The Whiteness Regimes of Multiculturalism: The African Male Experience in Australia

Abstract

This article uses a newly developed theoretical concept – the ‘uncommodified blackness’ image, to accentuate the discursive methods in which the humanness of Africans is denied in subtle and commonplace ways in Australia. In other words, the concept of uncommodified blackness is used in this study to theorise both the racist infrahumanisation and the blatant racist dehumanisation that Africans are subjected to in Australia. An analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 research participants suggests that, through the image of uncommodified blackness, the participants are viewed by mainstream Australia as dysfunctional and dirty Others who ought to be avoided in public transport. Participants’ lived experiences imply that mainstream Australia regards them as outsiders and perpetual refugees who are failing at ‘integration’.