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Imaginary Australian: Anglo-Celts and Identity 1788 to the Present

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Miriam Dixson's 'The Imaginary Australian' is an attempt to re-examine nationalism and national identity in Australia which poses some interesting questions, but also suggests some controversial solutions. It raises the question of the `role' of an ethnic majority in a multicultural society, but the answers it implies, if translated into social and political practice, might have dangerous consequences.

Throughout the book, Dixson stresses the interplay between individual and collective identities. Her cure for the nation's ills comes through a psycho-historical examination of Australia's past. Her emphasis on the needs of the individual met by belonging to a `national' community lead her to a sympathetic stance towards the role of the nation in the life of the individual. For Dixson, it is the so-called core, (Anglo-Celtic) identity which will `hold' the Australian nation during this period of change.

It is in this central claim that Dixson's argument is at its weakest. Translated into political terms, this assertion might imply that any expressions of non-Anglo-Celtic culture should be diminished during times of so-called transition and crisis, paradoxically stunting the emergence of a more diverse national community in Australia.

Additionally, the definition of the Anglo-Celtic community is left unproblematic. The unity of such a community could be questioned in the first instance. Beyond that, it would seem to be the erosion of the borders of the Anglo-Celtic community which provokes the identity crisis in the first place, but throughout the existence of a cohesive Anglo-Celtic community is assumed.

The strength of Dixson's work lies in its attempt to engage with the concerns over identity expressed within the Anglo-Celtic Australia, rather than just dismiss them as an anachronism. However, the attempt leads to a dangerous conclusion. If the Anglo-Celtic community is to `hold' the national community during times of change and crises, then these crises could be continually invoked, thus blocking the achievement of more open discussion about national identity in Australia which Dixson wishes to achieve.