A multicultural countryside? Ethnic minorities in rural Australia

Abstract

This paper reviews previous social science knowledge about non-English speaking background (NESB) immigrant communities in rural Australia with the aim of systematising what has been a diverse and fragmented literature. We propose a number of unifying themes which suggest the outlines of an emerging social science of ethnic minorities in rural Australia. These themes include demography; influences on NESB people’s decisions to settle in rural areas such as cultural continuity, social exclusion and chain migration; access to resources and services; gender relations; intergenerational social mobility, and farming practices and natural resource management. In conclusion, we suggest that social capital is one theoretical approach that holds the potential to bring together aspects of the settlement experiences of immigrants in rural Australia.