Surveillance
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In Australianama, Samia makes a conscious effort to make sense of Muslim marriage archives in a way that does not discount the women or the Muslim practice in place. There is a focus on how the British and settler institutions in place hindered women's marriage rights far more than Muslim policies did.
The case of Lallie is an example of where Muslim identity protected women from the oppressive settler institutions in place. In White Australia, Aboriginal women needed permission from the government to marry non-Aboriginal men. This was an intentional law set in place to eventually eradicate Aboriginals from Australia. The settler institutions controlled every part of Aboriginal lives, especially the most intimate parts such as marriage and reproduction. Calculated marriage and reproductive laws were set in place to dilute Aboriginal blood. They also resulted in half-caste children who were subjected to all around surveillance. Children like Lallie were so surveilled that historians like Rajkowski were able to piece together information like when Lallie became pregnant from surveillance archives. Lallie was constantly on the run. She tried and was denied marriage to a Muslim man Akbar. Her children with Akbar were mostly safe from the same surveillance as they were Muslim children, which is exactly what the settler institutions wanted to avoid. Through surveillance, they maintain control, much like how McGill is operating at the moment. Lallie's children were able to escape from surveillance through their second identity, however, the goal of diluting Aboriginal heritage was still achieved.
Rajiv's family is an example of diluted heritage as a result of immigration rather than reproduction. Rajiv's melancholia is apparent throughout the story. His yearning for his heritage manifests as grabbing on to every scrap Aji can give him, while his father takes the route of rage and denial. Rajiv feels sorrow when he thinks of Aji and her lack of companions to speak Hindi with her. His father burns the incense with Ganesh's face on it. I think this dichotomy is present in a lot of immigrants and their first-generation children. The one who immigrated can feel the pain of being forced to assimilate and has grown accustomed to hiding their heritage, while the first-generation child feels the absence of their heritage.