The Role of Mobile Telephony in Multicultural Australia: A Case Study of Thai, Hmong and Rohingya Communities

Abstract

This research analyses the role of mobile phones in advancing the quality of diasporic minorities’ lives in Australia. Three ethnic communities in Australia, namely Thai, Hmong and Rohingya, are chosen as case studies. In becoming a part of Australia’s multicultural society, members of ethnic minorities not only need to develop their social integration in their host country, they also need to sustain their cultural connections across boundaries as well as reinvent their social solidarity in the country of residence. In the digital era, the mobile phone has become one of the most common ways through which minority people are empowered to interact with others in their network, and to engage with wider social and global contexts. Therefore, I apply a ‘mixed method approach’ which sees the integration of qualitative and quantitative methodology to explore the ways in which ethnic minorities in the three communities use their phones. I also investigate the possible impact of cultural dimensions on mobile phone usage. The uses are categorised into eight uses and gratifications themes: social interaction, information seeking, pass time, entertainment, relaxation communicatory utility, convenient utility and fashion and social status. In analysing the results, this study demonstrates that the level of acknowledgment of the use of mobile phones based on these eight themes is noticeably different in the three communities due to the impact of particular cultural dimensions. This research suggests that mobile phones play three major roles in enhancing the lives of Australian migrant people. Those three roles are connecting with remembered and/or imagined homelands, places and communities; developing restoration of independence and integrating in the new country of residence; and constructing and managing their own identity.