| Ethnic identity is seen as a psychological construct which
links memories of the past, to the present and to expectations of the future. Personal
exposure and involvement with a culture leads to the development of identity, and this
then is said to influence how information is processed and interpreted, including how
memories are constructed and retrieved. The present study examines the construction of
ethnic identity in two groups, young people (18-35 yrs) born in Australia identifying
themselves as Croatian and Serbian Australians. It then examines strength of association
between measures of ethnic identity and memories surrounding the political conflicts that
occurred in South East Europe and involving these two groups. The results suggest that
ethnic identity is constructed and reconstructed in a dynamic way as circumstances change.
The results also suggest that measures of ethnic identity are associated with what might
be called sided/biased remembering of events. This has important implications in relation
to conflict negotiation and resolution as well as importance in considering the stories of
people who come from conflict zones, even in second and subsequent generations of
Australian immigrants whose heritage is from a country with a history of or current
conflict. |
| Tania Miletic received her BA at Melbourne University in
1996, and received her Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology in 1999. Under the supervision
of Associate Professor Di Bretherton at the International Conflict Resolution Centre, she
completed her thesis entitled 'Collective Memory & Ethnic Identity in Contexts of
Ethnic Conflict'. Tania has been employed with the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry
Unit since late 1997 as a Research and Education Officer. She shares her time between
participating in the development and delivery of clinician training within the Education
and Professional Development Program, and is involved with various projects within the
Research Program examining issues of migration, culture, service delivery and clinical
practice in mental health.
Di Bretherton is Director of the International Conflict
Resolution Centre and an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at the
University of Melbourne. She is a Member of the Foreign Affairs Council of Australia and
Chair of the Committee for the Psychological Study of Peace of the International Union of
Psychological Science.
At this conference, she is presenting another paper, with
Margaret Clark:
Partnerships
for Peace. as well as a paper on Conflict,
Language, and Culture.
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