Emerging communities from east to west : case study of the Iranian community in Sydney, Australia

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Business.Small/emerging and recently arrived ethnic communities in Sydney, Australia are increasingly the subject of national exclusion and racial discrimination. The attacks on the World Trade Centre in USA on September 11, 2001 increased the focus on the Middle Eastern Muslims among these communities. The Iranian community in Sydney, Australia with a large humanitarian intake, is an example of such a small/emerging ethnic community and of the "Others" in general. The objective of this study is to develop the field work to investigate the impacts of the growing gaps between the western and eastern societies and the exclusion and discrimination experienced on a daily basis by the members of these small, emerging and newly arrived ethnic communities. The theoretical review plays an important role in the explanation and analysis of the bases for growing gaps between 'East' and 'West', the systematic influence on public policy and public opinion and the resultant impacts on members of the small/emerging communities. Due to its unique characteristics and its diversity, the Iranian community in Sydney, Australia, has been chosen to represent the above case. The study aims to reveal how the community members' experience of life in Sydney, Australia is shaped by international, national and provincial forces and how, in turn, the community members' respond through their formal and informal networks to related events and policies - throughout the migration and settlement process