a more comprehensive study of refugees in Australia which combines quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide a useful analysis of refugee settlement patterns and processes.
Previous studies of immigrants have singled out housing and labour market experiences as the most important factors in successful settlement (e.g. Felmingham, 1992; Abbot- Chapman and Sullivan, 1993). The limited research which has been conducted on refugees indicates the significance of these factors among this stream of migrants also. According to Iredale and D'Arcy (1992) recently arrived refugees take a long time to establish themselves in local labour markets and in their early resettlement careers housing issues figure prominantly. In trying to understand this early resettlement process both housing and employment issues need to be addressed and in doing so we need to be sensitive to cultural processes of adaptation (Franklin,1990). This involves understanding how traditional patterns of household formation, kinship structure, authority and leadership, and preferred settlement pattern are modified in the new location.
The success or failure of refugee relocation hinges on the degree to which these processes are understood by policy makers and taken into account in service provision. Just when new groups of refugees, such as the Hmong, Vietnamese and South Americans, have a need to normalise their lives and establish a support community, they often find themselves having to cope with labour markets and housing conditions which require major adjustments on their part. For example, domestic goups and extended families are often separated resulting in the severing of day-to-day support networks. Traditional gender relations change and come under enormous stress. Anecdotal evidence in Tasmania suggests that women in particular carry new responsibilities; for example, they are more easily absorbed into the labour market. This appears to corroborate recent research findings on refugee women nationally (Pittaway,1991).
In short, there is limited information available on the settlement of refugees in Australia. That which is available is piecemeal and not suitable for comparative analysis. Given the apparent trend towards a steady increase in the proportion of refugees entering Australia and the likelihood for debate over eligibility categories to continue, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive study of refugee settlement experiences in Australia. This research directly addresses this need.
Refugees in Tasmania
Tasmania provides a perfect context in which to address these issues. Since the late 1970s the profile of immigrants entering Tasmania has changed significantly. In 1992 Tasmania's immigrant intake included the highest proportion of those arriving under refugee and special humanitarian categories of any state in Australia. This proportion has been steadily increasing during the 1980s and early 1990s. Tasmania has also received a representative range of refugees since the 1970s (Iredale and D'Arcy,1992).
Immigrants in Tasmania have traditionally settled 'successfully' with little evidence of the problems often noted in ethnic communities in the mainland states. Given the small size of the immigrant population, however, there have been problems in establishing secure long-term community bases for migrants and this has been equally true for a number of the refugee groups. Perhaps as a consequence of such difficulties, recent studies have shown Tasmania to have very high rates of emigration after the initial stage of settlement when compared with other states. For example, Dawkins et.al. (1991) found a significant outward flow of immigrants from Tasmania to capital cities such as Melbourne and Sydney. This internal migration pattern is evident among Tasmania's migrants generally but has been recognised as particularly significant among some of its refugees; for example, the Vietnamese. At the same time, however, the high retention rates among some refugees (such as the Hmong) is also recognised.
It can be argued that Tasmania offers very favourable conditions to new refugees when compared with some of the other mainland states. In particular, it offers relatively cheap, high quality housing, a more compact built environment and all the advantages of capital city services. The nature of the labour market in Tasmania, with a potential for growth in the tourism and hospitality sector, also provides a range of opportunities for an ethnically diverse population. This has enabled some groups such as the Hmong to take advantage of the cheap surrounding land and so establish a transition from peasant agriculture to market gardening. Hence it is arguable that Tasmania could participate more in the reception and resettlement of refugees, particularly those from Asian societies. In order for this to happen we need to understand in detail how refugees have experienced their relocation in Tasmania.
The research will document and analyse the settlement careers of refugees who have arrived in Tasmania since the early 1970s. It will focus on the relationship between employment, housing, family structure and community development in this process and its findings will contribute to more effective refugee settlement in smaller states such as Tasmania.
The situation in Tasmania provides an opportunity to address a number of important issues regarding Australia's immigration and settlement policy at a national level with specific reference to the social and economic position of refugees. These include the effects of current immigration and settlement policy on (a) the relative proportions of immigrants in various policy categories (b) the distribution of refugees throughout Australia's states and territories, and (c) the nature of the resettlement experience among refugees, together with an analysis of the implications of some alternative policy strategies.
4. The Hmong in Tasmania - Some Preliminary Findings
The Settlement Context
First, Tasmania is a region of low migrant density. This is particularly true for Non- English Speaking Background (NESB) migrants. Sydney, Melbourne and Perth are the three major cities selected as immigrant destinations. The number of migrants 'choosing' Tasmania as a destination is very small. There are a number of important consequences of this:
(a) the proportion of refugees in Tasmania's immigrant intake is very high (up to 40% in 1991);
(b) the actual numbers of refugees in Tasmania is relatively small (927 from all source countries in 1993; 240 Vietnamese and 356 Hmong in 1995). This has important implications for the "critical mass" required to support a viable ethnic community with a relatively well-established infrastructure;
(c) informal networks of social support are limited in size. Specifically, this can be a problem for refugee women who may be used to being part of an extensive network of women in their country of origin;
(d) mainstream service-providers are not adequately trained to be aware of the situations of migrants and refugee, nor are mainstream services equipped to deal with cross-cultural issues in service-provision. (For example, a serious record-keeping problem arose at the public hospital as a consequence of the existence of three Hmong girls named Mai Yang).
Secondly, Tasmania's economy is characterised by a very small manufacturing sector and the highest unemployment rate of all the Australian states and territories. This is significant in that in the mainland states the manufacturing sector provides the majority of jobs for NESB migrant women. In Tasmania, however, refugee women must seek out alternative opportunities for engaging in wage labour and contributing to household production. The Hmong women, for example, sell home-grown vegetables and embroidery at Hobart's Salamanca Market, a large, central Saturday market for both local and tourist trade.
Thirdly, almost all refugees arriving in Tasmania are sponsored by groups who are part of the Community Refugee Support Scheme (CRSS) administered by the federal Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. While this structure exists throughout Australia, in Tasmania it operates as a highly personalised system of support to refugees provided predominantly by Anglo-Australian church organizations. The Hmong community in Hobart has its own group which is part of this scheme and through which it continues to sponsor Hmong refugees from Thailand.
The settlement context for refugees in Tasmania is therefore different in significant ways to that of the major areas of settlement in the mainland states of Victoria and NSW. While the CRSS sponsorship structure contributes to a process of chain migration and ethnic community formation, levels of social interaction with Australians who are not members of the refugee's ethnic category are relatively high when compared with Sydney or Melbourne. In the latter cities, ethnic communities are larger and more established, and it is possible to limit social interaction to within one's own community to a greater extent.
The Hmong Community in Hobart
Hmong Women and Settlement
He said (and I quote from my field notes):
There is an old saying among the Hmong that goes "I will bow to my wife when the rain is white!". My brother-in-law then told me that the first thing he saw when he arrived in the United States was white rain! It was snowing! My brother- in-law then laughed and said "And I've been bowing to my wife ever since!".
We all laughed at the irony of the saying. It captures the reality of the changes that have occurred for many Hmong women in Australia and the United States through their experiences as refugees. Their changing social situation has contributed to their increased access to power both within the household and the wider society. This is a change that many Hmong men have accepted as they develop new ways of expressing power and authority in the societies in which they now live.
The Gendered Nature of Settlement
Interviews with male Hmong leaders from Hobart and Melbourne produced a well- constructed coherent picture of the Hmong communities in Australia. The construction of this image of a well-organised, well-adjusted community attempting to deal with its own problems and acquiring a degree of self-sufficiency is an important part of the role of all ethnic community leaders within the political context of Australian multiculturalism. Male leaders of the Hmong community(ies) engage in such politico-cultural activities as a strategy for addressing problems of unemployment and discrimination arising from, as they perceive it, the misrepresentation of their cultural traditions. The formal organization of Hmong men, while maintaining the traditional status differentials important to Hmong society, includes leaders with the responsibility for liaising with representatives of the Australian institutional structure. They have been involved in the establishment of community-based economic projects such as the lease of a large plot of land near Hobart to grow vegetables and are continuing to explore the viability of alternative crops such as a type of water-cress and hemp. They are also involved in the development of 'cultural' activities for tourist consumption; for example, the construction of a 'traditional' Hmong village has been mooted. More importantly, the success of these economic and cultural programs is viewed as crucial for providing the Hmong community with a positive image in Australian society and thus the freedom and legitimacy to pursue its own cultural traditions including traditional healing practices and funeral rites.
In short, Hmong men are predominantly engaged in political and cultural activities within the context of Australian multiculturalism. High unemployment rates contribute to a pattern in which their own social networks are relatively closed and confined predominantly within the Hmong community. Appointed leaders or spokespersons liaise between the Hmong community and the receiving society as settlement strategies are negotiated.
In contrast, the activities of Hmong women locate them within the institutional structures of the receiving society where they develop settlement strategies through direct negotiation with other Australians. This is particularly apparent in the areas of health and education.
Hmong women have had regular contact with the Australian health care system. There have been 91 Hmong births registered in Hobart. All have been delivered at the public obstetrics hospital. Hmong women have had to negotiate birthing practices and post-natal care with hospital staff and administrators. While this has not been an easy task in a state hospital system which, as noted earlier only infrequently must address the needs of NESB migrants, changes have taken place - both at the hospital and among the Hmong women. The hospital has implemented cultural awareness training for nursing staff, food preparation has been adapted to suit the needs of clients of NESB and flexible arrangements in the birthing centre have assisted in the maintenance of some traditional birthing practices. In addition, older Hmong women prepare new mothers by explaining hospital procedures to them:
We tell them what's happening. Because some of our ladies have babies in the hospital... they want to kneel down on the ground... so they put the mattress on there for them to kneel down and have baby....
Normally (when) we have baby, we have ... home-birth....Come here, everyone have in hospital.... Different too... For our culture.... soon after you give birth to your child, you not allowed to do any housework, not allowed to do any cleaning, anything for the whole month... This thing very important.....
Everything has to be like hot drink, not cold drink .... and warm showers ...and allowed to have poached egg, steamed chicken and steamed rice.... And we don't do exercise because after birth we just leave our tummy out and we use the long material to tie up the tummy... For the whole month... After that your tummy gets flat too...
The hospital is very good.... You can't really complain about them because I mean you can't expect them to do everything exactly as you ask them .... I mean like the woman, they have a baby, the hospital try to do what it can. Like you want steamed chicken - they don't cook exactly how we want at home but I mean they try and do it close enough, that's good enough I think... And also they have some rice ...of course they cook rice differently ..... but mainly .... all the family send food to the woman....
So you can't say they're no good.... they're trying their best and I say to the woman: "You can't expect to do exactly as you want, because (if) you want that you got to do it yourself! They're trying their best. That's the way they do it- it's not the way you're doing it at home."
Change is always slow, however, and as is often the case with migrants, the onus for change typically falls most heavily on the migrants themselves. My interviews with nurses in senior positions of responsibility in relation to ante-natal care and community-based post-natal care continue to demonstrate the need for further cross-cultural awareness training. Despite their relatively frequent interaction with Hmong mothers their understanding of Hmong cultural practices in relation to post-natal care is minimal and contributes to the maintenance of stereotypes and prejudices which do little to assist these nurses in adequately discharging their responsibilties as community health nurses. This was evident in comments such as "the Hmong are dirty, lazy and don't know how to look after their babies"; "they don't wash themselves, don't cook and don't know how to wash the babies"; and from a senior nursing administrator: "they use up the health dollar" and "they breed like rabbits!".
The women's involvement in the education system occurs predominantly through their children's schooling. However, some Hmong women have been enrolled in vocational courses at the Technical And Further Education (TAFE) College. In a recent course in 1994 on "English for Industrial Sewing" which was specifically developed for the Hmong, 17 of the 20 participants were women. Classes were held on two evenings a week for a period of 10 weeks and the women ranged in age from their early twenties through to late forties. Furthermore, given the high level of residential concentration among the Hmong in Hobart, it is not surprising to find that the majority of the Hmong children attend two primary schools and one high school in the northern suburbs. At one of the primary schools a Hmong woman attends regularly in the voluntary capacity of 'mothers' help'.
The women are also involved in a wide range of economic activities. Some participate in the paid labour force in unskilled labour positions such as domestic cleaning. Many are involved in economic production at the household level: they grow vegetables in the back garden and in garden plots of land leased in Hobart's suburbs. These vegetables are sold at stalls at Hobart's Salamanca Market each Saturday. The Hmong stalls have a high profile at the market; the large group of Hmong women and children minding the stall contributes to the 'exotic' atmosphere, attracting both locals and tourists. Here they have established a successful market niche with a reputation for fresh vegetables of extremely high quality (which also look fantastic) and the provision of a wide range of herbs and vegetables for Asian cooking which are normally difficult to find in Hobart's shops. The market stall is also an outlet for the sale of Hmong needlework which both reflects and symbolises the life experiences and changing culture of the Hmong people. Prior to the closure of the camps in Thailand, the money raised was sent to relatives in the camps. In this way, the women's activities contributed to the maintenance of kin ties with people in the refugee camps.The maintenance of kin ties throughout the globe - in Thailand, the United States and France - is an important activity among the Hmong women.
Reconstructing Hmong womanhood - local and global contexts
In Laos, woman mainly do all the housework, do all the cleaning ... the husband mainly go to work, come home.... Like my mother (my father worked), she do farm work and she had some cattle as well, she grew everything, she had the baby too, she do nearly everything...
It used to be, back in Laos, the husband always higher than the woman.... Now the Hmong woman gradually come up, in some case, more high, more power.... woman can go to work and sometimes husband has to stay and look after the children too....
A symbol of this changing position is the fact that the women have licences to drive. The right to apply for a license was something the women negotiated successfully with their husbands and the license itself is viewed as symbolic of women's newly acquired independence:
All the Hmong women who come here, they don't know how to read or write.... They learn a little bit of English now. They all got licence - they know how to drive - get around the city, things like that. So I think they've done very well...Most of them drive, not everyone, but most of them drive yes.... They're trying hard here.
As they adopt successful strategies for the new settlement context these Hmong women are reconstructing what it means to be Hmong and to be a Hmong woman. They do this in the context of contemporary globalization processes as members of a diasporic community (see Ang, 1993 for discussion of the meaning of 'Chineseness' in a global context). The Hmong women in Hobart, for example, refer often to their kin in the United States to acknowledge similarities of experience, differences in adaptive strategies and variation within the category of Hmong. In reference to cross-cultural marriages, for example, a Hmong woman said:
Oh well, if the time come... what can you do? In the US the Hmong people married an American girl, they do that, yeah. Many happen, yeah...One of my nephews, my cousin's son, he marries an American too ...
Significant changes in the attitudes and behavious of Hmong children raised outside Laos are also identified and discussed by Hmong women:
Like my children have grown up, they're really Australian and not like us.
They're different.......
They don't behave like... you can compare some other Hmong kids that just
came...... They not think the way we're thinking , or maybe they think other
way......
Our family back in Laos, we all shared things with each others children. Here
they share too but you can see the difference......You can't bring anything like
that back. How come happens like that? Because we live (in) different
countries.
And in reference to the changing image of Hmong women in the west:
You see some of the woman you can see they can actually change and wear clothes differently and they dress well. Some never change! They look the same as back in Laos. Even in the US.... oh some of them so different -you won't even know they are Hmong persons, you know! They even dyed their hair to be different colour too ....And things like that, so, even here all the younger ones... they all change. Dress well and, you know, you can see gradually they change a lot...
These changes occur through negotiation, contestation and conflict among members of the Hmong community as a whole, and among Hmong women in particular.
Men and women as agents of change
While women may not hold formal positions of political power within the Hmong community in Tasmania, they clearly have a very important role to play in settlement. Their power to act as agents of change stems from their social location within the institutional structures of the receiving society, their need to negotiate pathways through the contradictory positions they find themselves in and, most importantly, in the advice they give to the next generation as a consequence of their own personal experiences.
Health Beliefs and Practices
Within an holistic framework many rituals and practices relate to prevention as well as cure; these are associated particularly with rites of passage such as childbirth and death. The custodians of these traditional rituals are shaman and their maintenance is dependent upon shaman providing intercession through entering a trance to contact the spirits. Although some Hmong converted to Christianity in the refugee camps in Thailand most retain their traditional animism where ancestor worship is combined with shamanism (Dean, 1993).
While the Hmong maintain traditional health beliefs and practices they also utilise Western medical services. Such services are viewed as 'modern' and the adoption of some western health practices is a key indicator of an individual's progressiveness. While traditional bases for status are considered sacrosanct (eg. respecting the elderly in a culture based in part on ancestor worship), 'being modern' is also a basis for status. Thus knowledge of modern practices is highly valued as are other symbols of modernity such as a car, western clothing and a house.
The Hmong have a hierarchy of values and identities based on both cultural traditions as evidenced by status within the community. Elderly men are the traditional leaders and clan leaders, who have the highest level of responsibility for the community, are owed the highest respect. However, these men do not speak English and their knowledge of modern practices is limited. Thus, when interacting with other Tasmanians, reference is made to a very different 'leader', Vue Thaow. He is the community's representative in their dealings with the modern world. His status is based on his social location in the modern world rather than his clan position: he is a western educated laboratory scientist at the hospital. His knowledge of modern western culture extends beyond day-to-day activities; his scientific training means he has knowledge of the philosophical/scientific basis upon which that culture rests.
It is important to recognise that the Hmong live in both traditional and modern cultures. Thus, Hmong women are keen for childbirth to take place in the modern hospital. While the hospital bureaucratic structure is entirely unfamiliar, hospital births are viewed as a symbol of their 'modernity'. However, their choice of location does not indicate any desire to replace traditional practices and beliefs with those of the bio-medical model.
This situation leads to conflict, the resolution of which is hampered by language and communication difficulties. All hospital activities are organised on the basis of taken-for- granted assumptions regarding the validity and superiority of the bio-medical model of health. Hospital workers presume this is understood by all patients. Health workers, particularly nurses, are responsible for ensuring conformity to the norms of this bio- medical model. Upon entering the hospital, however, migrants are likely to continue to define the situation according to their own cultural beliefs. The existence of alternative and competing definitions of the situation under conditions of distorted communication (both through language difficulties and power differentials) leads to conflict.
Resolving such conflict can involve power and force eg. demanding that migrants abide by hospital rules. This has been the predominant practice which, given the inflexibility of bureaucratic structures, is 'built into' the system. It has unintended negative consequences for both patient and hospital. The lack of acceptance of cultural practices and understandings as valid can lead to long term chronic illness and dependency on the health care system. Furthermore, this strategy, while not requiring any change in practices by the existing system is more likely to lead to disruptions of hospital routine. Given Hmong migrants' limited understanding of western health beliefs and practices (and the low likelihood that traditional beliefs and practices will be modified, even if exposed to the western model) they are likely to continue using their own health practices. If the hospital does not recognise and deal with these cross-cultural differences systematically then disruptions will be dealt with individually (as this is also part of the western model) and thus in an ad hoc manner. Continued disruptions will be the outcome.
Alternatively, the health care system can acknowledge cross-cultural differences. This involves each side of the cross-cultural abyss learning something of each other's views regarding health and illness. Communication, therefore, does not just involve bringing in interpreters to translate. Language is contextualised and makes sense in terms of a set of cultural understandings. Ideal communication requires an understanding of the different cultural values and beliefs involved in the interaction.
Cross-cultural awareness training as an interactive process
On the one hand, the hospital has considered producing a video for Hmong women which explains in their own language the procedures for ante-natal care and hospital births. The video format is important because written information is of little value even if translated as the majority of Hmong women are illiterate. More importantly, however, the women would be encouraged to view the video as a group. This is extremely important if they are to establish a shared cultural understanding of pregnancy and childbirth in the context of a western culture. The process of establishing such understandings requires the opportunity to share meanings and negotiate a definition of the situation.
On the other hand, Hmong leaders have been invited to explain Hmong health beliefs and practices at in-service seminars for nurses. An important aspect of this strategy is that, as a program established and funded by the hospital, it is a structural response to the problem.
The final results and report of Hmong settlement in Tasmania will be completed in 1996. Other areas which will be covered in this report are: employment, education, housing, the second generation, religion and cultural traditions, the elderly.
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Roberta Julian
(BA, PhD Tas ) teaches in the Department of Sociology at the University of Tasmania where she has developed courses on 'Migrants in Australian Society', 'The Individual and Society' and 'Qualitative Research Methods'. She also contributes to the Women's Studies program by offering a course on 'Women, Power and Society'. Her research interests focus on the social construction of identity, immigration processes and multiculturalism in the Australian context. Her PhD dissertation entitled 'The Dutch in Tasmania: An Exploration of Ethnicity and Immigrant Adaptation' was a critical examination of immigrant settlement processes and the significance of ethnicity in various adaptive strategies of immigrants. It adopted a case study method which was based on five years of field work with Dutch migrants and the Dutch community in Tasmania.She is currently Principal Investigator for a research project on refugee settlement experiences which is being funded by the Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research in Australia. This project focuses on Hmong, Vietnamese, Polish, El Salvadoran and Chilean refugees in Tasmania. It is anticipated that the BIMPR will publish the report from this research in 1996. In April 1995 she attended the First National Hmong Education Conference held in Minneapolis/St.Paul at which she delivered a paper entitled ' "When the rain is white": power, conflict and change among Hmong refugee women in Australia.'
Dr Julian has also had many years involvement with the education of young people in Tasmania. She is registered as a teacher in Tasmania and between 1980 and 1989 taught Social Psychology to Year 11 and 12 students. She has been Chief Examiner for Social Psychology and more recently for the pre-tertiary Behavioural Studies syllabus. She was involved in the writing and developing of the Behavioural Studies Syllabus and has been involved in an advisory capacity in other Year 11 and 12 syllabuses, including the Australia in the Asia and Pacific (AAP) syllabus. She is also a consultant for the Tasmanian Educational Consortium for the 'Professional Development in Gender Equity Program'. In 1995 she received a University Supplementary Research Grant to engage in qualitative research on the life histories of migrant women in Australia. She has recently co-authored (with Gary Easthope) two chapters on ethnicity and health (both in press).
Please send all comment to: Roberta.Julian@sociol.utas.edu.au
Dr Adrian Franklin: Adrian.Franklin@sociol.utas.edu.au
Dr Bruce Felmingham: Bruce.Felmingham@econ.utas.edu.au Department of Economics.
