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Category: Interviews »

Subject: Cultural Studies »

Mabel Wang on her identity as third generation Australian

Mara Moustafine and Mabel Wang.

Mabel Wang reflects on her own identity and how being third generation Australian she still thinks some people won't let her call Australia "home".

Created:

unknown

Date Added:

09 March 2009

Source:

source not available

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

4.2 MB

Length:

01min36sec

Transcript

00:04

Wang:

My grandfather came here in the 1850s, my father was born here and I’m born here so I think I’m considered second Australian. And I have my son, my granddaughter, my great granddaughter, so we have been here for five generations in Australia. And although, you know, we’ve been here all this time, sometimes people ask me, you know, say to me, “Oh you speak such good English, how long have you been here?” Or some people say, “Why don’t you go back to where you came from.” Which is not very nice.

00:43

It makes you feel like you’re always an outsider still. You know, even though you belong here, you feel you’re not quite, you don’t quite belong, 100%. And I used to feel – I used to think when I was younger, I used to think, “Oh when I go back to China, I’ll feel – I’ll really feel at home now.” But when you go there you don’t belong there either. And you don’t really belong here, you don’t belong there, you don’t really belong anywhere, because you have had this two fighting, you know sort of identities. They’re different kind of people, I can’t – I don’t know because – but from the outside looking in, they’re very different from us and we were very humble people – a lot of their people coming here, they’re so confident. And they throw themselves around, they talk loudly, I don’t know why. I don’t know why that is, I think they grew up in their own country maybe.

01:36

End transcript