‘Happiness again’: photographing and narrating the arrival of Hungarian child refugees and their families 1956–1957

Abstract

The Australian government has long been involved in creating, collecting and circulating photographs of newly arrived immigrants, displaced people and refugees. Many of these images have been used for internal and external promotional/propaganda purposes. In this article I use news reports and visual photographic material depicting Hungarian refugee children and their families, alongside an analysis of government agendas and communication strategies, to examine how these ‘new Australians’ were understood and presented to the nation. After the 1956 anti-Communist uprising in Hungary, just over 14,000 Hungarian refugees were resettled in Australia. The federal government specially sought out a number of ‘compassionate cases such as children’, and many groups and individuals within the host population offered support to care for what they imagined would be large numbers of orphaned and unaccompanied Hungarian children. These Hungarian refugees came to Australia in the context of increased government interest in public relations and publicity around immigration. A Public Relations director in the Department of Immigration was appointed in 1955 and a publicity section was also established as part of the Planning and Research Division. Discussions by the Immigration Planning Council during 1956 plainly stated that ‘business’ was now the driving force for immigration rather than ‘the “refugee” concept’. Tasman Heyes, the Secretary of the Department of Immigration, agreed but also felt that these two forces were and could be combined, pointing out that since 1951 Australia had received ‘international credit for contributing to the solution of an international problem’ by achieving the integration of these aims. This article examines how refugee children and families were positioned in relation to the fraught pairing of economic and humanitarian concerns, thus interrogating broader understandings of immigration, children and families within the Australian nation that are revealed in these moments of photographic capture and circulation.     

Who are Refugees?

Hundreds of millions of people around the world are unable to meet their needs on their own, and do not receive adequate protection or support from their home states. These people, if they are to be provided for, need assistance from the international community. If we are to meet our duties to these people, we must have ways of knowing who should be eligible for different forms of relief. One prominent proposal from scholars and activists has been to classify all who are unable to meet their basic needs on their own as ‘refugees’, and to extend to them the sorts of protections established under the United Nations Refugee Convention. Such an approach would expand the traditional refugee definition significantly. Unlike most academic commentators discussing this issue, I reject calls for an expanded refugee definition, and instead defend the core elements of the definition set out in the 1967 Protocol to the United Nations Refugee Convention. Using the tools of moral and political philosophy, I explain in this article how the group picked out by this definition has particular characteristics that make refugee protection distinctly appropriate for it. While many people in need of assistance can be helped ‘in place’, in their home countries, or by providing a form of temporary protected status to them, this is not so, I show, of convention refugees. The group picked out by the UN refugee definition is a normatively distinct group to whom we owe particular duties, duties we can only meet by granting them refuge in a safe country. Additionally, there are further practical reasons why a broader refugee definition may lead to problems. Finally, I argue that rejecting the call for a broader definition of refugees will better help us meet our duties to those in need than would an expanded definition.     

More Norms,Less Justice: Refugees,the Republic,and everyone in between

The paper argues for conflating refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) as two sides of a work-in-progress postcolonial state. To be sure, aliens, refugees, IDPs, and stateless persons are separate legal entities. Nevertheless, this fragmented normative regime stands testimony to more laws and less justice. Many Asian states have no domestic refugee law. India, a common law system, takes a case by case approach as refugees are given “temporary shelter on humanitarian considerations”. Ironically, a work-in-progress postcolonial state sustains even de jure citizens as de facto stateless persons; the erstwhile Indo-Bangla enclaves for more than half a century were an apt example. Surely, the raison d’être of international law on refugees is to end human suffering, if needed, by transcending the absence of positive laws. A constitutional and political desire to minimise human suffering alone could cut the rigour of such positivist legal narratives. The Delhi High Court seemingly walked that path in Koul v Estate Officer noting “refugees and IDPs appear to be similarly situated”. Rising terrorism has made states increasingly believe in a security narrative all the same. A simultaneous emergence of a demographic anxiety particularly in India’s North-eastern states increasingly pits aliens and refugees against the domiciled indigenous and tribal people.     

Dealing with non-Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East: Policies and Practices in an Uncertain Environment

Despite the relevance of the issue in Middle Eastern politics,the study of non-Palestinian refugees and their treatment inthe region is a subject that has received little attention inthe academic community. This paper attempts to fill this gapby examining the evolution of refugee policies in the MiddleEast between two of the major events that have characterizedthe region in the last decade, the 1990-1991 and 2002-2003 ‘GulfCrises’, and by critically analysing the factors thathave influenced these developments. In mapping the legal andadministrative provisions that Middle Eastern governments havedevised to address the issue, I observe that no substantialbreakthrough in formal policies has occurred. Overall, refugeepolicies in the region remain far from the standards of theinternational refugee regime. In turning to the ‘politics’of refugee policy in the region, however, I show that this areahas been more dynamic than the sole focus on formal aspectswould indicate. This is apparent if we look at the issue ofrefugees in the Middle East from the perspective of the relationsbetween local authorities and UNHCR, the main players involvedin this policy area. Despite the difficult environmental conditions,negotiations have been ongoing throughout the 1990s, and theyhave led to some limited improvement in the treatment of refugees.Yet, with the deterioration of the regional and internationalpolitical context, such promising developments have recentlycome to a standstill and this fact is reflected in the generalworsening of the condition of refugees in the area.     

High-conflict divorce involving children: parents’ meaning-making and agency

Most research, policy discussion and intervention is based on outsider-expert understandings that categorise divorces as well as parents enmeshed in ‘high-conflict’ disputes in polarised and individualised terms. Little, however, is known about parents’ experiences of these disputes, or how they fare in the longer term. This article draws on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 25 mothers and fathers in British Columbia, Canada, who experienced a high-conflict divorce and later came to see the experience as having been transformative despite the many difficulties they faced. Overall, the research found that positive change occurs over time when parents are supported with resources that address their particular needs and challenges. Parents change, make meaning and respond to their circumstances across the life course, thereby exercising agency. This process also occurs in a social, political and legal context that changes over time and across generations.     

Evidence of a ‘refugee paradox’ for antisocial behavior and violence in the United States

Few, if any, studies have examined antisocial behaviors among refugees especially using population-based samples. As such, it is unresolved whether the ‘immigrant paradox’ for antisocial behavior extends to include refugees. Employing data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, we assess the lifetime prevalence of antisocial behavior among refugees (n = 428) in contrast with non-refugee immigrants (n = 4955) and native-born Americans (n = 29,267). Additionally, we assess the effect of age of arrival and time spent in the Unites States. Results indicate that refugees were significantly less likely than native-born Americans or non-refugee immigrants to report involvement in any non-violent or violent behavior with the exception of injuring someone such that they had to receive medical attention. We also found no significant relationship between duration as refugee and antisocial behavior. However, persons who spent more than one year as a refugee were significantly more likely to report involvement in violence. Overall, but with some caveats, findings suggest that the immigrant paradox extends to refugees as well.     

Notice of availability of funding for alternative projects, known as Wilson/Fish Projects, to implement alternative means of providing interim financial assistance, medical assistance, social services, and case management to refugees and Cuban and Haitian entrants. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), ACF, DHHS

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announces that competing applications will be accepted from public and private non-profit organizations under a standing announcement for Wilson/Fish projects which propose alternative approaches to serving refugees. The purpose of an alternative project is to provide integrated services and cash assistance to refugees in order to increase refugees' prospects for early employment and self-sufficiency, reduce their level of welfare dependence, enhance acculturation, and promote coordination among voluntary resettlement agencies and service providers. Projects will be accepted under either of two categories: (1) Projects to establish or maintain a refugee program in a State where the State is not participating in the refugee program or is dropping out of the refugee program or a portion of the program; and (2) projects to provide an alternative to the existing system of assistance and services to refugees. Funding is available to these projects under the "Wilson/Fish" authority.     

Accidents,Agency and Asylum: Constructing the Refugee Subject

Refugee law demands that the asylum seeker demonstrate an extremely limited and distorted form of agency that is encapsulated within the legal definition of the refugee. Such a framework also denies the role of the accidental in the refugee experience. I argue that the problem lies at the heart of the legal form, as constructed under capitalism. The sans-papiers show us the potential for refugees themselves to reconstruct a subjectivity that transcends the distorted form of agency and the false dichotomy between the accidental and agency found in law, through their rejection of legal definitions and the re-emergence of themselves as political subjects.     

A Mark for Peter

Abstract

This paper objects to certain forms of punishments, such as supermax confinement, on grounds that they are inappropriately contemptuous. Building on discussions in Kant and elsewhere, I flesh out what I take to be salient features of contempt, features that make contempt especially troubling as a form of moral regard and treatment. As problematic as contempt may be in the interpersonal context, I contend that it is especially troubling when a person is treated contemptuously by her political community's institutions—such as by certain forms of punishment. Punishment is contemptuous if it fails to respect offenders as moral persons, who as such are always capable of moral reform. Respect for offenders therefore requires, at least, that punishment not tend to undermine the prospect of offenders’ reform. I flesh out this constraint by considering various ways in which punishments may tend to undermine offenders’ reform. In particular, I discuss ways in which supermax confinement tends to violate the reform-based constraint. Finally, I address several potential objections to my account.     

Justice,Morality, and the Dehumanization of Refugees

Three studies were conducted to test the role of the dehumanization of refugees (through claims that they are immoral) in determining emotional reactions to refugees, attitudes toward refugees, and attitudes toward current refugee policy in Canada. We also examined determinants of such perceptions. In Studies 1 and 2, correlational analyses and structural equation modeling were utilized. In both studies, it was demonstrated that individuals who are higher in social dominance orientation are especially likely to dehumanize refugees, and this dehumanization leads to greater contempt and lack of admiration for refugees, resulting in less favorable attitudes toward the group and toward the nation’s current refugee policy. Study 3 was an experiment in which we examined the effects of information presented about refugees on emotions and attitudes. Results demonstrated that dehumanizing media depictions of refugees as violating appropriate procedures and trying to cheat the system cause greater contempt and lack of admiration for refugees in general, which in turn lead to less favorable attitudes toward the group and less support for the current refugee policy. Results are discussed in terms of the functions that dehumanization may serve, and potential strategies for counteracting such effects. Preparation of this article was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant to the first author. Portions of this research were presented at the 2005 EAESP Small Group Meeting on Social Justice and Intergroup Conflict, Lisbon, Portugal, and at the 2005 Meeting of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, Wurzburg, Germany     

Darfur refugees in Cairo: mental health and interpersonal conflict in the aftermath of genocide

Hundreds of thousands of Darfur people affected by the Sudanese genocide have fled to Cairo, Egypt, in search of assistance. Collaborating with Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance (AMERA), the authors conducted a mental health care needs assessment among Darfur refugees in Cairo. Information was collected using individual and focus group interviews to identify gaps in mental health care and develop understandings of emotional and relationship problems. The refugee mental health care system has a piecemeal structure with gaps in outpatient services. There is moderate to severe emotional distress among many Darfur refugees, including symptoms of depression and trauma, and interpersonal conflict, both domestic violence and broader community conflict, elevated relative to pregenocide levels. Given the established relationships between symptoms of depression/traumatic stress and interpersonal violence, improving mental health is important for both preventing mental health decompensation and stemming future cycles of intra- and intergroup conflict.     

What is a ‘university’? (The English Patient)

The term ‘university’ is used in most cases with only a vague understanding of exactly what a university is and does. Is a university anything with the word in its title or does the word actually convey a meaning as to the purpose of the institution? Much of the time this does not matter—people have an understanding of what it is, what it does and what it means. However, with globalisation and the creation of alliances and networks, the creation of the European Higher Education Area, competition for the best students and scholars, competition for funding, ‘league tables’ etc. the need for clarity and transparency increases. Even with cultural diversity this should be easy, but the impact of government policy may in fact skew the understanding, removing the word in England from the universal concept of what a university is and replacing it with a narrow English law definition.     

HOW JUDGES THINK ABOUT RACIAL DISPARITIES: SITUATIONAL DECISION‐MAKING IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM*

Researchers have theorized how judges’ decision‐making may result in the disproportionate presence of Blacks and Latinos in the criminal justice system. Yet, we have little evidence about how judges make sense of these disparities and what, if anything, they do to address them. By drawing on 59 interviews with state judges in a Northeastern state, we describe, and trace the implications of, judges’ understandings of racial disparities at arraignment, plea hearings, jury selection, and sentencing. Most judges in our sample attribute disparities, in part, to differential treatment by themselves and/or other criminal justice officials, whereas some judges attribute disparities only to the disparate impact of poverty and differences in offending rates. To address disparities, judges report employing two categories of strategies: noninterventionist and interventionist. Noninterventionist strategies concern only a judge's own differential treatment, whereas interventionist strategies concern other actors’ possible differential treatment, as well as the disparate impact of poverty and facially neutral laws. We reveal how the use of noninterventionist strategies by most judges unintentionally reproduces disparities. Through our examination of judges’ understandings of racial disparities throughout the court process, we enhance understandings of American racial inequality and theorize a situational approach to decision‐making in organizational contexts.     

Refugee resettlement program and Cuban/Haitian entrant program: cash and medical assistance policies. Social Security Administration. Interim final rule

This interim final regulation amends the refugee resettlement program regulations (45 CFR Part 400) and establishes new policies on cash and medical assistance available to refugees and Cuban and Haitian entrants who are ineligible for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), adult assistance (OAA, AB, APTD, and AABD) in the Territories and medicaid. The Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP) provides Federal reimbursement to States for 100 percent of the costs of cash and medical assistance provided, during the first 36 months after entry into the United States, to such refugees in accordance with applicable program rules and requirements and the administrative costs of providing such assistance. Cash assistance provided to such refugees under the RRP is termed "refugee cash assistance" (RCA); and medical assistance provided to such refugees under the RRP is termed "refugee medical assistance" (RMA). This regulation permits 100 percent Federal reimbursement for RCA and RMA for an eligible refugee for the first 18 months that a refugee is in the United States. For a refugee who has been in the U.S. more than 18 months but less than 36 months, the regulation permits a State, at its option, to seek RRP reimbursement for the cost of General Assistance (GA) provided to such a refugee.     

The death penalty: Down but not out in the summer of '02

This paper discusses questions of borders, communities, and refugees through an examination of the work of film director Theo Angelopoulos, in particular his so‐called “Balkan trilogy,” which includes Eternity and a Day. In these films, Angelopoulos looks at the nature of borders and communities and at what they do to people in general and refugees in particular. I argue that the refugees cannot be placed in any straightforward fashion according to the logics of political sovereignty and national divisions. They are a heterogeneous excess from the constitution of borders and divisions, yet by making visible this heterogeneity, Angelopoulos shows the contingency of political and national borders. As a consequence, the critique of the injustices resulting from existing borders must start from what is heterogeneous to them. Only in this way is it possible to transform existing structures. However, this does not mean that politics should aim simply at the elimination of borders and exclusion. Rather, we must accept the ineradicability of borders and exclusion while contesting any particular ones.     

Sudanese refugees in Victoria: An analysis of their treatment by the Australian Government

Following a brief historical account documenting developments in Australian Immigration politics and refugee and asylum seeker policies, this paper seeks to explain why Sudanese refugees in Victoria have recently been implicated in an increased involvement in crime by politicians and the media. It will be argued that the alleged increase involvement in crime has been constructed by the Government and the media – in order to justify the Australian Government's policy responses to the refugee crisis, to create public acceptance of such policies, and additionally for political gain. These policies were part of the Australian Government's wider policies on maintaining a homogenous Australian identity and have negatively impacted minority groups. Ultimately such policies encouraged racism and segregation in local communities, thus tarnishing Australia's multicultural standing.     

Human trafficking: the case of Burmese refugees in Thailand

With an estimated 30 protracted refugee situations around the globe, the number of refugees finding themselves in prolonged displacement is alarming. While demarcated refugee camps are a visible component of this phenomenon, the link between protracted displacement and increased risks of human trafficking is much less evident. Within refugee camps, the lack of law and order or police protection along with the presence of large numbers of helpless people create a pool of readily available supply for those who want to exploit them. This account will discuss the conditions of displacement that contribute to human trafficking risks, particularly as they relate to the protracted refugee situation of Burmese in Thailand. The case study will be followed by a number of policy and practice recommendations for the reduction of these risks.     

The Legal Status of Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, a Story of Eight Agreements and Two Suppressed Premises

Over 25 per cent of present day refugees enjoy asylum in Pakistan,most of them having been there for more than a quarter of acentury. Pakistan is not, however, a party to either the 1951Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocolrelating to the Status of Refugees. The legal status of theAfghan refugees it hosts is therefore not a foregone conclusion,even though they were considered to be refugees on a prima faciebasis during the first two decades of their exile in Pakistan.This article identifies the legal status of the Afghan refugeeson the basis of a series of agreements Pakistan concluded withUNHCR and also occasionally with Afghanistan. By virtue of thelast of the series of agreements, Afghan refugees can returnto Afghanistan under a UNHCR-assisted voluntary repatriationprogramme until December 2009. In view of the fact that allAfghans have been granted leave to stay in Pakistan until thesame date, many are expected to stay in Pakistan rather thanreturn with the assistance of UNHCR. Unlike the preceding agreements,the last one does not address the fate of those who will stillbe in Pakistan upon completion of the voluntary repatriationprogramme. It seems therefore imperative to identify the legalstatus and corresponding entitlements of the Afghan refugees.It is argued that the prima facie recognition of refugee statuscan be sustained on the basis of the agreements referred to.In addition it is argued that the current ‘profiling’exercise of UNHCR, even while presumably beneficial for themost vulnerable refugees, is irreconcilable with the statusand entitlements of the Afghan refugees, and the same holdstrue with respect to the usual practice of ‘screening’those refugees who have opted not to return under a voluntaryrepatriation programme. An alternative that would be reconcilableis a collective cessation of refugee status if and when thesituation in the country of origin so warrants, provided individualrefugees may contest this.     

Discourse of decency: white nationalists,white antiracists,and the criminality of color

Contemporary research on white racial attitudes on race and crime reflect a grouping of opinions on a traditional liberal-conservative scale. These two groupings reflect what sociologists and political scientists call ‘issue constraint’ or a ‘clustering’ of ideas into a specific ideological worldview. Many now argue this gulf is growing; a white ‘culture war’ that many interpret as evidence of the increasing fracturing and political bifurcation of white racial identities over ‘hot button’ topics like race and crime. While a substantial literature on race and crime finds white racial attitudes to vary by educational level and political orientation, we know less about shared understandings of crime and race in relation to the processes of white racial identity formation. Rather than view attitudinal statements on race and crime as accurate reflections of essential different and static white racial political positions or ideological orientations, additional scholarship can examine discourse on crime and race as constitutive of the white identities that wield them. Drawing from an ethnographic study with conservative white nationalists and liberal white antiracists, this paper addresses the following question: what is the relationship between discourse on crime and race and the ongoing process of white racial identity formation?