Going Overboard? Representing Hazara Afghan Refugees as Just Like Us

Abstract

In this paper we analyse two Australian television programs, Marking Time (2003) and Molly \u26 Mobarak (2004), foregrounding the ways in which ethnic Hazara refugees from Afghanistan have been (re)presented. We argue that by minimising cultural and religious differences both Marking Time and Molly \u26 Mobarak construct and represent Hazara Afghan refugees as like a “certain us”, that is, as members of Australian core culture who are predominately white, family oriented and inclusivist. However, their differences are not concealed entirely and in both programs the Hazara also appear as the “other”, that is, unlike us. We point out some problems associated with privileging similarity and the possible consequences of these representations within policy making and Australian society more generally