This article challenges the validity of recent suggestions that “shared history” underpins India-Australia relations through an historical analysis of little-known diplomats who worked for the Indian High Commission in Australia and the Australian High Commission in India immediately after Indian independence. Based on largely unexplored archival material from India, Australia and Canada, it argues that Australia’s racialized identity, as expressed through the “White Australia” policy, thoroughly shaped Indian perceptions of Australia. While Indian policy-makers never officially voiced their distaste for White Australia, Indian diplomats put their efforts into reshaping the image of India in Australia through travel and personal contacts as part of an effort to educate Australia about India. Likewise, Australia’s colonial identity led it to see India and Indian foreign policy as “irrational” due to its emphasis on racial discrimination and decolonization. It is argued that, far from underpinning the relationship, colonial histories and subsequent postcolonial identities have played an important role in fracturing India-Australia relations.
共享的历史？：后殖民认同与印度-澳大利亚关系（1947-1954）
关键词： 印度-澳大利亚关系，国际关系中的后殖民主义，外交史，认同和外交关系
一些鲜为人知的外交家在印度独立之初即在印度驻澳大利亚专员公署和澳大利亚驻印度专员公署工作，本文通过对这些人物的历史性分析，挑战了近来关于印度-澳大利亚关系是建立在“共享的历史”这一说法的有效性。基于来自于印度、澳大利亚和加拿大的绝大部分未经研究的档案材料，本文提出，以“白澳政策”所表达的澳大利亚的种族化的认同全面塑造了印度对澳大利亚的看法。尽管印度的政策制定者从未正式表明对“白澳政策”的反感，印度外交家们却通过旅行和个人接触等机会教育澳大利亚人了解印度，做了很多努力来重塑印度在澳大利亚的形象。同样，澳大利亚的殖民认同也使澳大利亚视印度和印度的外交政策为“非理性”，因为后者重视种族歧视和去殖民化等问题。我们提出，殖民历史和其后的后殖民认同在印度-澳大利亚关系上起到的远非支撑巩固作用，而是制造了很大的裂痕。
Translated from English by Li Guo
Alexander Edmund Davis