An exploration of the renegotiated and performed identities among Hazara men in Australia

Abstract

This thesis explores the daily lives of Hazara men in Australia as they navigate through and participate in different local and transnational communities. I argue that participation in these communities is structured around ideas of Anderson's "imagined communities": and Hage's "migration guilt" where these men involve themselves in different communities based on feelings of connectedness. Here, some of the ways in which these men are performing their identities in Australia are explored; where I argue that the way these men choose to present themselves at different times affect their levels of bodily comfort and discomfort. I also explore how my participants experience their daily lives from a gendered perspective arguing that their "manhood" produces a very particular set of experiences throughout their settlement. I argue that these men must respond to multiple demands in their lives, specific to settlement in a new country and this directly affects the way that they self identify and perform their identities.