East Timorese in Melbourne: Community and Identity in a Time of Political Unrest in Timor Leste
Hedda Haugan Askland, Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies and School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle.
Through empirical research with East Timorese exiles in Melbourne, my PhD research considers how political unrest affects exiles’ experiences of self, community and nation. In May last year, ethnically and politically motivated violence erupted in the capital of East Timor, Dili. There has been extensive media coverage and academic discussion about the ongoing crisis in East Timor; however little attention has been paid to how the conflict manifests itself within the diaspora. This paper presents the story of a former East Timorese refugee, Nunu, and considers how the political crisis has affected his relationship to East Timor and his experiences of self and identity. I relate Nunu’s story as a means of exploring the ways in which past experience of occupation and nationalist struggle remain part of the negotiation of boundaries and transformation of identity. The primary aim of this paper is to bring forward some ethnographic material to stimulate discussion of the research themes.
