Sudanese Australian Refugees: Gender and Acculturation

Includes bibliographical references (pages 28-30).Civil unrest in Sudan, particularly between the northern and southern regions has led to a large emigration of refugees from Sudan. Australia among other nations has accepted these refugees in large numbers. Due to the rapid growth of the Sudanese community in Australia there was much attention and debate around immigration reform in Australia stemming from historical hostilities towards people of color and migrants. \ud Thus, this study will assess the Australian resettlement experience for refugees from Sudan and South Sudan. Rooted in the Postcolonial Theory, the implications of historical injustices that influence immigration laws, social standing and acts of discrimination will be emphasized. This research will address how such values affect the acculturation process for refugees, specifically between females and males. Therefore, the study hopes to find a relation between gender and the two independent outcomes, Sudanese and Australian acculturation. It will further assess the relation between gender and acculturation in combination with experiences of discrimination, employment status and age. By assessing discrimination, the social climate of Australia will further be critiqued. \ud The multivariable logistic regression modeling showed that gender did not significantly predict acculturation. But study results displayed that on average, those who are older are more likely to be acculturated to Sudan and those who are employed are more likely to be acculturated to Australia. The primary hypothesis that gender is associated with acculturation or that gender is associated with acculturation controlling for discrimination, employment status and age was not supported. Future studies should continue to look at this relation due to the large amounts of literature that support it