Victims or profiteers? Issues of migration, racism and violence among Indian students in Melbourne

This paper analyses the impact the phenomenal growth (2002-2009) and rapid decline (2010-2012) of Indian student numbers has had on the city of Melbourne. Specifically addressing the way the debate developed over the allegedly racially motivated attacks on students in 2009 the paper examines how conflicting narratives on Indian students could emerge presenting them as 'victims' and/or 'profiteers'. Making use of an analysis of over a thousand media reports as well as drawing on ethnographic material the paper argues that the way the debate about the racist character of the attacks unfolded in popular media is revealing of the way the growth in Indian students in Melbourne has been experienced and perceived over time. In particular the entanglement of education and migration in Australia, allowing Indian students to become permanent residents by graduating from low-quality institutions, contributed to the perception of them being low-skilled migrants and as such 'profiteers'. As a result the paper not only shows how a rapidly growing and highly commercial education industry was able to influence the dynamics and socio-cultural make-up of the city of Melbourne but also how the entanglement of education and migration produced a volatile situation with ultimately far reaching social and economic consequences for the city.