Paper short abstract:

In Indian and Australian television news accounts of the allegedly racist student attacks in Melbourne and Sydney during 2009-2010, the figure of the migrant was constructed as that of one hailing from the nation's assertive (yet homogeneous) middle class. I made a documentary in early 2009, just before the attacks, that challenges the homogeneity of such framings by mainstream media across the world.

Paper long abstract:

Indian and Australian television news accounts of the allegedly racist student attacks in Melbourne and Sydney during 2009-2010 varied significantly in their journalistic emphasis, nationalist bias, and postcolonial overtones. However, they were rather similar in the way that the figure of the student-migrant was constructed as that of an aspirational male hailing from the nation's assertive (yet homogeneous) middle class. In a documentary titled 'I Journey like a Paisley' which I completed in early 2009 just before the attacks, a group of young people of Indian origin living in the South Australian capital, Adelaide are interviewed on a wide range of subjects ranging from their perception of racism in Australia to their views on arranged marriage. Such a portrayal shows the diversity of the middle class Indian diaspora in Australia, and challenges the homogeneity of limited framings by mainstream media across the world.