Introduction
Immigration is a thorny political as well as social issue in Australia. Like many western countries, Australia receives millions of immigrants from third world countries who enter the country both legally and illegally. According to the Australian government, the country has received nearly 6.8 million immigrants since 1945.
Middle East countries like Lebanon supplies most of the immigrants from the region to Australia. Increased restrictions on immigration on the backdrop of an era dominated by anti terror measures after 911 that have seen a vicious crackdown and detention of immigrants by Australian authorities.
There have also been racially motivated attacks of immigrants in Australia especially those of Asian origin. According to an opinion poll carried out in 2005, most Australians were of the opinion that less immigrants from the Middle East should be allowed into the country.
Miller et al (2009) says that amidst all these however, is the interesting issue of nationalism and identity of these immigrants especially those from the Middle East (p. 208). Some of these immigrants have acquired Australian citizenship while many others are working towards achieving the Australian dream.
That effectively means they are working for the Australian cause. It should never be forgotten however that these immigrants have tie to their homeland and that is plays a significant role in defining their nationalism and identity. Already available studies by individuals, government, and non-governmental organizations will be the source of information.
Analysis and review of this information to determine the trends in it will comprise the methodology of the study. A set of conclusions will be drawn from the analysis of literature review. Where necessary, there will also be recommendations. The conclusions will be compared with the hypotheses to see if the assumptions that informed the undertaking of the study were correct or not.
Overall trend
Nieuwenhuysen et al (2009) says that a change of Australian immigration policy in the 1970’s saw an increase of non-Europeans especially Asians and people from the Middle East in Australia (p. 98). This immigration has given rise to a new trend of trans-nationalism that forms the basis of literature review.
The research will explore the element of trans-nationalism that is likely to be the case with most of these immigrants and its impacts on their continued stay in Australia. Transnationalism will also include an examination of the aspects of acculturation, assimilation, and integration of these immigrants to the larger Australian community.
There will be an in depth study and analysis of the literature that exists on transnationalism. Research will focus on the prevailing ties that middles East immigrants have to their homeland and what it means to their Australian and their native countries’ identity and nationalism.
Various aspects of transnationalism including government policies and race relations will also be studied and their impact on the nationalism and identity of these immigrants. These aspects include the impact of homeland politics, allegiance to Australia and their native lands, citizenship acquisition and equal access to opportunities.
Criteria
According to Soller (2004), literature review will be divided into various sections that will focus on the topic under study (p.104). Review of the status of Middle East immigrants in the country, the pattern of immigration and settlement in Australia, reviews on the existing literature on immigration of Middle East people to Australia, summaries, and conclusions from the analysis done on literature review will makeup the criteria for the literature review.
References
Soller, A. J. (2004) Evaluation of microbial risk assessment techniques and applications. Alexandria: Water environment foundation..
Nieuwenhuysen et al. (2009) Nations of immigrants: Australia and the USA compared. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Miller et al. (2009) Immigration to Australia. London: VDM Publishing House Ltd.