Ever since social sciences rejected the validity of “race” as a biological concept, the old notion of racism has been replaced with a new one that targets cultural differences as grounds for exclusion. However, earlier studies indicate the continuity of both forms of racism, in terms of essentializing incompatible differences to divide humans. Studies on racism in Australia share that perspective on the connection between race and ethnicity. In particular, those targeting Indigenous people argue that the construction and maintenance of a homogeneous “Aboriginal” racial category constitutes part of racism. Based on that premise, this paper aims to examine the coexistence of old and new forms of racism toward Indigenous and Sudanese peoples in Adelaide, Australia.
Indigenous and Sudanese Australians in Adelaide find themselves in a similar socioeconomic situation, in terms of higher unemployment rates and lower incomes than white Australians. In addition, mainstream media perceive youth from both groups as more likely to be associated with gangs, violence and crime. There have even been cases where physical and mental attributes associated with biological differences, such as skin color and IQ, were explicitly mentioned as grounds for negative stereotyping, thereby revealing the persistence of old racism.
In the media representation, both groups are viewed as “uncontrollable others,” or those who threaten the authority of whites, who remain in charge of maintaining the order in multicultural Australian society. Both groups experience “blackness,” a construct of the media, in their daily lives, and perceive it as a reason for their social exclusion. Thus, the epistemological category of “blackness” has appeared, encompassing both groups, in contrast to “whiteness,” in the process of social exclusion through racism.
Indigenous and Sudanese peoples respond differently to the concept of “blackness.” There are cases in which Indigenous people feel a sense of racial commonality—that is, the experience of “being black” or “not being white”—in their interactions with Sudanese people. That has its basis on the common experience of social exclusion.
Meanwhile, some Sudanese consider themselves outside of a black racial identity, and prefer to focus on their high degree of social integration through their English language ability and social contributions to Australian society. They thus consider being “black” as a hindrance to social integration. Such a perception conversely shows that biological differences, especially skin color, constitute significant barriers to gaining complete “whiteness.” They continue to be a non-erasable difference in Australian mainstream society, where racism without “race” prevails.
