The structuring of the Mediterranean space withing the education system in Australia

Abstract

This paper considers the fortunes of Southern European, Mediterranean migrants in Australia throughout this century, from the 'White Australia' regime to the gains made thanks to the Ethnic Rights Movement in the sixties, and to the present economically-inspired focus on catering for migrants from the Asia and South Pacific Rim. It is argued that the neo-corporatist concerns of the Australian government, when global capital dictates privileged relations with supra-national entities beyond the traditional nation-state configuration, have led to reduced budgets for educational programmes that had been set up from the mid-60s onwards to cater for the language and cultural rights of ethnic groups of Mediterranean origin.