Introduction to Australian Society: Reconciling Australia

Class code SOC-UA 9970 004

Instructor Dr Toby Martin Details [email protected]

0424 652 073

Consultations by appointment.

Class Details Introduction to Australian Society: Reconciling Australia

Thursdays 11:00-12:30 Room 304 NYU Sydney Academic Centre Science House, 157 Gloucester St, The Rocks.

Prerequisites None

Class Australia is a place of tensions: the ‘lucky country’ founded on the theft of Indigenous people’s l and; Description the ‘land of the fair go’ with mandatory detention of refugees; a place with a noticeably sentimental culture coupled with a satirical sense of humour; a multicultural nation with a history of a ‘white Australia policy’; a place proud of its traditions of egalitarianism and mateship with rules about who is allowed in ‘the club’; a place with a strong sense of a distinctive local traditions which takes many of its cues from global culture; a place with a history of anti-British and anti-American sentiment that also has had strong political allegiances and military pacts with Britain and the USA; a place of a laid-back, easy going attitude with a large degree of Governmental control of individual liberties; a highly urbanised population that romances ‘the bush’ and ‘the outback’ as embodying ‘real’ Australia; and a place with a history of progressive social policy and a democratic tradition, which has never undergone a revolution. Through readings, discussion and research we will attempt to reconcile these contradictions.

This course will focus on the way in which culture – i.e. music, journalism, history, literature, comedy, cinema, food and sport – has reflected and created these tensions. Where possible, it will look at how major issues in Australian culture and society have played out or been embodied in its largest and oldest city: Sydney.

The course will be broken up into three units: - Unit A ‘Contested Histories’ weeks 2-6; - Unit B ‘Politics and Place’ weeks 7-10; and - Unit C ‘Culture and Consumption’ weeks 11-14.

Classes will take the form of a one-and-a-half hour seminar. This seminar will be an informal discussion so please come prepared to discuss the week’s topic and the readings. Each week students will be required to examine a primary document to give them some insight into how

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attitudes on certain issues have played out in Australia. The secondary sources are there to help us critically frame these issues and attitudes and give them historical perspective.

There will be at approximately three field trips (details TBA) including a visit to Armidale from 15th to 22nd September.

Desired Students will be expected to develop: Outcomes - a critical understanding of Australian culture and its history; - an awareness of the politics of gender, race and class in Australian society; - an understanding of the ways in which issues in Australian society are both local and transnational - independent research skills through the major research essay.

Assessment 30% Class Participation Components 30% Reflection on your internship in Armidale: discuss the degree to which Armidale can be thought of as a rural city that is Reconciling Australia. 600 words due in class in Week 6.

40% Major research essay (2000 words due in class in Week 14). For this assessment, students will be expected to locate a site in Sydney and examine how it has embodied, or been witness to, a broader issue in Australian culture. (For instance: Oxford St and gay rights; China Town and multiculturalism; the Sydney Harbour Bridge and reconciliation). The research for this essay can either be sociological (interviews with residents, stake-holders) or historical (archive-based research). Both the site and the research question are to be developed in consultation with Toby during Week 5.

Failure to submit or fulfil any required course component results in failure of the class.

Assessment Grade A: Excellent performance showing a thorough knowledge and understanding of the topics of Expectations the course; all work includes clear, logical explanations, insight, and original thought and reasoning. Creative work is of a highly sophisticated standard.

Grade B: Good performance with general knowledge and understanding of the topics; all work includes general analysis and coherent explanations showing some independent reasoning, reading and research. Creative work i s of a s uperior s tandard.

Grade C: Satisfactory performance with some broad explanation and reasoning; the work will typically demonstrate an understanding of the course on a basic level. Creative work is of an acceptable standard.

Grade D: Passable performance showing a general and superficial understanding of the course’s topics; work lacks satisfactory insight, analysis or reasoned explanations. Creative work is of a basic standard.

Grade F: Unsatisfactory performance in all assessed criteria. Creative work is weak, unfinished or unsubmitted.

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Grade NYU Sydney uses the following scale of numerical equivalents to letter grades: conversion A=94-100 A-=90-93

B+=87-89 B=84-86 B-=80-83

C+=77-79 C=74-76 C-=70-73

D+=67-69 D=65-66

F=below 65

Where no specific numerical equivalent is assigned to a letter grade by the class teacher, the mid point of the range will be used in calculating the final class grade (except in the A range, where 95.5 will be used).

Grading Policy NYU Sydney aims to have grading standards and results similar to those that prevail at Washington Square. At the College of Arts and Sciences, roughly 39% of all final grades are in the B+ to B- range, and 50% in the A/A- range.

We have therefore adopted the following grading guideline: in any non-Stern course, class teachers should try to insure that no more than 50% of the class receives an A or A-. (Stern has a different grading policy that we follow in all Stern courses).

A guideline is not a curve. A guideline is just that: it gives an ideal benchmark for the distribution of grades towards which we work.

Attendance NYU Sydney has a strict policy about course attendance for students. Faculty will not give students Policy permission to be absent for any reason. Students should contact their instructors to catch up on missed work but should not approach them for excused absences.

All non-medical absence requests must be presented by the student to the Assistant Director, Academic Programs. Non-medical requests should be made in advance of the intended absence. All medical-based absence requests MUST be presented to the Student Life Coordinator. In the case of illness, the student should contact the Student Life Coordinator within three days of the absence or as soon as practicable and provide medical documentation. Faculty will be informed of excused absences by the Student Life staff and Assistant Director, Academic Programs. Any absences of which faculty have not been informed by the NYU Sydney staff will be presumed to be unexcused.

Students are expected to arrive to class promptly both at the start of class and after breaks. Arriving more than 10 minutes late or leaving more than 10 minutes early will be considered an unexcused absence.

This attendance policy also applies for classes involving a field trip or other off‐campus visit. It is the student’s responsibility to arrive at the agreed meeting point on time.

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The faculty will report all unexcused absences to the Assistant Director, Academic Programs, and students’ final grades will be negatively impacted by each such absence. Each unexcused absence will result in the deduction of 3 percentage points from the final grade. More than two unexcused absences will result in failure of the course.

There will be no adjustment of attendance records after the end of the semester. If you wish to contest an unexcused absence, you must do so before you leave Sydney. Contact the Assistant Director, Academic Programs to discuss the attendance record as soon as you think there may be a discrepancy about your attendance in class on a given day.

Students observing a religious holiday during regularly scheduled class time are entitled to miss class without any penalty to their grade. This is for the holiday only and does not include the days of travel that may come before and/or after the holiday.

Students must notify their professor and the Assistant Director, Academic Programs in writing via email one week in advance before being absent for this purpose.

Late Written work due in class must be submitted during class time to your instructor. Submission of Work Late work should be submitted in person to the Assistant Director, Academic Programs during regular office hours (9:30‐5:00, Monday‐Friday). You must also submit an electronic copy of late written work to the Assistant Director, Academic Programs – [email protected] - for submission to Turn-it-in.

The Assistant Director, Academic Programs will mark down the date and time of submission in the presence of the student. In the absence of the Assistant Director, Academic Programs, another member of the administrative staff can accept the work in person, following the same protocol.

Work submitted after the submission time without an agreed extension receives a penalty of 2 points on the 100-point scale for each day the work is late.

Written work submitted beyond five (5) weekdays after the submission date without an agreed extension fails and is given a zero.

Plagiarism The academic standards of New York University apply to all coursework at NYU Sydney. NYU Sydney Policy policies are in accordance with New York University’s plagiarism policy. The presentation of another person’s words, ideas, judgment, images or data as though they were your own, whether intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes an act of plagiarism.

Any course work must to be submitted as a hard copy AND in electronic form. All students must submit an electronic copy of each piece of written work to www.turnitin.com. Instructions will be provided to you in class. Penalties for confirmed cases of plagiarism are severe and are dealt with by the Director, NYU Sydney, not your instructor. Your home school will be notified and you will be dealt with according to the standards of that school. The codes of conduct and academic standards for NYU’s various schools and colleges are outlined in the respective school’s academic resources.

Required You are not required to buy any texts. The weekly required readings should be available on the NYU Text(s) database, in the Science House reading room, on other on-line databases (ie jstor.org, search.informit.com.au or trove.nla.gov.au) or in the collection of State Library on Macquarie St 15 mins walk from campus. The required weekly readings, along with the extra readings, should form

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the basis of your independent research essay. You should be able to research further from the bibliographies in these readings and with consultation.

Books: Supplemental Michelle Arrow, Friday On Our Minds: Popular Culture in Australia since 1945, UNSW Sydney, 2009. Texts(s) (not Bain Attwood, Telling the Truth about Aboriginal History, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005 required to Bain Attwood, In the Age of Mabo: History, Aborigines and Australia, Sydney, 1996 purchase as Tony Bennett, Michael Emmison and John Frow, Accounting for tastes: Australian everyday cultures, Cambridge Univeristy Press, Cambridge, 1999 copies are in John Birmingham, Leviathan: The unauthorized biography of Sydney, Vintage, Sydney, 2000 NYU-L Library) David Carter, Dispossession, Dreams and Diversity: Issues in Australian studies, Pearson Education, Sydney 2006 Grace Karskens, The Colony, Allen & Unwin, Sydney 2010 John Connell and Chris Gibson, Soundtracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place, Routledge, London, 2003 Fran De Groen and Peter Kirkpatrick (eds), Serious Frolic: Essays on Australian Humour, UQP, Brisbane, 2009 Catriona Elder, Being Australian, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2007 Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2011 Ghassan Hage, White Nation: Fantasies of white supremacy in a multicultural society, Pluto Press, Sydney, 1998. Melissa Harper and Richard White (eds), Symbols of Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2010. Phi l ip Hayward (ed), From Pop to Punk to Postmodernism, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1992. Donal d Horne, The Lucky Country, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1965 Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds (eds), What’s Wrong With Anzac: The militarisation of Australian history, New South Press, Sydney, 2010 Mark McKenna, The Captive Republic, Cambridge University Press, Cambride 1996. Mark Mckenna, Looking For Blackfellas Point, UNSW Press, 2003 Stuart McIntyre, A Concise history of Australia, Cambridge University Press, 2009. Stuart McIntyre and Anna Clarke, History Wars, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2003 Andrew Markus, Australian Race Relations, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1994. David Marr and Marian Wilkinson, Dark Victory, Allen & Unwin, Sydney 2003. Tony Moore, Dancing with Empty Pockets: Australia’s Bohemians, Pier 8/9, Sydney 2012. Henry Reynolds, Aboriginal Soverignty: Reflections on race, state and nation, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1996. Deryck M. Schreuder and Stuart Ward (eds) Australia’s Empire, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008. Babette Smith, Australia’s Birthstain: The Startling Legacy of the Convict Era, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. 2008. Hsu-Mi ng Teo and Richard White, Cultural history in Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2003 Davi d Walker, Anxious Nation: Australia and the rise of Asia 1850-1939, UQ Press, 2009 Russel Ward, The Australian Legend, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1978. Richard White, Inventing Australia, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1981.

Journals: Aboriginal History Australian Cultural History Australian Economic History Australian Historical Studies Australian Journal of Politics and History Australian Liteary Studies Gender and History Griffith Review

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History Australia Journal of Australian Studies Journal of Women’s History Labour History Meanjin Overland Public History Review Quadrant Southerly

Movies: Gallipoli Muriel’s Wedding Bran Nue Day Puberty Blues Beneath Clouds Head On Finished People Samson and Delilah Adventures of Barry Mckenzie Sunday too far away The Proposition Wolf Creek Wake In Fright Picnic At Hanging Rock

Television: Kath and Kim Summer Heights High An audience with Dame Edna Everage

Music: The Triffids, Born Sandy Devotional Go-Betweens, Before Hollywood Various artists, Buried Country Sara Storer, Beautiful Circle Anne Kirpatrick, Showman’s Daughter Slim Dusty, Best of Slim Dusty Paul Kelly, Post You Am I, Hourly Daily

Web Sites: Dictionary of Sydney: http://home.dictionaryofsydney.org/ Trove (digitised newspapers and more): http://trove.nla.gov.au/ State Library of NSW: http://sl.nsw.gov.au

Internet N/A Research Guidelines

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Additional N/A Required Equipment

Introduction The Harbour: Icons and Cliches

Session 1 The course will begin where we are, geographically: the Rocks by Sydney Harbour. Sydney Harbour is one of the most recognisable symbols of Australia. It is also popularly seen as ‘the birthplace of August 30 the nation’. The readings this week will help us understand these clichés and the stories behind them.

Required Readings: 1. Robert Hughes, ‘Introduction’ in The Fatal Shore, Collins Harvill, London, 1987, pp. 1-18 2. Peter Spearritt, ‘Sydney Harbour Bridge’ and Richard White & Sylvia Lawson ‘Sydney Opera House’ in Melissa Harper and Richard White (eds), Symbols of Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2010, pp. 145-152 & 185-192

Additional Readings: • Grace Karskens, The Colony, Allen and Unwin, Sydney 2010 • Inga Clendinnen, Dancing With Strangers, Cambridge University Press, c2005 • Watkin Tench, 1788, Text Publishing, Mel bourne, 2012

Ques ti ons for consideration: How have Australians and international visitors understood the Harbour? Why is it iconographic? What are national icons? What do they mean? How does Hughes place Indigenous people in the story of the ‘birth’ of the nation?

This week we also discuss the assessment criteria for the course and make consultation times to discuss the research essay.

Unit A: Black Armband versus White Blindfold History: Making the Indigenous story the national story Contested Histories The 1980s, 90s and 2000s have seen polarising debates about whether Australian history is the story (weeks 2-5) of glorious progress to nationhood or the story of violent dispossession. The place of Indigenous people and their histories is central to these debates. Recent Prime Ministers such as Paul Keating, Session 2 John Howard and Kevin Rudd have weighed in, seeing history as a political strategy. This week we will look at the role Indigenous histories play in contemporary Australian politics and society. September 6 Required Readings: 1. Primary Source: Paul Keating’s Redfern Speech, 1993 http://www.antar.org.au/issues_and_campaigns/self- determination/paul_keating_redfern_speech 2. Richard Broome, ‘Historians, Aborigines and Australia: Writing The National Past’ (pp 54-72) and John Morton, ‘Aboriginality, Mabo and the republic: indigenising Australia’, (pp 117- 135) in Bain Attwood (ed), In The Age Of Mabo, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1996. 3. D. Short, ‘When Sorry Isn’t Good Enough: Official remembrance and reconciliation in Australia’, Memory Studies, 5:3, July 2012, pp 293-304.

Additional Readings: • Stuart McIntyre and Anna Clarke, ‘History Under Fire’ (pp 1-13), ‘Bicentenary Battles’ (pp

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93-118) & ‘Frontier Conflict’ (pp 142-170) in History Wars, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2003 • Mark Mckenna, Looking For Blackfellas Point, UNSW Press, 2003.

Ques ti ons for consideration: Was Australia settled or invaded? Can what happened on the frontier be called ‘war’ or ‘genocide’? What has been the place of Indigenous people in the Australian nation? Why are these questions so important and so divisive in contemporary Australian society? Why do some Australians feel guilt or shame for past injustices? Why are s ome hostile to such feelings?

Session 3 Sites of Pleasure, Histories of Pain: Recreating the Past For Tourists

September One of the most common ways in which national histories are consumed is via tourism. Convict 13 tourism and Indigenous tourism have, since the late nineenth century, been popular activities for visitors, and they remain so today.

Required Readings: 1. Primary Sources: please look at web sites of places of convict tourism, ie Hyde Park Barracks http://www.hht.net.au/museums/hyde_park_barracks_museum/ or Port Arthur http://www.portarthur.org.au/ and for Indignous tourism, ie http://www.ealta.org/ 2. Maria Nugent, ‘Boomerangs For Sale: Tourism in the birthplace of the nation’, Botany Bay, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005, pp 63-90 3. Babette Smith, Australia’s Birthstain: The startling legacy of the convict era, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2008. Chapter TBA 4. Sianan Healy, ‘Years Ago Some Lived Here: Aboriginal Australians and the Production of Popular Culture, History and Identity in 1930s Victoria’, in Australian Historical Studies, Vol 37, No 128, October 2006, pp 18-34

Additional Readings: • David Young, ‘Chapter 2: Port Arthur: Terra Incognita: 1877-1889, in Making Crime Pay: The Evolution of Convict Tourism in Tasmania, Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Hobart, 1996, pp 23-42 • Graeme Davison, The Use and Abuse of Australian History, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2000. • Ji m Davi dson and Peter Spearitt, Holiday Business: Tourism in Australia since 1870, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2000. • Richard White, On Holidays: A History of Getting Away in Australia, Pl uto Press, Sydney 2005 • Tom Griffiths, Beechworth: An Australian Country Town and Its Past, Greenhouse, Melbourne, 1987 • Jane Lydon, Eye Contact: Photographing Indigenous Australians, Duke University Press, Durham, 2005.

Film: Uncivilised Indigenous collection at the Australian Museum on Macquarie St

Ques ti ons for consideration: How can shameful pasts also be objects of tourist consumption? What kinds of history are presented at these places? Are ‘dark’ elements of the past hidden or highlighted? How does convict tourism differ from Indigenous tourism? How are they similar? Can Indigenous culture be considered part of history tourism? What do debates about built heritage say about Australia’s attitude to history?

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Session 4 National Pride or National Mourning: The legacy of Gallipolli and World War I

This will be a Anzac Day, 25th April, commemorates the landing of Australian soldiers at Gallipoli in Turkey as part catch-up of the World War I campaign. It is popularly seen as the moment in which Australian national session . identity was forged. Lately, the site has become popular with young Australians backpacking around Time TBA Europe to visit it for the annual dawn service.

Required Readings 1. Primary Source: Philip Coorey, ‘Gillard Tells of a Nation Forged in Battle’, Sydney Morning Herald, April 25th 2012 2. Marilyn Lake, ‘Introduction: What have you done for your country’ and Joy Damousi, ‘Chapter 4: ‘Why do we get so emotional about Anzac?’ i n Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds (eds), What’s Wrong With Anzac: The militarisation of Australian history, New South Press, Sydney, 2010 3. Mark McKenna and Stuart Ward, ‘It was really moving mate: the Gallipoli pilgrimage and sentimental nationalism in Australia’, i n Australian Historical Studies, Vol 38, No 129, April 2007, pp 141-151

Additional Readings: • Richard White, ‘Motives For Joining Up: Self-Sacrifice, self-Interest and social class, 1914/18, Journal of the Australian War Memorial, No 9, Oct 1986, pp 3-16 • Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds (eds), What’s Wrong With Anzac: The militarisation of Australian history, New South Press, Sydney, 2010 • Bruce Scates, Return To Gallipoli: walking the battlefields of the Great War, Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Film: Gallipoli

Ques ti ons for consideration: Why has Gallipoli been so important in the development of Australian national identity? Does Anzac Day remember or glorify war? How do feminist readings problematise the way in which Anzac is remembered? What were the motives for soldiers enlisting? And how are soldiers and their deaths remembered now?

Session 5 The Bush Legend: Urbanisation and the Romance of the Bush September 27 Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world. More than two-thirds of the population live in major cities, most of these on the east coast. And yet the ‘bush’ and the ‘outback’ have been key ingredients in the Australian imaginary. The bush has been invented as both rural idyll and terrifying dystopia. This week will attempt to make sense of these apparent paradoxes.

Required Readings: 1. Primary Source: Banjo Paterson, ‘Clancy of the Overflow’, in Richard Walsh, Traditional Australian Verse, Allen and Unwin, Sydney 2009, or on-line: http://www.the- rathouse.com/ClancyoftheOverflow.html Also please look at the image gallery at http://www.outbackheritage.com.au/ 2. Graeme Davison, ‘Sydney and the Bush: An urban context for the Australian Legend’, Historical Studies, Vol 18, No 71, Oct 1978, pp 191-209 3. Toby Martin, ‘Country Music Capital: The past in Tamworth’, History Australia, 8:1, April 2011, pp 153-174. 4. John Scott and Dean Biron, ‘Wolf Creek, rurality and the Australian Gothic’, in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 24:2, April 2010, pp 207-322

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Additional Readings: • Marcus Clarke, ‘Preface’ in The Poems of Adam Lindsay Gordon, Messina, Melbourne, 1892. • Kay Schaffer, Women and the Bush: Forces of Desire in the Australian Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp 1-28. • Don Aitken, ‘Countrymindedness’ – the spread of an idea’, in SL Goldberg and FB Smith (eds), Australian Cultural History, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988. • Russel Ward, The Australian Legend, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1978. • Richard White, ‘Bohemians and the Bush’, in Inventing Australia, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1981, pp 85-109. • JB Hirst, ‘Pioneer Legend’, Historical Studies, 1978, 18:71, p 316. • Frederick Jackson Turner, The Frontier In American History, Holt, New York, 1921.

Films: Sunday too far away, The Proposition, Wolf Creek, Wake In Fright, Picnic At Hanging Rock The music of Nick Cave, The Drones and Slim Dusty

Ques ti ons for consideration: What is the bush legend? Why has it been so important in creating Australian identity? To what degree is it due to city-based romanticisation? How egalitarian is it? Who and what does it exclude? How does it compare to America’s ‘Frontier Legend’? What other ‘legends’ have constituted Australian identity? Is there an ‘Australian Gothic’ that treats the bush as a site of terror?

This session will include a short field trip to Martin Place and the Art Gallery of NSW. Details TBA.

This week you also need to consult with Toby about your major research essay.

SEMESTER BREAK OCTOBER 1 – 5

Session 6 Man’s Country: Rage, Feminism and Challenges to the Myths of Masculine Australia

October 11 This week we look at how the orthodoxies of the ‘bush legend’, and other myths of masculinist Australia, were challenged by feminist historians and thinkers in the 1970s and the legacy of these challenges.

Required Reading: 1. Primary source: Gig Ryan, ‘If I Had A Gun’ http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/ryan- gig/if-i-had-a-gun-0531028/ 2. Mi ri am Dixon, ‘Introduction’ to The Real Matilda Women and Identity in Australia, 1788- 1975, Penguin, Melbourne, 1976 3. Anne Summers, ‘Introduction’ to Damned Whores and God’s Police: the colonisation of women in Australia, Penguin, Melbourne, 1975 4. Ann Curthoys, ‘Visions, nightmares, dreams: Women’s history 1975’, Australian Historical Studies, 27:106, 1996, pp1-13

Additional Readings: • John Hirst, ‘Women and History: a critique of Creating a Nation’, in Quadrant, 39:3, 1995, 35-43 • Joy Damousi, ‘Writing gender into history: Creating a Nation and Australian Historiography’, Gender and History, 11:3, 1999, pp 612-624 • Humphrey Mcqueen, A New Britannia, UQP, Brisbane, 2004. • Sara Storer, Beautiful Circle

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Ques ti ons for consideration: What did feminist historians have to say about Australian history? What did they have to say about the relationship between the past and the present? Did their challenges affect their own society? What is their legacy for feminism in Australia today?

Unit B: Politics New Chums: Immigration, Assimilation and Multiculturalism and Place Australia is famously the land of the fair go: egalitarian and open-minded. Yet, for some sixty years Session 7 it restricted immigration from non-European nations. Today, immigration policy is a fraught political issue and racial tensions still exist within an increasingly multicultural society. October 18 Required Readings: 1. Primary Source: John Howard’s 2001 election campaign speech, especially the three paragraphs that begin ‘So ladies and gentlemen they are some of the new plans we have for Australia’s future….’ And end ‘…we will decide and nobody else who comes to this country.’ http://www.australianpolitics.com/news/2001/01-10-28.shtml 2. Ghassan Hage, ‘Multiculturalism and the Ungovernable Muslim’ (pp 165-186) in Raimond Gaita (ed), Essays on Muslims and Mulitculturalism, Text, Melbourne, 2011 3. Catriona Elder, ‘White Australia Meets Multiculturalism: Ethnicity and Nation’, (pp 115-146) in Being Australian, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2007

Additional Readings: • Andrew Markus, ‘White Australia, 1890-1945’, (pp 110-154) in Australian Race Relations, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1994. • Ghassan Hage, White Nation: Fantasies of white supremacy in a multicultural society, Pl uto Press, Sydney, 1998. • David Marr and Marian Wilkinson, Dark Victory, Allen & Unwin, Sydney 2003.

Ques ti ons for consideration: What were the reasons for the White Australia Policy? Why have Asians been seen as incompatible with Australian values? What are the connections between 9/11 and immigration policy? Why are Muslims considered ungovernable? What is multiculturalism? Is Australia genuinely multicultural? Is it racist? To what degree is racism invented and inflamed by tabloid media?

Session 8 Land Management and Land Chaos

October 25 Parts of Australian society are currently enjoying the economic benefits of a mining boom. Historically, too, much of Australia’s wealth has derived from its natural resources. Yet mining and forestry raise serious questions of environmental and economic sustainability and of ownership and access (particularly for Indigenous people). Australia always threatens to become the ‘clever country’ rather than the ‘lucky country’, but has it?

Required Readings: 1. Primary Source: Kelsey Munro, ‘Community Gardens Harvest Crop of Happy Little Vegemites’, Sydney Morning Herald, May 15th 2010 2. Bill Gammage, ‘Curious Landscapes’ (pp 5-17) (and also flip through illustrations pp 18-100) in The Biggest Estate on Earth, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2011 3. Richard Flanagan, ‘Out Of Control: The tragedy of Tasmania’s Forests’, The Monthly, May 2007. 4. Marcia Langton, ‘The Resource Curse: New outback principalities and the paradox of plenty’, in Griffith Review, No 28, Autumn 2010, pp 47-63.

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Additional Readings: • Donal d Horne, The Lucky Country, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1965 • On ‘the clever country’ http://www.uq.edu.au/economics/johnquiggin/news95/clever.html • Sharyn Munro, Rich Land, wasteland, Pan Macmillan, Australia, 2012.

Ques ti ons for consideration: How have Australians managed and mis-managed the land? Is the history of Australia one of environmental destruction? To what degree is current interest in landcare linked to global movements? To what degree is it a local issue? What is meant by the terms ‘lucky country’ and ‘clever country’? So Australians love their land? Do they fear it?

This week will include a field trip to the Observatory in the Rocks.

Session 9 Private Acts in Public Spaces: Gay Rights and the Sydney Mardi Gras

November 1 Required Readings: 1. Primary source: Malcom Turnball speech on gay marriage at http://www.malcolmturnbull.com. 2012au/media/speeches/reflections-on-the-gay- marriage-issue-michael -kirby-lecture-2012/

2. Garry Wotherspoon, ‘Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras’, 2008, at http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/gay_and_lesbian_mardi_gras

3. Kevin Markwell, ‘Construction of Sydney as an International Gay and Lesbian City’, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 8:1-2, 2002, pp 81-99.

Additional Readings: • Jeremy Fisher, Into the light: The early days of gay liberation’, Overland, no.191, Winter 2008, pp 52-56. • Garry Wotherspoon, ‘From Subculture to Mainstream Culture: Some impacts of homosexual and gay subcultures in Australia’, Journal of Australian Studies, 15:28, 1991, pp 56-62 • Robert Aldrich, Colonialism and Homosexuality, Routledge, London, 2003. • Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, Studies in Australian Culture, University of Sydney, 1998. • Film: Head On

Questions For Consideration: How have gay rights been fought for in Australia? What is the general consensus on gay marriage? How does it differ/coincide with America? What is the power of street protest? What are its limitations? To what degree are lesbians a visible part of the Sydney Gay and Les bian Mardi Gras?

Session 10 Drinking Cultures: State Control and Subversion November 8 Australians love a drink, but do they have a drinking ‘problem’? The Australian state certainly has a problematic relationship with alcohol. On the one hand, it derives significant revenue from taxation, on the other it has sought to restrict access to alcohol on the grounds of morality, health and race. And Australian society often has very different ideas about how and how much women s hould drink, as opposed to men.

Required Readings: 1. Primary source: Michael Thorn, ‘Alcohol in Cross-Hairs but Premier Gun-Shy’, Sydney

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Morning Herald, August 17th 2012 & Alexis Wright, ‘Talking about tomorrow’, Overland, No 202, Autumn 2011, pp 35-37. 2. Jeremy Beckett, ‘The Land Where The Crow Flies Backwards’, Quadrant, 9:4, July-Aug 1965, pp 38-43 3. Robert Gosford, ‘They took our culture, now there is no law: life under the NT Intervention’, Overland, No 202, Autumn 2011, pp29-34. 4. Merle Thornton, ‘Our Chains: Rearview reflections’, Queensland Review, 14:1, 2007, pp51- 59 5. Tanja Luckins, ‘Satan finds some mischief? Drinkers responses to the six-o-clock closing of pubs in Australia’, Journal of Australian Studies, 32:3, Sept 2008, 295-307

Additional Readings: • Marilyn Lake, ‘The Politics of Respectability: Identifying the masculinist context’ in Histo rical Studies, 22:86, April 1986, pp116-131 • Tanja Luckins, ‘Pigs, hogs and Aussie blokes: the emergence of the term ‘six o’clock swill’, History Australia, 4:1, June 2007, 8.1-08.17 • Jonathan Crowe, ‘Giving back the space: freedom, meaning and the Northern Territory Intervention’, Law in Context, 27:2, 2010, pp 135-149. • The song ‘Cut A Rug’ by Dougie Young on Buried Country • Clinton Walker, Buried Country, Pluto Press, Sydney 2000.

Ques ti ons for consideration: How can we characterise Australian society’s attitude to alcohol? How does it differ according to race, social class and gender? How does alcohol disrupt communities? How does it bring them together?

Unit C: Culture The Mouth: Food and Language and Consumption Required Readings: 1. Primary Source: Look at the rhetoric of ‘food safaris’ such as: Session 11 http://www.gourmetsafaris.com.au/cart/sydney_safaris.php 2. Ghassan Hage, ‘Migration, Food, Memory and Home-Building’ in Susanna Radstone (ed), 15th Memory: Histories, Theories Debates, Fordham University Press, 2010, pp 416-427. November 3. Zora Simic, ‘What Are Ya’: Negotiating identities in the western suburbs of Sydney during the 1980s’, Journal of Australian Studies, 32:2, June 2008, pp 223-236 4. ‘Multilingual SBS’ in Ien Ang, Gay Hawkins, Lamia Daboussy, The SBS Story, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2008, pp 54-91.

Additional Readings: • Ien Ang, Gay Hawkins, Lamia Daboussy, The SBS Story, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2008 • Ghassan Hage, White Nation: Fantasies of white supremacy in a multicultural society, Pl uto Press, Sydney, 1998.

Episodes of SBS’ Food Safari Film: Finished People

Ques ti ons for consideration: How have new migrants sought to feel ‘at home’ in Australia? To what degree has the state accommodated these desires? How are non-white, non-western cultures consumed by white Australia? To what degree are such cultures ‘exotic’? To what degree are they ‘normal’?

This week will also include a field trip and lunch at a restaurant. Details TBA

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Session 12 The Ear: Music, Poetry and Place

November Required Readings: 22 1. Primary sources: This week in class we will listen to some songs that articulate a sense of place and use them as a jumping off point for discussion. But in preparation you could listen to some relevant Australian music, ie ‘Wide Open Road’ by the Triffids, ‘Cattle and Cane’ by the Go-Betweens and ‘My Island Home’ by the Warumpi Band. 2. Jon Stratton, 'The Triffids: The Sense of a Place', Popular Music and Society, 30.3, July 2007, pp 377-399 3. Graeme Smith, ‘The voices of country’, in Singing Australian, Pluto Press, Sydney, 2005, pp 119-139

Additional Readings: • John Connell and Chris Gibson, Soundtracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place, Routledge, London, 2003. • Philip Hayward (ed), From Pop to Punk to Postmodernism, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1992. • Brian Elliott, ‘Jindyworobaks and Aborigines’, Australian Literary Studies, 8:1, 1977, pp29-50 • Clinton Walker, Buried Country, Pluto Press, Sydney, 2000.

Ques ti ons for consideration: How has popular music in Australia articulated a sense of place? How do different types of music do it differently? How has white music and literature appropriated an Indigenous sense of place? To what degree is Australian music ‘local’? To what degree is it ‘global’?

Session 13 The Eye: Cinema, Television, Humour and the Grotesque

November Required Readings/Viewing: 29 1. Primary source: the film Muriel’s Wedding. We will also watch and discuss clips of tv comedy in class. 2. Jessica Milner Davis, ‘Aussie’ humour and laughter: Joking as inculturated ritual’ (pp 31-47), Ann Pender, ‘The rude rudiments of satire: Barry Humphries Humour’ (pp 189-201), Susan Lever, ‘Lookatmoiye! Lookatmoiye!: Australian situation comedy’ (pp 221-238) in Fran De Groen and Peter Kirkpatrick, Serious Frolic: Essays on Australian Humour, UQP, Brisbane, 2009 3. Lisa Bode, ‘It’s a joke, sir’: Chris Lilley’s comedy of character, performance and taboo’, Metro, No 157, June 2008, pp 138-143

Additional Readings/Viewing: Episodes of Summer Heights High and Kath and Kim, An audience with Dame Edna Everage

Ques ti ons for consideration: How are we to make sense of the prevalence of satire, grotesquerie and cross-dressing in Australian humour? Is it funny? Is it demeaning? What do ‘Summer Heights High’, ‘Kath and Kim’ and Barry Humphries’ live shows say about gender and class? Do such performances encourage us to laugh ‘with’ or ‘at’ bogans? Is Australian humour inclusionary or exclusionary?

Session 14 The Body: Sport, the Beach, Masculinities and Femininities

December 6 Required Readings: 1. Primary souce: ‘Calls for respect after criticism of swimmer’s weight’, New York Times, July 26th 2012 (and please clink on the links embedded in the Times article.)

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2. Caroline Ford, ‘Gazing, strolling, falling in love: culture and nature on the beach in nineteenth century Sydney’, History Australia, 3:1, June 2006, pp 08.1-08.14 3. Maree Pardy, ‘Eat, Swim, Pray’, in M/C Journal, 14:4, 2011, pp1-13 4. David McNeil, ‘Black Magic’, nationalism, race and class in Australian football’, Race and Class, 49:4, April-June 2008, pp 22-37

Additional Readings: • James Skinner, Keith Gilbert, Allan Edwards (eds), Some like it Hot: The beach as a cultural dimension, Meyer & Meyer Sport, Oxford, 2003 • Martin Flanagan, 1970 and other stories of the Australian game, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1999 • Film: Puberty Blues

Ques ti ons for consideration: Are sports-people’s bodies considered to be the property of the nation? How do Australians look at sports-people? How do they look at women’s bodies differently to men’s bodies? And white bodies differently to black bodies? To what degree is beach behaviour and dress ‘culture’? Can you map the ‘zones of undress’ at Bondi Beach?

Your major research essay is due this week.

Session 15 No class. Essays will be available for collection.

13th December

Classroom This is a seminar subject and requires active participation. It also requires respectful and engaged Etiquette di s cussion, i ncluding l istening to and res pecting other points of vi ew. Eating is not permitted in any classrooms. Please kindly dispose of rubbish in the bins provided.

Required Co- Field trips are scheduled throughout the semester. curricular Activities

Suggested Co- curricular Activities

Your Instructor Dr Toby Martin is an historian and musician. Since finishing his PhD at the University of Sydney i n 2011 - titled 'Yodelling Boundary Riders: Country Music in Australia, 1936-2010' - Toby has published several articles on country music and its intersections with modernity, national identities and gender. He was the 2011 'Folk Fellow' at the National Library of Australia where he researched the music of Dougie Young and other Indigenous songwriters from western New South Wales and formed a band, with Young's grandson, to perform these songs. Toby is currently working on an ARC-funded project on the history of tourism in Australia and, after many years playing in rock band Youth Group, he has recently released a solo album called 'Love's Shadow'.

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