Fusing Identities: When South is North
By Tess Maunder
At the "When South is North" conference
The City of Parramatta, a quick express train ride away from Sydney’s central business district, is regarded as a culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse hub within Western Sydney. Many local council initiatives and businesses reflect this sense of multiculturalism, with growing interests in culturally specific tourism, festivals and business ventures. On the flip side, in recent years, some residents in the city have witnessed discrimination in response to encroaching Islamophobia, the growth of anti-intellectual discourse and anti-refugee rhetoric. Therefore, Parramatta was the ideal location for an urgent discussion about the complexities and multifaceted nature of the South-Asian-Australian identity, titled “When South is North.”
