Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 14-17th December 2016 Program Index

Shinsuke Funaki A study on the current conditions of social, economic and political integration of the
Japanese community as Australians
This paper is based on a case study of current conditions of social, economic and political integration of the
Japanese community as Australians. Middle-class migrants like Japanese migrants in Australia experience
social disadvantages, including inadequate welfare programs and the challenges of social exclusion. Aiming
to address this situation, since the 1980s ethnic community leaders and social welfare professionals with
Japanese backgrounds initiated glass-roots social welfare support and educational activities by Japanese
community organizations, thus contributing to the building of a multicultural society in terms social
integration and social inclusion. Based on a quantitative survey among members in Japanese community
organizations in Sydney, Australia that provide social activities to Japanese migrants in Australia, the study
explored material and social problems and issues in the building of a new multicultural social work model for
middle-class migrants.
Kyungja Jung* & Haeyong Jang “My business is all about love and care”: Korean Female Immigrant
Entrepreneurship in Sydney
A significant number of immigrants establish their own business enterprise in Australia. Among them,
Korean immigrants have the highest rate of entrepreneurship, double the Australian average. They are
mostly small and medium business owners, which have also been a common career choice for Korean
immigrant women. However, the experience of Korean immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia remains largely
unexplored and even less work has been done on women’s experiences. To fill the gap in knowledge and
research, this paper investigates various personal, social, economic and cultural aspects of Korean female
entrepreneurship in Australia. Using qualitative approach, we conducted semi-structured in-depth
interviews with Korean immigrant female entrepreneurs who owned a range of small and medium
businesses in Sydney. Findings suggest that Korean female immigrants start a business for varied and
complex reasons and, importantly, perception and roles attached to women and their “Korean” identity play
an important role in their choice and success of business. However, interestingly, English language skills
were not a major barrier to their set-up and running of a business. These findings, although generated from
a small sample and therefore difficult to generalise, will contribute to a better understanding of the
intersection of gender, ethnicity and entrepreneurship.
4B
Literature after and as colonialism (Chair, Magdalena Zolkos)
Kate Leah Rendell
Literary Crossroads: Randolph Stow, Forrest River Mission and Oombulgurri
In 1957 the young Western Australian poet and author Randolph Stow journeyed to Forrest River Mission in
East Kimberley to conduct “anthropological fieldwork” for his next novel To the Islands. In 2015, as a
consequence of my literary thesis on Stow’s novel, I made my own journey to East Kimberley to return
archival images to the Oombulgurri community. Yet Oombulgurri, the community which arose out of Forrest
River Mission in the early 1970s, had been erased as a destination. Declared “unviable” by the Western
Australian government, Oombulgurri was closed in 2011 and the remaining community buildings and
infrastructure were demolished in 2014 against the specific wishes of the Balanggarra Traditional Owners.
This paper emerges therefore at a crossroad within my recent research project. Revealing the limitations of a
one-track approach to literary research and finding a possible way forward within the “leaky” disciplinary
distinctions between Literature, History and Cultural Studies, this paper presents the unexpected
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