Negotiating the geographies of cultural difference in local communities: Two examples from Suburban Melbourne

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which cultural difference is negotiated in local communities through the practices and actions of local individuals, groups and the policies of local government. Cultural difference is commonly managed through policies such as multiculturalism, and critiques of such policies tend to be either in terms of celebratory discourses of inclusiveness, or in negative terms which argue that such policies reiterate models of exclusivity and paternalism. The authors draw on current research in planning and cultural geography in order to explore the ways in which actual difference is negotiated at the local level through the institutional and civic spaces of local government. Two case studies for this discussion, the City of Greater Dandenong and Moreland City Council, demonstrate the importance of the physical body and its interactions with, and activities in, place to processes of local change and policy making. © 2007 The AuthorsJournal compilation © 2007 Institute of Australian Geographers.