Performing new Australians: identity (re)construction of long-term Greek and Cypriot immigrants in Australia.

Brockhall, Ferdinand J. ; Liu, Shuang

Introduction

Advances in technology, modern transportation, international business exchange, and profound changes in world political and economic order have generated large movements of people in almost every region. As Massey and Taylor (2004) pointed out, if the estimated 160 million people who live outside their country were united in a single country, they would "create a nation of immigrants," (p. 1). When immigrants cross geographic, cultural and political borders, they forge and sustain multi-level social relations that link together their societies of origin and country of settlement (Basch et al., 1995). These social relations require them to reconsider their self-identity, their ties to their homeland, and their survival in the host country. Despite the proliferation of literature, the prevailing research on immigrants' acculturation tends to focus on new arrivals (Al-Ali & Koser, 2002). Less is known about how long-term settlers, such as Greek and Cypriot immigrants who have lived in Australia since the 1950s, struggle to find a sense of place. Moreover, most previous studies in acculturation have employed quantitative analyses (e.g. Ip et al., 1994; Liu, 2006, 2007) and viewed identity as a product that immigrants have rather than an open-ended process that is continuous, stretched, and without clearly defined boundaries (Ley & Kobayashi, 2005).

This study aimed to explore the identity reconstruction experience of Greek and Cypriot immigrants who arrived in Austria during the post-World War II era as they moved between cultures in their home away from home--Australia. Greek and Cypriot immigrants are one of the oldest and largest immigrant groups that arrived in Australia after the Second World War. Whilst early studies of their resettlement under conditions of the assimilation policy exist (e.g. Bottomley, 1979, 1992), there has been limited research on how they have reconstructed the image of the diaspora "Self" or "New Australians" as their social environment changed from an era dominated by the White Australia policy to that of modern multiculturalism (Turnbull & Valiotis, 2006). A number of issues remain insufficiently addressed, including the contours of transnational spaces and societies (Smith & Bailey, 2004), the fluid nature of identity (Smith, 2001), tensions between diaspora communities and the host culture, and hybridization (Dwyer, 2002; Huang et al., 2000; Mitchell, 1997).

The conceptualization that ethnic social identity is "the socialized part of the self" (Berger & Berger, 1976, p. 73), and that "identity is not something "given" but is bestowed in acts of social recognition" (Berger, 1973, p. 117), has been widely discussed in the literature. Although the references quoted are evidently long-standing (Chambers, 1994; Haller & Landholt, 2005), there has been very little consensus among scholars regarding a universally accepted definition of "identity" due to its complex and multifaceted nature. This study adopts the position that immigrant identity formation is shaped by "social process in which the constraints of geography and social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding" (Waters, 2001, p. 3). For example, the policy of Anglo-conformity in post-World War II Australia demanded immigrants' complete renunciation of their ancestral culture in favor of the behavior and values of the Anglo-Saxon group (Bottomley, 1979), and their ability to meet expectations imposed upon them to become "New Australians" with as little difference as possible from Anglo-Australians. However, with the White Australia policy being replaced by multiculturalism in the late 1970s, the interpretation of "New Australians" has changed (Bottomley, 1992). It is now not only recent arrivals but also those long-term immigrants that need to re-visit the question of identity: what constitutes a "New Australian?" The present study argues that immigrants' cultural integration is a life-long journey, rather than a destination; therefore, long-term settlers are also constantly reconstructing their identities as they try to live up to the expectations and changes of their host country.

Identity: Becoming-being-becoming

As early as the beginning of the twentieth century, Mead (1934) acknowledged the fluid nature of identity, describing it as a dynamic process. Drawing upon Goffman's (1971) insight, identity refers to the way in which the individual manages his/her self-image and performs to the expectations of others in everyday life. In the case of Greek and Cypriot immigrants, in public, they may "act out" a persona of a new Australian (Batrouney & Goldlust, 2005); in private, they may stick to the image of a true Greek or Cypriot, practicing home cultural traditions and speaking the native language. In classical philosophical language it is described as "being" and "becoming", a process whereby the "actor" needs to resolve the conundrum of "Privately I am" and "Publicly I have become." Bottomley (1992) claims that immigrants' identities are constructed and reconstructed in relation to specific political and economic circumstances under which particular beliefs and practices are emphasized as boundary markers. When the boundaries expand and markers change, the individual would move from "being" to "becoming" and then back to "being"--the cycle is always continuing.

In the present research on Greek and Cypriot settlement in Australia, this relates to how the question of identity applies symbolically in the patterns and practices of their participation in the culture of the receiving country. In examining the relationship between language and ethnic identity among Greek Cypriot students, Ioannidou (2004) measured the ethnic awareness of a group of 11 year-old Greek-Cypriot students, and their identification and attitudes towards the concepts of being Cypriot, Greek, Greek Cypriot, and Turkish Cypriot. The results showed that the categories they were put into significantly affected their self-image. Explained in Schneider's (2002) terms, those categories symbolically communicate the notions of being "I" and becoming "me", and the boundaries between Self and the Other.

Identity representation is affected by social interaction (Zevallos, 2008). From the social constructionist's perspective, social actors use linguistic and other cultural resources in the ongoing construction and reconstruction of personal and group identity (Schilling-Estes, 2004). In her identity negotiation theory, Ting-Toomey (2005) emphasizes that identity is viewed as reflective self-images constructed, experienced and communicated by the individuals in a particular interaction situation within a cultural context. The concept negotiation is defined as "a transactional interaction process whereby individuals in an intercultural situation attempts to assert, define, modify, challenge and/or support their own and others' desired self-images," (p. 217). Identity is formed in relation to communicating with others. An individual is free to create multiple selves, yet the pool of possible selves that one can negotiate with has various personal and social constraints (Markus & Nurius, 1986). The individual and society are inseparable and identity construction, as a product of social interaction, usually adheres to the expectations of others (Hetcht et al., 2005; Meltzer & Petras, 1972).

When early Greek and Cypriot immigrants relocated from home country to Australia, they brought with them significant attachments to their home culture. They are expected by people from the home country to extend this attachment in the host country by connecting to their ethnic community. While they derive a sense of belonging from their identification with their ethnic origin, they are also fully aware that "this very identification with an imaged 'where you're from' is also a sign of, and surrender to, a condition of actual marginalization in the place 'where you're at,"' (Ang 2001, p. 34). To integrate into the host culture, the immigrants need to perform to the expectations acceptable to the mainstream cultural group; for example, they are expected to be able to speak English language and demonstrate knowledge of local cultural values and customs, so that they can become one of the locals in public settings (Liu, 2007). It has therefore become a necessity to construct and reconstruct their identities as expected by their co-ethnics as well as what is acceptable to local Anglo-Australians. This study aimed to explore how Greek and Cypriot early settlers reconstruct their identities and how identity reconstruction is related to survival in the host country.

Method

This study employed in-depth interviews to explore the rich identity reconstruction experience of long-term Greek and Cypriot settlers. The choice of a qualitative research technique is appropriate to this study as it particularly allows the in-depth inquiry into the "true self" of the Greek and Cypriot respondents.

Participants

Greek and Cypriot immigrants started to flow into Australia in the immediate post-World War II era. There were three reasons for choosing Greek and Cypriot immigrants as participants in this study. First, Greeks and Cypriots, who are otherwise of autonomous national identities, can be treated as cultural twins on the basis that they share a common history, traditions, religion and a cultural relationship that extends far back into the ancient time (Ioannidou, 2004). Second, Greeks and Cypriots are recognized for their large extended families that strongly maintain their culture and traditions in the ethnic communities. Third, the selection of Greek and Cypriot respondents in this study followed from the primary researcher's personal experience as a long-term immigrant and his connections with the Greek and Cypriot ethnic communities facilitated entry into the research site (Sarantakos, 2005). Snowball sampling was used and participant recruitment was assisted by the researcher's key contacts in the communities.

The sample consisted of 28 primarily first-generation immigrants (79%), as well as some second (14%) and third (7%) generation Greek and Cypriot immigrants from the cities of Brisbane and Melbourne. Only 25% was female, due to a number of constraints including their lack of English language proficiency and their widowed status, which made them feel uncomfortable with being interviewed. Moreover, in traditional Greek and Cypriot cultures, women are expected to act in a reserved manner when in public. Almost all respondents migrated to Australia for the reason of marriage or family reunion. The majority of first generation immigrants (61%) came from poor rural regions in their country of origin, with limited formal education (82% of first generation respondents had received only primary school education). Understandably, on arriving in Australia, most of them found manual labor employment, ranging from tiling and welding, to menial cleaning jobs in hospitals. Nevertheless, several respondents eventually managed to set up their own small businesses, including a coffee shop, a grocery store and a small trading company.

Procedure

Participants were interviewed at a place of their choice (e.g. home, cafe, or clubs) and interviews lasted from one to three hours each. Consent was obtained from each participant before the interview. Prior to the interview, each respondent was provided with a copy of the open-ended questions they would be asked, so as to give them an idea of the purpose of the study. In addition, recognizing that most respondents were in their 70s and 80s, the primary researcher with the assistance from the gatekeeper explained the questions to the participants in person before the commencement of interviews. This gate-keeper--one of the respondents--also acted as translator for the respondents who lacked fluency in English language.

All interviews were conducted in English. The majority of them were audio-recorded (60%); for those that could not be recorded, notes were taken and elaborated upon at the earliest time possible after the interview. All data were transcribed before analysis.

Data analysis

The Conceptually Clustered Matrix (CCM) was employed in analysing the data. As an established research tool, CCM has been proved to be particularly suitable for analysing textual data (Miles & Huberman, 1994) as words can be assembled, sub-clustered, and broken into semiotic segments, thus permitting the researcher to contrast, compare, and bestow patterns upon them. As a descriptive display, CCM orders data by concepts and variables whereby the rows and columns bring together items that "belong together" and lend "conceptual coherence" (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 127) to the data. In this study, the first step in data analysis was to produce a summary of questions asked at each particular field contact. This summary sheet provided a practical way to initial data reduction without losing any of the basic information. As Miles and Huberman (1994) suggest, such initial data screening organizes the data in the researcher's mind and makes it available for later retrieval and further analysis. Next, the data was coded according to concepts, problems raised and key constructs in the study (e.g., migrancy, transnationalism, assimilation, identity, etc.). Data sorting at this level helps to create inductive coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Then, the entire data set was reviewed line by line to generate categories or labels (demographics, reasons for migrating to Australia, perception of migrancy, identity performance, etc.). The descriptions, accounts, stories and sequences of events that testified to the experiences of the respondents were recoded under those categories. Data interpretation was based on the recurring themes (e.g., private self and public self) and relationships between those themes (e.g., identity and acculturation strategies).

Results and discussion

From being an immigrant to becoming an Australian

One of the most significant challenges for immigrants is to delineate patterned regularities that govern the behavior of others in the society they joined, and to adapt to or adopt them (Harris, 1979). Long-term Greek and Cypriot immigrants arrived in Australia at a time when the country was dominated by an assimilation policy. Such a social climate left few in doubt of their alien status in the mainstream Anglo-Australian society. One respondent related that he was aware of his diaspora status immediately upon arrival but, determined to make Australia home, he made efforts to adapt:

"I learned to make Australian joke and talk about sport. When I first came to Australia, in shops they asked me, "What's the score, mate"? I didn't know the word "score", but I started to learn about cricket, and other sports, and I talked about weather; this made me feel more Australian." (No. 4; age 75; owner of a greengrocer's)

For the respondent, having the capacity to appreciate Australian humor and talk about sports, which constitutes an important part of Australian culture, meant that he was able to understand the Australian way of life. In addition to familiarizing themselves with the Australian way, as Conomos (2002) noted, many immigrants felt the need to anglicize their names to better fit in with the host society. One respondent, whose original name was Papastergoupoulos, shortened his last name to Papas to make it sound Australian. In other cases Elefteri became Terry while Plousia was changed to Lucy. Anglicizing ethnic names had functional benefits, as one Cypriot respondent described: "When I came to Australia, one big problem was my name. When I made my name sound Australian, there was no more trouble at bank, or spelling my name over the phone." (No. 6; age 80; retired accountant at BHP)

The practice of changing their names to an anglicized version revealed the anxiety which many early immigrants felt in their perception of being a "foreigner." They took measures to avoid Australians categorizing them as Greek, Cypriot or immigrants. In addition to names, language is another boundary-marker of in-groups and out-groups. To be accepted as a member of the mainstream, immigrants must speak the English language reasonably well. This posed great challenges, particularly for first-generation Greeks and Cypriots in Australia. One respondent described her experience upon arrival:

"When I went down the street to buy food I could only point, and I felt that people thought me stupid or something. When my baby became sick I could not explain to the doctor what was wrong with him, and this made me sad and frightened. Such frustrating experience motivated me to learn the English language well." (No. 1; age 50; homemaker)

When this respondent's son started pre-school, she sat in his class to learn English. She also watched Sesame Street with her son to learn words and numbers. She continued to study English, improving her oral proficiency as well as enhancing her understanding of the Australian way:

"Later, when I could speak English better I made some friends with Australian ladies, and I started cooking classes of Greek food. I know I must make efforts to let Australians know me and accept me. Now I am a happy Cypriot Australian." (No. 1; age 50; homemaker)

The first-generation respondents were fully aware that they had to learn about Australia, because it was a pragmatic way to settle down and to become Australianized. However, given their limited education level and rural background in the old country, they had little access to newspapers, radio or television, and thus much of their knowledge about Australia came from relatives or friends already in Australia. Caught in a somewhat unwelcoming environment in the days when the White Australia policy prevailed, understandably some first-generation Greek and Cypriot immigrants felt stressed about being treated as a foreigner and were eager to assimilate. As one respondent related,

"I felt that Australians appeared very friendly and tolerant of us; but deep down I felt they did not like having foreigners, 'bloody New Australians,' in their country." (No. 5; age 68; owner of a small steel-fence manufacturing business)

Judging from these circumstances, the respondents' changing identity from that of "being an immigrant to becoming an Australian" seems less related to the mind-body problem, (Brinkman, 2005). Rather, these occurrences seem more akin to social behaviorism proposed by Mead (1934), in that the symbolic interaction encouraged them to be more emphatic to the role of the other. In turn, this facilitated a process for them to reconstruct their "I" to a new "me."

For many first-generation immigrants in this study, it was often unclear how to unravel the clusters of rules, new traditions, regulations, norms, and vast arrays of other pressures and demands imposed on them (Liu & Louw, 2009). The difficulty is that in cross-cultural situations, people live their culture rather than understanding it (Douglass, 1970). This truism also applies to the assimilation of the respondents. Judged by Australians, especially in terms of their willingness to fit in and contribute to the national blueprint, immigrants had to meet certain requirements before they were considered as worthy of acceptance by the host society. At a time when the notion of immigrants as agents of change was completely unthinkable for both the government and immigrants, the early Greek and Cypriot immigrants had to perform, to the best of their ability, to the expectations of Others in the host culture.

From becoming Australian to being Greek or Cypriot

Most respondents viewed assimilation as a necessity in early days of migration. However, because of their strong affinity with and affection for their homeland, they made distinctions between two selves, the public and the private. In other words, they performed Australian in public while being Greek or Cypriot in private. One respondent said that at home, she and her family were Cypriot. They spoke in Greek, ate Greek food, and watched Greek programs on SBS channel (a channel that features ethnic minorities)--the dichotomy of becoming certain (assimilated) "me" and being a true (ethnic) "I,"

"As a Cypriot Australian I also know how to cook Australian food. We have many Australian friends and we speak English with them. Our kids were born here and they are more Australian than Cypriot. We like the Australian way but at home we maintain our traditions. In public we are Cypriot Australian but in private we are Cypriot." (No. 2; age 50; homemaker)

The need to uphold a public persona of a New Australian was also derived from a broader social context and collective pressure. Newcomers were constantly made aware of their status of "immigrants from a foreign land" and that they were expected to behave according to strict social norms and the Australian way of life. It was within this context that new settlers were often expected to perform to others' expectations of New Australian, demonstrating to members of the mainstream society their efforts to fit in and to prove that they were worthy of acceptance.

It was evident that under the assimilation policy in the immediate post-World War II Australia, immigrants were expected to assimilate in the majority society. However, this expectation often overlooked the fact that, while immigrants were aware of the need to adapt their cultural beliefs to fit in and learn the new ways of doing things in the new country, many would still not want to abandon the traditions of the old country. One of the first-generation Cypriot respondents still remembered his frustration when he was asked why he was actively involved in the ethnic social club and community in Brisbane:

"I told you before--my culture hasn't changed. Only environment has changed. And I feel that while I am willing to learn the culture and customs of Australia it is my duty to preserve the Cypriot culture and pass it on to the next generation, and that generation will pass it on to the next." (No. 5; age 68; owner of a small steel fence-manufacturing business)

The maintenance of ties with their heritage culture and the ethnic community is not only an expression of being and extension of home culture, such practice also functions to facilitate adaptation into the host country. For example, Tamis (2005) found that Greek immigrants who arrived in assimilationist Australia felt that the maintenance of their Greek social ties was essential in facilitating integration into the new country.

At a visit to one respondent's home, we noticed two large olive trees in front of the house, making the house different from others in a Brisbane suburb. The respondent explained:

"The City Council's trees in my street are no good. In my country people plant beautiful olive trees in front of their house, so I pulled up Council trees and I planted olives, like in Cyprus." (No.20; age 75; retired self-employed handyman)

This example illustrated how some immigrants made compromises to fit in the general society in public, but when the home or private domain is concerned, attempts were made to compromise "who we have become" with "who we are."

(Re)constructing the New Australian identity

Regardless of their efforts to integrate, early immigrants were often perceived as a separate category of citizens. One Greek respondent, who joined the Australian Navy during the Second World War told us:

"By now they had invented a new name "New Australians." Although this did not sound as crude as the old racially discriminating terms--"wogs", "dagoes" and "chinks" I feel the label "New Australian" is still a handle for discriminating between the "old" Australians and the newcomer. ... Neighbours in a street will still refer to the Greek or the Italian greengrocer and so on. No longer name calling, but in the minds and sentiments of local Australians the tag "foreigner" still attaches to us." (No. 14; age 75; retired navy officer)

Respondents reported that throughout their settlement period in Australia they made determined efforts to become accepted in the mainstream society. However, they also found that their acceptance was not only a consequence of policies, but also the willingness of the mainstream society. Moreover, the conditions upon which the receiving society is prepared to accept them are not stipulated by law as much as by common consent. This impacted greatly upon their concept of selfhood. As many respondents in this study reported, when seeking acceptance in the mainstream society, they are constantly confronted by questions about themselves. For instance, do they know how to perform to the expectations of the receiving society? What social, cultural and perhaps even political adjustments do they have to make to their cultural beliefs to conform to the Australian ethos in the public before they can be accepted? What should they do to search for the meaning and emotion in performing identities acceptable to the host culture? In regards to identity formation, the individual locates himself in society within a system of social controls, and every one of those contains an identity-generating apparatus (Brinkman, 2005; Schneider, 2002).

"In the old days, people were sometimes accused of keeping too close contact with their immigrant community, and they were made to believe that this was a reprehensible thing in Australia.. In the shop I know that people think of me as Greek, on the street I am just another Australian." (No. 7; age 30; coffee shop owner; second-generation Greek immigrant)

Although many Greeks in Australia are emotionally attached to their own history, they are constantly searching for their New Australian identity, rather than their Greek identity in the host country (Tamis, 2005). Their conjecture has highlighted that immigrants are always moving on the continuum as they search for a sense of place in the country where they feel out of place from time to time (Fallicov, 2005). Early generations of immigrants in this study faced the pressure to transform their private "I am" into a public "I've become." With the introduction of multiculturalism, their New Australian identity (I've become) has also undergone transformation. They began to see themselves as a hybridization of Australian and Greek/Cypriot, rather than either one or the other. One first-generation Greek respondent recalled,

"When I first came to Australia, all the time I felt like Greek, Greek only. That was because of my native language; also my customs are different from the Australian ones. In the old days, Australians made me feel like a foreigner, and I also found Australia a country very different from Greece--huge land, few people, strange animals, this made me feel frightened. By and by I began to forget these differences and became more and more like Australian and feel my new home country is Australia." (No. 11; age 75; retired manual laborer)

One first-generation Cypriot respondent (No. 5; age 68; owner of a small steel-fence-manufacturing business) claimed that he was very proud of his heritage and, in that sense, he would always be a Cypriot. Given that he was born in Cyprus and his extended family all lived in Cyprus, his roots were understandably anchored there and thus, in private, he would always be Cypriot. However, since migrating to Australia, he began to feel more and more like an Australian. In this context, he has become a mixture of Australian and Cypriot.

Another respondent shared similar feelings, indicating that the "being" and "becoming" can co-exist within him without making him feel disoriented:

"In public I make an effort to be more Australian because it makes me feel more comfortable to deal with people. In private I like to think in Greek and I like to speak Greek with my family or friends. I follow my Orthodox religion and many of our social customs. But when I am in Cyprus, what I do and how I live in Australia makes me realize that I am no longer a true Cypriot. And in Australia I know I am not fully Australian but a Cypriot Australian. I accept this and I am comfortable with my separate beings." (No.20; age 75; retired self-employed handyman)

The notion of New Australian (immigrants) identity a diaspora identity--stretches into subsequent Australia born generations. One second-generation respondent spoke about how he felt about his identity as an Australian:

"I came to Australia a baby and, unlike my parents, I neither had to assimilate, integrate or achieve Australian status. There is no doubt in my mind that I am Australian in the first place: I behave like an Australian, I speak the language like an Australian, I think like an Australian but, at the same time, I know my ethnic background and I am proud of being a Cypriot descendant; so what does that make me--Australian, Cypriot Australian?" (No. 3; age 29; Commonwealth public servant)

Similarly, another second-generation Cypriot respondent (No. 7; age 30; coffee shop operator) felt that because he was born in Australia, he would claim his identity first as an Australian; but because of his parents' country of origin, he would not deny his cultural roots as a Cypriot. However, when asked what he would call himself, without hesitation, he said, "I am Australian." This respondent illustrated the conundrum of his hybridized cultural identity: born in Australia and therefore an Australian but internalizing the Cypriot heritage, he was also a Cypriot.

In the context of modern-day freedom of choice of belonging and improved communication, financial, and travel conditions, it appears that multiculturalism is again challenging the concept of Self in relation to Others. Many respondents in this study felt that the identities of different generations of the Greek and Cypriot immigrants evolved in a linear progression. Under the assimilation policy, immigrants had few options other than to assimilate to the extent possible; otherwise they would remain alienated from the mainstream Australian society. With a policy of multiculturalism in place, they are allowed to develop a hybridized cultural identity, although communication with the local Anglo-Australians often reminds them of "where they were from and what they have become." The post-war assimilationist Australia is almost unrecognizable in contemporary Australia, where the new Australian way has replaced an antiquated past national ethos.

One third-generation Cypriot immigrant descendant (No. 17; age 27; postgraduate student) revealed that he constantly felt the need to negotiate his ethnic cultural identity, as a result of the influence of his first-generation immigrant grandparents, his second-generation parents, and his affiliation with ethnic associations such as churches and social clubs and his own experience of visiting Cypress:

"I feel that my identity is continuously forming and reforming. The Cypriot culture is the roots of my family. As such, it has sentimental value for me. But in terms of my belonging, this ethnic identity perception is challenged by the ideals and my love for Australia and the pride I feel when being called 'Australian'." (No. 17; age 27; postgraduate student)

Modern day transnationalism has offered this third-generation Cypriot descendant the choice of where he wants to be and who he wants to be:

"I will always be an Australian and, if circumstances make me leave this country, then like the boomerang I shall eventually return. My grandparents had no choice, my parents lacked knowledge of their greater freedom of choice of belonging in this globalized world, but I do have the freedom to choose who I want to be and where I want to go." (No. 17; age 27; postgraduate student)

Conclusions

In settling into a new society, one of the main challenges that immigrants face is how to fit in with the new society. Kashima and Loh (2006) found that the identity of immigrants is significantly influenced by their personal ties with co-ethnics, which function as an initial cushion for their psychological adjustment. Petrocelli and Smith (2005) observed that when immigrants search for a sense of place in the host country, there are discrepancies between ought-to-be selves and actual selves. Similarly, Fallicov (2005) highlights that when it comes to dealing with cultural identity, immigrants always experience loss and discontinuity. Findings from this study, albeit based on a relatively small sample of 28 long-term Greek and Cypriot immigrants, revealed the complexities of identity construction and negotiation as they search for a sense of place. Their life stories highlighted the ways in which they perform to the expectations of the host culture in public and maintain their ethnic being within the family and the ethnic community in private. Their identity construction experiences could be summed up by the notions of public performance and private being--the public "me" performing Australianness; the private "I" clinging to their cultural heritage.

With multiculturalism replacing assimilation as an immigration policy in Australia in the late 1970s, early settlers found that keeping and practicing their ethnic culture is not only openly tolerated but also legitimatized. Emerging from this is the evolving hybridized cultural identity for the early settlers and, subsequently, their descendants. However, the expansion of cultural boundaries does not necessarily imply easier movement between cultures. As the first-generation immigrants discovered, transformation of their identities had gradually taken place within themselves as they became Australianized--they were no longer the same as the people in their old country. On the other hand, in their home away from home (Australia), they still felt being set apart from the Anglo-Australians by their physical appearance and by their ethnic culture. The same feeling is shared by the second and third-generation Greek and Cypriot Australians, albeit to a lesser extent. Therefore, the New Australian is neither Australian nor Greek/ Cypriot, but a person who is able to perform to the expectations of both cultures without feeling disoriented.

Findings from this study suggest a new type of transnationalism in explaining immigrants' movement across cultures. For example, the long-term Greek and Cypriot immigrants are clearly different from the model advocated by Portes et al. (1999), in that they were neither originally bilingual nor made their living by regularly moving across national borders. Instead, their use of transnational social space, as described by Pries (2001), was mostly through mediated communication (e.g. phone) with people from their old country and by interacting with co-ethnics in community clubs or associations. In this sense, transnationalism may not be exclusively a recent, modern-day immigrant practice, although transnationalism could be thought to make such practices much more widespread among immigrant communities in recent times.

This study illustrated that after years of settlement in Australia, first-generation Greek and Cypriot immigrants made adjustments to their former cultural practice in order to perform to the expectations of the host country. Many of the respondents felt that their occasional visits to Greece or Cyprus often invoke a reverse experience of "us" versus "them," whereby they could become "foreigner" in their home country. Such return visits reinforce their hybridized identity. Hence, migration is not necessarily a two-way journey; nor is identity negotiation. As immigrants bridge here and there by engaging economically, socially and culturally in their host country, so too do they reconstruct identities appropriate to situational characteristics. Cultural identity, therefore, is not something immigrants have, but something they perform. It is not only new arrivals, but also long-term settlers that need to continuously deal with the issue of identity reconstruction as they try to live up to the expectations and changes of their host country.

Correspondence to:

Ferdinand J. Brockhall, PhD

School of Social Sciences

University of Queensland

St Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD 4072

Australia

Email: fandwpc@hotmail.com

Shuang Liu, PhD

School of Journalism and Communication

University of Queensland

St Lucia Campus, Brisbane, QLD 4072

Australia

Email; s.liu1@uq.edu.au

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