Australianama: The South Asian Odyssey in Australia is the first authoritative account of South Asian migration to Australia. The story intricately winds through historical epochs, linking its author, Dr. Samia Khatun, to the hidden legacies of past generations.
Dhaka-born Dr. Khatun, who completed her PhD in Colonisation Studies from the University of Sydney, was drawn to history not by design but by a fortuitous mistake—walking into the wrong class while majoring in Mathematics.
Australianama was born out of a thesis project shaped by the turbulence of Australian race-relations in the early 2000s and a formative trip to the heart of the country. It was then a few years later, that the discovery of a mysterious, mislabelled book in a Broken Hill mosque marked a moment so steeped in generational history that it could only be fully understood through the lens of decoloniality.
If you want to hear the stories of the South Asians, it's in Aboriginal Australia and Aboriginal oral history. A lot of it is still alive because it's the family histories of many people. So, it was an incredible experience realising that the story of global South Asia, in some sense, is so complicated, so amazing, so much bigger, and more complex than anything we tend to read.Dr Samia Khatun on the interwoven histories of Aboriginal and South Asian communities in Australia.
The award-winning historian unpacks the parallel histories of Australia during British colonisation, lifting the curtain on the colonial myths that still pervade our accepted drafts of history.
Joining Ria Pandey virtually from her home in London, Dr Khatun explores the joy of discovery, and details the history of South Asian migration in colonial Australia as a way to reimagine our nation’s redacted history books.
Tap the audio player to listen to the full interview.
SBS Spice breaks new ground with English-language content for young South Asians in Australia by exploring what makes us tick or ick. Find us on your podcast apps such as the SBS Audio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or LiSTNR and follow us on Instagram @SBSSpice.
