ABSTRACT
We live in turbulent times, in which socio-cultural and political changes involving technology, terrorism, violence, refugees, natural disaster, the consequences of ‘failed’ states death by disease, and have become part of what we live with every day. These phenomena transform cultures and nations, as do transnationalism and globalisation. Such transformations have implications for communication, citizenship, national affi liations, immigration policies, health regulations, safety and security, crime, state borders and identity crises. Together with socio-demographic changes, these transformations have economic, political and diplomatic, religious, sporting and other cultural implications. The gendered nature of these massive transformations is only now being addressed. This has been obvious in research on the exploitation of female labour, international sporting labour and the corruption surrounding vulnerable groups fl eeing terrorism and intranational confl icts and violence involving different ethnic groups. As Connell (1995: 82-83) has argued, in the world gender order involving most of these movements, there is a ‘patriarchal dividend’ for men collectively arising from higher incomes, higher labour force participation, unequal property ownership and greater access to institutional power. Men are privileged sexually and culturally. What infl uence have these global phenomena had on Australia’s gender regime and more particularly on those men and women who have migrated to Australia either by force or of their own volition? This raises questions about the infl uence of migration on identifi cation and ethnic, gender and sexual identity; the role of the diaspora in identity formation; the infl uence of dominant local groups and local hegemonic masculinity on male gender identities; and the infl uence of transnationalism and global movement on identities.
