Too Tall, Too Dark to Be Australian

Abstract

This chapter discusses African diasporas’ experiences with racism in Australia. It provides alternative categorizations, definitions and understandings of race and racism by focusing not only on historical, discursive, systemic, epistemological and symbolic forms but also on everyday forms of discrimination that are hidden in small talk, elite and political discourses and in government policies that supposedly recognize and accommodate diversity. The chapter also signposts the meanings of Australian citizenship and identity expressed in everyday interactions in public spaces, in buses, in shopping malls and in workplaces; and looks at how discourses that operate in these settings have shaped and mediated perceptions and sensibilities about African diaspora identities in Australia.