Migrants’ Belongings: preliminary considerations of Greek and Italian migrants’ travel trunks in the post-Second World War period of settlement to South Australia
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Date
2013-07
Authors
Agutter, Karen Maree
Bouvet, Eric James
Glenn, Diana Cavuoto
Leader-Elliott, Lynette Frances
Finnimore, Christine
Rose, Daniela
Palaktsoglou, Maria
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Modern Greek Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand (MGSAANZ)
Rights
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Rights Holder
Modern Greek Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand
Abstract
The Migrants’ Belongings project, while considering both the scholarly work of the past
and more contemporary trends, aims to take migration studies one step further by
investigating the significance of belongings brought in the travel trunks of Greek and
Italian migrants when they settled in Australia after the Second World War. The project
seeks to understand, in the context of displacement, movement and loss, what objects
were of particular relevance in reshaping the lives and the identities of these migrants,
with particular reference to those objects carried by trunk, rather than by suitcase.
This article, the first in a series relating to the Migrants’ Belongings project, aims to
situate the project within the wider literature of post-Second World War Italian and
Greek migration to Australia. It will consider the use and representation of migrants’
belongings, drawing on methodologies and findings from museology, material culture
and identity studies. The project will reflect on the reasons why the “objects of migration”,
and more specifically the contents of “migrant trunks”, have so far been largely
neglected by scholars of history and migration studies. Finally, this article will highlight
the project’s proposed methodology.
Description
Keywords
Greek research, Greece, Australia
Citation
Agutter, K., Bouvet, E.J., Glenn, D.C., Leader-Elliott, L.F., Finnimore, C., Cosmini-Rose, D. and Palaktsoglou, M., 2013. Migrants’ Belongings: preliminary considerations of Greek and Italian migrants’ travel trunks in the post-Second World War period of settlement to South Australia. Journal of Modern Greek Studies - Special Issue, 305-324.