Lao Australians on Sydney's Urban Fringe: A non-cosmopolitan transnationalism?

I am at a weekend gathering at a Lao household in Campbelltown, on the very edge of Sydney. We are watching the rugby league Grand Final on a TV set that has been dragged outside so we can see it as we eat ox tongue straight off the barbecue. We are also eating laab leuad, a salad of finely chopped grilled duck mixed with lemongrass, galangal, chilli, fresh herbs, and pungent Lao fermented fish sauce, all served on a bed of jellied duck blood. Three of the young women at the party have recently arrived from Laos as the fiancées and brides of some of the men present. They speak no English, and we chat in a mixture of Lao and Vietnamese. "Bun" and "Got" have made a bet on the outcome of the match. Bun is backing Brisbane and Got, Melbourne. The wager is seven live ducks, to be bought at a local farm, slaughtered, plucked, and made into laab by the loser for all of us to enjoy next weekend. Every time Brisbane scores a try, Bun moonwalks across the TV screen flapping his arms like duck wings while Got curses. I ask Jean the Lao Australian social worker if he thinks the Lao community is cosmopolitan. He makes a motion with his hands like he's lifting a small box from one desk and putting it down on another, and says it's like they were lifted out of Laos and placed down here, intact.