Ukrainian Diaspora By Chelsea Dingman

The poem ‘Migrants by ‘Bruce Dawe ’should be included for the core text for journeying as it portrays journeying through the perceptions and experiences of a migrant group. This poem depicts feelings of ignorance and disrespectfulness encountered by the migrant group as they are treated with a lack of concern by people living in Australia.

An author’s personal experience gives authenticity to their text. Peter Skrzynecki, an Australian poet of Polish origin emigrated to Australia shortly before the end of World War II. His assimilation into his newfound homeland is portrayed in his emotive poetry, where he explores his disconnection and alienation. The way in which Skrzynecki writes about his personal experiences gives an authentic insight into the perspective of a migrant, allowing the audience to better understand the challenging emotions evoked by the migrant experience. These emotions are clearly seen in Skrzynecki’s poem St Patrick’s College, where he delves back through his experiences at school and highlights the disconnection and alienation he felt being a migrant. This disconnection is further expressed in Feliks Skrzynecki, where Skrzynecki alludes to his detachment from even his father. These feelings of disconnection and alienation shown by Skrzynecki in his poems, allows the audience to understand the effects of growing up as a migrant.

Belonging is a complex, multi-faceted concept encompassing a wide range of different aspects. The need to belong to family and culture is a universal human need which provides a sense of value and emotional stability, and in many respects forges one’s identity. Alienation and disconnection often creates feelings of isolation, depression and loss of identity. A struggle with cultural identity is evident in Peter Skrzynecki’s poems ‘Migrant Hostel’ and ‘Feliks Skrzynecki’, where he examines a division between his pre-war Polish heritage and his newfound Australian way of life. The movement away from his European cultural heritage towards a more Australian identity created disorientation for Skrzynecki, and these feelings of disconnection

An individual’s relationship with others and the places which surround them can have an effect on the individual’s sense of self-worth and their feelings of belonging. This notion is conveyed through the use of language techniques in both the set of poems “Feliks Skrzynecki”, “St Patrick’s College” and “Migrant Hostel” from Peter Skrzynecki’s anthology Immigrant Chronicles (1975) and the novel The Story of Tom Brennan (2005) composed by J.C. Burke.

The migrant experience varies for each person, some will have endured traumatic episodes in their life and these experiences are explored in Skrzynecki’s poetry. Through thorough interpretations of Peter Skrzynecki poems, ‘Crossing the Red Sea’, ‘Migrant Hostel’ and ‘Immigrants at Central Station’ the responder gains insight into the emigration experience which encompasses the physical and emotionally draining journey which is a result of the grave uncertainty and doubt lingering around the migrants future. Despite this, through each of his poems the composer also alludes to a future filled with hope and a sense of belonging.

A lack of belonging can destroy a sense of placement in society. This statement is thoroughly explored in the poem, ‘Migrant Hostel’ by Peter Skrzynecki, investigating the concepts of alienation and dislocation through the migrant’s lack of acceptance by the Australian citizens. The migrants are also unable to find a fixed home, and therefore feel no sense of stability or permanence. This transitory nature is best identified in the simile, ‘We lived like birds of a passage/Always sensing a change/In the weather’, where the comparison to birds emphasises the absence of a home. It is clear that the migrants feel unable to adapt to Australian society, constantly moving and never settling. The migrant’s exclusion is further highlighted in the lines,

The understandings and diversities of each immigrant and their experiences underlies in a range of issues they encounter such as rights, freedoms, beliefs, power, entrapment etc… All of which are a common understanding when used in comparison towards the migrants lives using the poignant aspect of imagery and journey’s within the poem “Immigrants at Central Station, 1951”. The experiences and perceptive in this poem help perceive an understanding of the immigrants experiences towards the new world of which displays the integrity, emotion and suffering towards the new world and we as the readers are engaged into these aspects of life through trains, time, control and journeys.

Leaving one's own country and moving to another is one of the most difficult journeys anyone can make. In one's home country, he or she has a place, an identity that is

Communicating the difficulties in a journey is the poem “Migrants” the poem highlights the experience of a migrant family coming to Australia to seek asylum post WWII. Throughout the poem it

People’s perceptions of belonging can change over time, but this isn’t the case for all. When people experience moments of crisis in their lives they sometimes force a change within themselves and that is what helps them find an individual sense of belonging. This is highlighted in many texts and even composers life works. Texts that support this statement include Peter Skrzynecki’s Immigrant Chronicle poems, of which I have chosen St Patricks College and Feliks Skrzynecki. Skrzynecki’s poetry expresses the difficulties he faces when change doesn’t occur throughout time, as time alone isn’t a factor and that your sense of belonging is something that comes from within, with or without anyone.

Belonging to place/culture is a major concept in ‘Migrant Hostel’ to show how the migrants use their background as a sense of affiliation and belonging. This can be seen through the use of a in “Nationalities sought each other out instinctively like a homing pigeon circling to get its bearings” This example shows how the migrants felt isolated and alone when they first arrived at the migrant hostel. As they came together the “sought each other out” through the use of nationally and culture which made them fit in and feel excepted into the place.

The majority of characters from war-time novels often resort to substance abuse as a way to cope with the horrors of war. In Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road, the young Cree soldier, Xavier, uses excessive amounts of morphine to forget the bloodshed he witnessed on the battlefield. Similarly, Mrs. Ross, the mother of the young Canadian soldier Robert from The Wars becomes an alcoholic as a way to deal with the departure of her son to war. However, in Steven Galloway's “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” the primary characters, although affected by war, employ a different strategy to come to terms with and survive the war, and to regain their moral values and identity. In this novel, music is employed as a tool of healing and rebirth. Specifically, Arrow, Kenan, and Dragan use the music of the anonymous cellist to reclaim their sense of humanity, compassion, and self-identity and move forward despite the ongoing war, much like the mythical Phoenix rises from the ashes in rebirth.

This evident transience is perhaps symbolic of the migrants' own fleeting sense of connection as they instinctively seek out members of their own culture, efficaciously conveyed through the use of a familiar analogy – “nationalities sought/each other out instinctively – like a homing pigeon/circling to get its bearings”. These superficial relationships thus serve to hinder the development of any lasting sense of belonging – regardless of a common history and identity – as, whilst for some migrants, their time in the hostel represents a new beginning, for others the sustained sense of alienation and despair, due to a lack of strong relationships, becomes too difficult to bear, as the final lines of the poem poignantly suggest through juxtaposition – “lives/that had only begun/or were dying”. Thus a feeling of belonging depends on a strong relationship, developed over a period of time.

Before introducing any major events, or analysis, it’s important to note that this autobiographical work was only made possible with the aid of written documentation, and tales passed on from the family and the community. This is imperative because a great portion of the piece focuses on events that Edwidge didn’t experience first-hand, so she heavily stresses on the details being re-surfaced through friends and family to complete a holistic emigration story. Family history and the involvement of cherishing family moments is often an overlooked form of communication, but without this, this and many other important minority stories would have never been complied in a way where we can now discuss them in a culturally-reflective academic setting, like this course.

No diasporic community manifests all of these characteristics or shares with the same intensity an identity with its scattered ancestral kin. In many respects, diasporas are not actual but imaginary and symbolic communities and political constructs; it is we who often call them into being.” (Palmer)