ABSTRACT
The introduction chapter examines how Australia, Canada and New Zealand – postcolonial settler states shaped by British racial ideologies – have used cultural diversity to construct modern national identities. It argues that governments increasingly deploy multiculturalism and Indigenous cultural recognition to project openness, modernity, and economic competitiveness internationally, while also fostering social cohesion at home. These states share histories of restrictive immigration, assimilationist policies toward Indigenous peoples, and the privileging of a white British identity well into the 20th century. Post-War demographic change, expanding immigration, and Indigenous political mobilization pushed each country toward policies of cultural recognition from the 1960s onward. The introduction outlines how governments came to use cultural diversity – both Indigenous and immigrant – to redefine national identity, support neoliberal economic agendas, and manage social anxieties around belonging and community on a domestic level. It also previews the book’s structure, which analyses these developments in key historical periods in each country.
