‘Now I fight for belonging’: a cosmopolitan refugee meets regional Australia in Constance on the Edge
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Published Version
Date
2017-11-01
Authors
Khorana, Sukhmani
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
Film and Screen Media, University College Cork
Published Version
Abstract
This article addresses cosmopolitan cinema through the figure of a former refugee in an Australian-made documentary, Constance on the Edge (Belinda Mason, 2016). Beginning with an overview of cosmopolitanism as a project and a political ideal, as well as its relevance now, I then trace its manifestation in the discourses of refugee advocacy that have been evident in Australia over the last couple of decades. This helps set the stage for a close reading of the film, in which a Sudanese asylum seeker who has been resettled in a regional town with her family is struggling to find a sense of belonging in her new home. I argue that such an instance of cosmopolitan cinema facilitates the audience’s capacity to see both similarities and differences in the refugee other, thereby enabling a politics of solidarity that is simultaneously in dialogue with global and national discourses.
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Keywords
Cosmopolitan cinema , Refugee , Documentary , Belinda Mason , Cosmopolitanism , Political ideal , Refugee advocacy , Australia , Asylum seeker , Sudan , Solidarity
Citation
Khorana, S. (2017) ‘‘Now I fight for belonging’: a cosmopolitan refugee meets regional Australia in Constance on the Edge’, Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 14, pp. 61–73. https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.14.03