The Geography of Racisms in NSW: a theoretical exploration and some preliminary findings from the mid-1990s

The spatial variation of racisms is an under-researched field of inquiry, c ertainly in Australia. This paper explores the geographies of racism in New South Wales. Responses to three opinion polls conducted between 1994 and 1 996 were used to construct patterns of racisms across NSW. Preliminary find ings suggest a substantive degree of racism in NSW. There was little eviden ce of an urban-rural variation in terms of ethnocentrism. Examination of re gional variations confounds this simple division. Social Constructionist th eory is put forward as a spatially sensitive theory for understanding and r esponding to the geographies of racism. The identification of regional vari ations in racism is crucial to the development of regionally specific anti- racism campaigns. This paper highlights the need for more comprehensive ana lyses of the varying causes and remedies for racisms.