Belonging: ‘Feliks Skrzynecki’, ‘Migrant Hostel’ and Photo Essay ‘Belongings: Felt, Presented, Challenged’

Belonging is the cleverness of an individual to put in identity with their social surroundings. Peter Skrzyneckis poems Feliks Skrzynecki and migrator Hostel from the anthology Im migratory Chronicle explore this concept in relation to migrants during the berth WWII period and are reflections of Henri Tajfels social identity theory. The photo raise entitled holding felt, presented, challenged transfers these same principles to a modern context, illustrating the enduring character of the struggle humanity faces in the endeavour to belong.Feliks gardening in Feliks Skrzynecki crapper be seen as a response to the years of forced proletariat in Germany which left him at the mercy of bigger tides in the mortalal matters of humanity. Once in Australia as part of the post WWII influx of migrants, Feliks devotes himself to creating an environment which he can control. Stanza one and two establishes a sentience of pull and familiarity within the niche he has created for himself. Feliks recognises that be is gained done the possession of fussy socially valued and accepted criteria.In an Australian context, uniformity is made the criteria for belonging, something which Feliks himself does non value highly, as expressed in Did your father ever feat to learn English? The condescending tone employed portrays the perceived social value of assimilation and the representation of an unwelcoming confederacy as seen from a migrants perspective. Henri Tajfels social identity theory states that a persons sense of self is based on their conclave membership(s) that in order to increase our self-image we enhance the status of the group to which we belong (in group) and sort against the groups that we do non (out group).Peter Skrzynecki presents a contradictory self-categorisation in the poem Feliks Skrzynecki. His (fathers) consume friends always shook hands too violently connotes cultural exclusivity and the phylogenetic relation of the persona with a non- sn ipe culture. Child voice serves to highlight the generation carve up between Feliks and his son as Peter seeks to strengthen his sense of belonging in his new Australian culture by establishing his father and his Polish friends as the out group.Conversely and simultaneously, the persona distinguishes himself from the Australian bureaucracy through with(predicate) the use of derogatory, stereotypical language A crew cut, grey haired surgical incision clerk who asked me in dancing bear grunts. This highlights the difficulty of establishing a sense of belonging when conflicted with two cultural identities. The poem Migrant Hostel (Parkes 1949-51) explores the frenzy of and animosity shown towards newcomers to Australian society. Nationalities sought each other out instinctively connotes the importance of familiarity, as expressed in Feliks Skrzynecki.Individuals are more adapted to reconcile their personal identity with the inherent need to belong to a group in a known and familiar environment. The emotional and somatic security provided by ones own cultural group is evidence of the pre-programmed biological need to form tribes. The migrants are dehumanised through a lack of information- left us wondering and unaware. The migrants set about a threat to current Australian pattern of existence and the lay down of social Darwinism dictates that the new threat must be eliminated.In order for the individuals to detect their feelings of belonging, the two groups are in a constant state of contender hence the hostility felt by the migrants is a result of competing identities. so the perception that we must learn our refine to belong permeates society. Belonging is not an inherent right of the human being, but something that is earned through socially valued criteria. Just as Feliks is denied acceptance by Australian society in Feliks Skrzynecki, so too are the migrants by a bar at the main gate.Pointed in reprimand or dishonour. The migrants are made to fe el prisoners, subverted to authority and needing its sanction to live their lives. out-of-pocket to their alternate cultural identity migrants are excluded and alienated from society, revealing that t concept of belonging is heavily based on dominant culture. Belongings felt, presented, challenged explores perhaps the most conflicting yet thought provoking view of belonging that of the struggle between societys expectations of conformity and the individuals lookup for a unique sense of identity.The photo essay is compiled of images taken by victims persecuted for choosing not to belong to the popular vision of society. In the post 9/11 context, where choosing not to belong can result in accomplished wars and racial persecution, this simultaneous need to belong to society and an individuals own search for identity are harshly conflicted. Individual torture and dislocation is experienced by thousands of people as they become the casualties of an congenital jihad of ethics and in stinct.The control exerted over these people is a everlasting(a) exaggeration of the control portrayed in Migrant Hostel and represents the shocking consequences of the in exponent of the individual to reconcile personal identity with their social environment. The ability is indeed affected by the nature of the individuals context. The ideas about belonging communicated in Belongings felt, presented, challenged are such that some milieu do not foster individual thought but deposit solely on conformity as a basis for belonging. some(prenominal) deviance from this structure results in persecution and in extreme cases, genocide.To a lesser extent, Peter Skrzynecki experienced these feelings of oppression and conveys the emotional isolation involved in the process of migration and assimilation. Migrant Hostel reveals the perception that we must earn our right to belong and the opposition faced by competing groups. Feliks Skrzynecki further explores this concept, looking at the effec ts of conflicting cultural identities on an individual and the affiliation with competing in and out groups. Thus belonging is determined by the ability to reconcile personal identity with social environment.