SUDANESE AUSTRALIANS

GROUP IDENTITY

BACK IN AFRICA

• ravaged by war, drought, famine since indpendence (from Britain) in 1956

• South Sudan became a country in 2011

MIGRATION

• 98% come via Humanitarian Program

• Before 1970, Sudanese came to Australia mostly for education
• after First Sudanese Civil War (1955-1972), migrated here due to political and economic problems
• large-scale migration from Africa is a recent thing
• some began returning home after end of Second Sudanese Civil War in 2005

NORTH V SOUTH
• often have quite different migration stories
o North
▪ Christians came since independence in 1950s
▪ Sudanese Arab Mulsims – stronger national sentiment
▪ Darfur Refugees – particularly difficult as often illiterate farmers
• often no distinction made in Australia between N vs. S
o so some census data is confused as many who came here before 2011, south sudan wasn’t even a country

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Sudan
o 0.3% of Victorians
o total numbers went down 419 from 2011 to 2016 census
• South Sudan
o 0.2% of Victorians
o total more than doubled from 2011 to 2016
• 1996-2005 Sudanese were fastest growing migrant group
• 2016 census: 19,049 Sudanese, 4,825 South Sudanese (Melbourne most common home)
• famous Sudanese
o Yassmin Abdel-Magied
▪ media present and writer
▪ on ANZAC day 2017 she posted on FB:
• LEST.WE.FORGET. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine...)
• criticised, considered disrepectful, got death threats
• left Australia 3 months later
o a lot of AFL and basketball players
 • younger on average (31) than Australians (38) and way younger than other migrant groups (44)
• poorer
o $377/week (Aus. born = $688/week, other migrants $615/week)

MATERIAL AND NON-MATERIAL CULTURE

MATERIAL

Sudan flag
South Sudan flag
NON-MATERIAL

• core concepts
o Dignity (karama)
o Discipline
o Duty (al-wajib)
o Generosity (karim)
o Honour (sharaf)
▪ including sexual modesty of women
▪ can be more important that social/financial situation
o Hospitality
▪ duty to offer everything they can to friends and guests
o Humility (tawadae)
o Independence
o interdependence and community
▪ mutual reliance on relatives and neighbours
 ▪ those better off have obligation to help less well off
o Modesty
o politeness
▪ sometimes big favours offered just to be polite, but e.g. Australians might take it the wrong way and
accidentally take advantage of them
o Privacy
o Resilience
o Respect
o Self-Reliance
o Stoicism/Fatalism
o Tribalism
• weddings are a big deal
o unified two families, not just indivduals
o bride price ceremony
▪ e.g. 210 cows, 20 goats ($65,000 AUD)
• mental illness seen as a sign of weakness (or even as a curse)
o high levels of depression and suicide (but little stats on it)
▪ mental health is not a widely discussed topic
• oral tradition is important
o myths, folklore, history, traditions
o except for Bible, Dinka language not usually written down
• grief at death is a big deal so often done with family around
o 40 days grieving, or 1 year for widow
• traditional dance is important
o e.g. Dinka Agaar dance
▪ covered in ash, feathers and pelts
• language (e.g. Dinka) important
o youth might be losing it but not a good look
• South Sudan
o Religion
▪ Christian
▪ some traditional animists but less so, especially with educated urban population
o African ethnicity generally
o over 60 ethnic groups
▪ biggest is Dinka (36%)
▪ within Dinka there are 25 ethnic subgroups
o extremely diverse
o heritage crucial to identity
o importance of ancestors
• Sudan
o Muslim
o Arab
• South Sudanese feel more loyalty to tribe than nation
• many Sudanese are bilingual or trilingual
• concern about loss of culture because of war and diaspora (spread of people from their home country)
• values
o being colonised by British, Egyptians and Arabs made them value independence and autonomy
o quite a private people
▪ might just accept injustice
▪ mistrust system so won’t necessarily access govt support services
o don’t hold grudges
o family most important aspect of life
▪ extended not nuclear family
o large families, lots of kids
o much bigger gender division than in Australia
 • taboo
o touching bottom of foot
o doing “OK” sign
o direct political questions
• traditional sudanese culture
o shouldn’t speak directly to women or have physical contact with them

• respect for elders

• private
• reluctant to discuss family problems with outsiders
• eye contact
o young must cast eyes down when talking to elders
o those of opposite sex can’t give direct eye contact
• married women don’t take on husband’s name
• key date:
o 1 jan 1956 – independence day (from britain)
o 9 july 2011 – independence day (south sudan split)
•

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

• religion
o Christian
o Muslim
o traditional animist
▪ everything has a soul
• dancing
• special days
o Muslim holidays, e.g. Ramadan and Eid (end of Ramadan)
• sport
o track and field
o soccer
o (in Australia) basketball
o (in Australia)
• food
o big on sharing food
o traditionally eat on the floor using right hand

BARRIERS AND ENABLERS

BARRIERS

RACISM / DISCRIMINAT ION

• 77% have experienced racism in last year
o e.g. with authority, housing and employment
• media / politicians give them deficits
o e.g. refugees, child soldiers
o NB: current youth never expierenced war (refugee camps or were born here)
 • university degrees for Sudanese don’t translate into jobs as much as it does for other groups
• Peter Dutton ““people are scared to go out to restaurants of a night-time”
• “gangs” rhetoric is a form of blanket discrimination
• public view them as ‘damaged’
o because many experienced war in Africa

EMPLOYMENT
• high levels of unemployment for young men
• unemployment rate 5x national rate
• no skilled employment history before migrating

EDUCATION
• racism is a major factor in dropping out of education
o 60% completion vs 82% for other Australians
• illiteracy
• education system priviledges the dominant culture
•

CRIME
• Australian, NZ and Sudanese born are all over-represented
• back in South Sudan, 90% of crimes are dealt with through customary law
o so a very different system in Australia
• only 26% of South Sudanese trust police
• highest imprisonment rate of any migrant group
• highest crime rate of any migrant group in Victoria.
•

ACCULTURATION
• gender roles
o cooking
▪ many men can’t cook well
▪ many women have paid work outside the home so find it hard to do the same high level of domestic work
• parenting
o disciplining children is forbidden
o it used to be a shared community thing but now families are physically dispersed more
• masculinity
• social relations
• for youth
o impact of elders lessening
o advertising and dominant culture encroaching
o parents have traditional views about what kids should be doing but they’re growing up with australian values
o parents aren’t embracing western culture, so they can’t guide youth in their embracing western culture
o many youth embrace the west because there is more freedom for youths as opposed to their traditional culture
• feeling of a need to compromise
• contradictions in cultures
o e.g. gender relations in Africa vs. Australia
• difficulties at different levels:
o individual
o couple
o family
o community
 • older people feel disempowered – they were previously ‘elders’ but now feel more isolated, as law manages family
matters, not them
• “acculturation stress”
o acculturation = assimilation to another culture, usually the dominant one
o intergenenerational conflict
o role conflict
o marital difficulties
• difference in core values between Africa and Australia
o e.g. strength of the patriarchy (high levels of domestic violence)
o individualism vs collectivism

GOVERNMENT / AUTHORI TY
• having govt. try and manage their integration is a problem because they are distrustful of govt due to experience back in
Sudan
• police haven’t in the past been used to deal with such a different culture
o it is getting better now with cultural sensitivity training but a lot of damage to relations has already been done

LACK OF RESEARCH INT O BARRIERS

• lack of research into Sudanese migrant issues
o in particular, the aggression of young males
o could reduce harm by doing more research

LANGUAGE
• language is a barrier

ENABLERS

• media in australia
o 1224AM Friday 11-12pm African radio
o 3ZZZ 92.3FM Friday 12pm-2pm Sudanese and Arabic Youth
o AfricanOZ Magazine
• trying to mix old and new
o “walking the line”
▪ trying to maintain culture while living up to expectations of them by Australian society
• vast majority speak English
• majority are happy with lives in Australia
• highly motivated to contribute
• every migrant has a different % of Sudanese vs. Australian culture within them

COMMUNITY ORGANISATI ONS

• South Sudanese Community Association in Victoria
o organise community events
▪ e.g. positive parenting program
• “Creating equilibrium between old South Sudanese and new Australian parenting practices may
strengthen effective integration. South Sudanese parents spoke of bringing these practices and
cultures together to deepen their integration, but also of needing support to preserve aspects of
their original culture. Most maintain that parenting training or workshops about the relevant
policies or laws of their new country would improve the integration process.”
▪ youth program
▪ goal is to help integrate migrants into Australia
o gets some govt. funding

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
 • settlement services
• translation services
• English language courses
• grants for social cohesion programs
• particular focus on Africa at the moment as they’re percieved as not integrating as well

INCLUSION AND BELONGING

SENSE OF COMMUNITY

• many have shared migration experience

• many trying to leave tribal politics behind
• communities generally supportive and united

REFERENCES:

Abc.net.au. 2020. Fact Check: Do Sudanese People Account For Only 1 Per Cent Of Crimes Committed In Victoria? -
ABC News. [online] Available at: <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-05/fact-check-sudanese-gangs-
victoria/10187550> [Accessed 6 May 2020].

Multicultural.vic.gov.au. 2020. [online] Available at:

<https://multicultural.vic.gov.au/images/2017/Census_Data_2016/Table1VictoriaCountryofbirth2016Censusandchange5J
uly17.PDF> [Accessed 6 May 2020].

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0809/09rp29#Summary

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_Australians

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yassmin_Abdel-Magied

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudanese_Australians

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Australians

sscav.com.au/

www.sbs.com.au/news/melbourne-s-south-sudanese-youth-say-they-re-sick-of-losing-their-friends-to-suicide

collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2997

culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/south-sudanese-culture/south-sudanese-culture-core-concepts

culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/north-sudanese-culture/north-sudanese-culture-core-concepts

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1468796811419605

www.anothertravel.com/african-destinations/sudan/sudanese-culture/

www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/su.html

www.homeaffairs.gov.au/mca/files/2016-cis-sudan.PDF

www.vu.edu.au/about-vu/news-events/events/south-sudanese-culture-identity

theconversation.com/sudanese-heritage-youth-in-australia-are-frequently-maligned-by-fear-mongering-and-racism-89763
www.researchgate.net/publication/259419145_Sudanese_Refugees_in_Australia_The_Impact_of_Acculturation_Stress

www.harmony.gov.au/Documents/get-involved/South-Sudanese.pdf

institute.mercy.org.au/stories-about-sudanese-experience-in-australia/

miceastmelb.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/SudaneseCulturalProfile2012.pdf

www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-
core/content/view/A6E30AD5ECB0C52A4D2CC2C76B0B4B8D/S1834490900000386a.pdf/div-class-title-sudanese-refugees-in-
australia-the-impact-of-acculturation-stress-div.pdf

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2015/oct/16/new-country-new-beginnings-south-sudanese-families-in-australia

https://www.ecald.com/assets/Resources/C3-P2-S1-Sudanese-Culture.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan#Culture