Unlearning White Anglo-Australian Citizenship: An Autoethnographic Examination of the Reproduction of Raciolinguistic Ideologies

In this article, I utilize critical autoethnography to examine how racialized individuals are produced through interactions concerning the English language requirements for Australian citizenship. I also investigate the ways in which white listening subjects position themselves as authoritative and authorized to assess the language practices of racialized individuals, and how through this process white listening subjects take on the role of gatekeepers to the citizenship process (Blackledge, 2005; Urciuoli, 2020). I begin this autoethnographic research by discussing Australia’s settler colonial history, and the subsequent implementation of the White Australia Policy in the early part of the 20th century, and how this history has framed the Australian national identity as white and English speaking. I discuss how this ideology continues to influence current attitudes towards Australian citizenship, including my own. I then discuss my own experiences as a white listening subject, examining them critically through a raciolinguistic lens (Rosa & Flores, 2017).