The Greek Diaspora of Melboure, Australia, through the eyes of the second generation Greek Australians

Melbourne has a large and dynamic Greek community that began to form in the 1950s with migration to Australia in the years following the Second World War and the Greek Civil War. The elders of this community, in particular, have tried to ensure that their culture and traditions are kept alive and are handed down from generation to generation. The long history and cultural richness of the Greek tradition is a great source of pride to its members, and this is a key characteristic of the Greek community of Australia. Young and old Greek Australians speak of their country of origin with great pride and passion, as it remains central to their perception of nationality and ethnicity. This importance placed on the retention of the language and culture of their nation of origin means that cultural transmission across generations is of great significance to the community and can provide valuable insight into their interpretation of their own experiences. This paper will present findings from a three generation study about health beliefs and practices of women in the Melbourne Greek community. The experience of granddaughters, who represent the second Australian generation, and how they see their grandmothers’ experience as migrants to Australia will be discussed. The impact of the Diaspora phenomenon and the creation of a Greek community in Melbourne will be considered in the context of health, memory, religion, Greek culture, food, and personal and group identity.

Responses to Australian society and culture by Greek-Australian writers

Focuses on the themes and preoccupations in Greek-Australian literature that reflect the influence of Australia on the traditional sense of identity of Greek migrants. Predominant concerns connected with identity are those of nostalgic references to the homeland, feelings of alienation and discrimination. These themes are related to what is recognised in life and in literature as "xenitia". Second generation writers reveal an acceptance of belonging to two cultures and having dual identities.

Cultural understanding of health and adjustment to cardiovascular disease among the Greek elderly

The onset of chronic illness is a major lef event that presents serious challenges for the individual at a micro and macro level. The way in which adaptation to such illness occurs is closely related to cultural and linguistic factors that are an integral part of personal identity. This study presents the health beliefs of elderly Greek Australians and they way in which they understand health and disease. The process by which this population conceptualizes CVD and seeks medical care is discussed in the context of their specific cultural views and attitudes towards illness.

The Greek diaspora of Melbourne: Australia through the eyes of the second generation Greek Australian

form in the 1950s with migration to Australia in the years following the Second World War and the Greek Civil War. The elders of this community, in particular, have tried to ensure that their culture and traditions are kept alive and are handed down from generation to generation. The long history and cultural richness of the Greek tradition is a great source of pride to its members, and this is a key characteristic of the Greek community of Australia. Young and old Greek Australians speak of their country of origin with great pride and passion, as it remains central to their perception of nationality and ethnicity. This importance placed on the retention of the language and culture of their nation of origin means that cultural transmission across generations is of great significance to the community and can provide valuable insight into their interpretation of their own experiences. This paper will present findings from a three generation study about health beliefs and practices of women in the Melbourne Greek community. The experience of granddaughters, who represent the second Australian generation, and how they see their grandmothers’ experience as migrants to Australia will be discussed. The impact of the Diaspora phenomenon and the creation of a Greek community in Melbourne will be considered in the context of health, memory, religion, Greek culture, food, and personal and group identity.

Greek as a marker of identity in Melbourne, Australia

Individual and group identity is often closely associated with language use. Language, in turn, often serves as a proxy for culture which provides the background against which language use occurs. For the Greek community in Melbourne, Australia, use of Greek is an important symbolic aspect of ethnic identification and personal and groupidentity. Even for those younger members of the community whose daily interactions occur primarily in English and who view themselves as first language speakers of English, Greek plays a specific role in expression of personal identity and cultural expression. The use of Greek provides a link to the culture of origin and serves as a symbolic marker of association with a specific group in the larger Australian context.For first generation Greek Australians, exposure to the language and culture came primarily from immigrant parents. However, many of these individuals also attended Greek school which served to reinforce their knowledge and ability to use the language. Their children, the second generation, often use Greek words routinely in specific contexts, such as when talking about food and religion or when referring to family members (grandmother, grandfather). While they often attend Greek school as well, there is evidence that overall ability to speak Greek fluently in the community is declining. Nonetheless, selective use of Greek terms remains an important identity marker. This paper will describe the use of Greek words and terms by English–speaking members of the Melbourne community and discuss its significance as a form of cultural identification and personal identity. The phenomenon of Greek school as a vehicle for language exposure will also be discussed. Data, based on in depth interviews with members of the Greek community, will be used to illustrate the contexts in which switches to Greek occur and elucidate the cognitive background of such usage.

Religion as a means of resilience and adjustment to chronic illness

This qualitative study describes the understanding of health and belief practices among elderly Greek Australians. In particular, the role of religion is discussed as a means of resilience and adjustment to illness, as religious faith often influences individual’s thoughts, feelings, and how they may accept or understand their particular health condition. Adjustment has a strong psychological or emotional component that is likely to be affected by culturally determined conceptualizations of health. As such, the particular background of a population may be very significant in the level and means of adaptation of individuals and groups.

Maintenance of cultural identity

The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the transmission of health beliefs among three generations of Greek families in Melbourne, Australia and the way they understand both health and disease as an aspect of cultural maintenance in the context of the larger Australian society. More specifically this paper will discuss the extent to which the immigrant generation has created a memory culture and how this has affected the sense of cultural identity of the first and second generation Greek Australians. Unlike the mainstream Australian community, the Greek population has so far maintaned a traditional framework due to the importance they ascribe to both culture and traditions that have been handed down from from the immigrant generation to the first and second generation Greek Australians. However, it is not only the immigrant generation that holds on to these traditions. More and more the first and second generation Greek Australians are set on maintaining their Hellenic heritage, and many community organizations in Melbourne, Australia are now largely supported by the younger generations. The results of this study have practical applications in elucidating how the memory culture that has been created by the immigrant generation may impact this cultural group’s conceptualization of health and the potential this may have to impact the use of health care by providin insight into the role of culture in forming individual or group conceptulizations of health in this community.

Illness in old age is part of an individual's fate and must be approached with acceptance

Older members of the Greek community see aging and the ill health that may accompany it as an inevitable part of life. They associate illness very closely with God’s will, and largely believe their state of health is an aspect of fate and / or luck that they do not have control over and must simply accept. This paper, based on research conducted in Melbourne, Australia, describes the way in which the experience of old age is understood in the worldview of this group. The words fate and luck (τύχη = tyche; γραφτό = graphto) are often used by older Greeks to characterize their situation. Luck, to this group, is not random. The term (τύχη) was used in classical times to refer to a kind of minor deity that controlled the fortune of the Greek city states, and an element of this idea of intention remains today. In the modern context, luck comes from God, and for this group, is part of γραφτό, or destiny, something that is written. In its usual usage in Greek, γραφτό refers to something that must happen to a person because it is predetermined and cannot not occur. The meaning that these older Greek individuals give to the word luck in the modern world is manifested in their acceptance of the problems of aging and their approach to coping with their own experience.

Keeping giving going : charitable bequests and Australians

The potential of bequests to contribute to the sustainability of charities1 is immense, with social and economic trends opening up the bequest landscape. Yet so much is unknown about how Australians think about charitable bequests – particularly about the motivations, barriers and triggers surrounding this behaviour. Do bequestors differ from other donors? What prevents good intentions from becoming good actions? Where do charities figure in this process? This study aims at a better understanding of those Australians who make a charitable bequest and those who might. It offers individual charities, and the sector as a whole, empirical evidence to support and extend the anecdotal knowledge of those working with donors around this sensitive, but vital, area. This research has been supported by the Perpetual Foundation, the EF and SL Gluyas Trust and the Edward Corbould Charitable Trust under the management of Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd.