Arts Faculty News

Reclaim Patriotism

The Melbourne Writers Festival will host the Victorian launch of a new series entitled Australian Encounters. The first volume in the series, Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-building for Progressives, by Tim Soutphommasane, will be launched by Monash lecturer Waleed Aly on Sunday 30 August.

The series is the result of a new publishing partnership between the National Centre for Australian Studies (NCAS), Monash University and Cambridge University Press.

The series engages with important Australian issues, spanning current society, politics, culture, economics and historical debates. The essence of the series is to bring new thinking and fresh perspectives to issues that are vital to Australian society and to provide a platform for academics to influence public debate.

The Commissioning Editor of the series is Dr Tony Moore, a lecturer and researcher with NCAS.

“My vision for the series is to provide a space for emerging and established scholars, as well as thinkers in other fields of public life, to re-work new research and ideas in a journalistic style that is accessible to the general educated reader of non-fiction”, explained Dr Moore.

Australian Encounters differs from other political and issues-based publications by an editorial preference for work that cuts across left–right binaries and the weather-beaten orthodoxies of political parties and special interest groups.

Forthcoming titles will question the alleged decline of journalism, consider the toxic culture in the state branches of the ALP by rifting on the self-destruction of the NSW Iemma Government, analyse anxieties about threats to childhood innocence from a philosophical perspective, and revise the nationalist mythology surrounding John Curtin that suggests he was an enthusiast for the British Empire.

Debbie Lee, Academic Publishing Manager at Cambridge University Press, said “In this the year when the Press ‘turns’ 425, the relatively youthful Australian branch is celebrating the birth of Australian Encounters — a series of stimulating, accessible, cutting-edge books that herald a new way of thinking about historical, contemporary and future-oriented issues.”

Dr Moore is keen to hear from Monash academics who have undertaken research that reveals something new about Australia, that might be developed into a book for the series.

The National Centre for Australian Studies has also recently launched the National Conversations public lecture series, which is aligned with the Australian Encounters series. National Conversations has already engaged the work of some of Australia’s foremost scholars and social critics, including historian Professor Ken Inglis.

Visit the Arts Events blog for more information about the Australian Encounters launch.

Visit the Cambridge University Press site for more information on Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-building for Progressives.

Travel in Atomic Sunshine

Robin Gerster’s study of the post-war occupation of Japan, Travels in Atomic Sunshine has been shortlisted in the History Book category of the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.

Travels in Atomic Sunshine is published by Scribe Publications, 2008.

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History, the latest book from Professor Jenny Hocking, National Centre for Australian Studies, has been shortlisted for The Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2009.

Comments from the judges stated:

“Biographies of the living are never easy, but Jenny Hocking’s first volume of the life of Gough Whitlam blends critical distance and sympathy with a complex figure who dominated Labor politics for a generation. This book is also a sharp, intelligent history of a dismal period of Australian public life. Whitlam’s triumph over Labor’s state machines was perhaps even more remarkable than his short-lived triumph over the electorate. The gradual transformation of his personality under the duress of leading Labor into office is one of the subtle achievements of this fine book”.

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History is published by Miegunyah Press.

The winners of the awards will be announced at the opening night of the Melbourne Writers Festival on Friday 21 August.

Visit Jenny Hocking’s profile page.

Jeff Jarvis, Vicki Peel with Peter Doody, Manager of Working Hostels Mildura

Are backpackers long term tourists or short term migrants?

This is a question that Dr Jeff Jarvis and Dr Vicki Peel from the Graduate Tourism Program at the National Centre for Australian Studies tried to answer when looking at what impact Working Holiday Makers had on the tourism economy of Mildura in north west Victoria.

The pilot study, which is a joint initiative with Tourism Victoria, found that Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) are one of the fastest growing international visitor sectors in Australia. Between 2004/05 and 2008/09 the market has increased by over 79%, with just under 188,000 young internationals arriving in Australia last year. This makes Working Holiday Makers the ‘boom segment’ for Australia’s tourism industry. The market has been estimated to be worth over $1.8 billion per year to Australia in 2007/08.

The Working Holiday Maker visa permits young international travellers aged between 18 and 30, from nineteen countries the right to work and travel in Australia for up to 12 months. It is a popular visa for young backpackers to take up.

In 2005 and 2006, the Howard Government changed the requirements for Working Holiday Maker Visas. The changes allow these backpackers to apply for an additional WHM visa, if they spend three months working in agriculture. It was aimed at generating wealth for regional economies, while providing farmers with a reliable and mobile workforce.

Dr Jarvis and Dr Peel found that Working Holiday Makers had a substantial impact on the tourism economy of Mildura. On average, they stayed in town for two months while they worked, and spent $3200 during their stay. Dr Jarvis and Dr Peel also found that farmers were benefiting, with Working Holiday Makers interested in staying in jobs for the full 3 months.

The researchers found there is scope for the Federal Government to extend the upper age limit of the working holiday visa from 30 to 35. This would cater to the booming international tourism market for career breakers or ‘flash packers’ as they are now known.

Dr Jarvis and Dr Peel are in the process of applying for funding via an ARC-Linkage grant to roll their study out across more regions around Australia.

The summary of the Long Term Tourists or Short Term Migrants? study is available from Tourism Victoria site.

Listen to the ‘Backpacker benefits’ radio interview on ABC Local radio

The Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Awards are a unique opportunity to undertake international study and research related to your Australian degree, as well as gain international work experience through an internship or work placement, building your professional network in Asia.

The Awards are open to Australian undergraduates and postgraduates in any field of study. Twenty postgraduate and twenty undergraduate awards are available each year to Australian students to undertake study/research and internships or work placements in Asia.

Visit the Prime Ministers Australia Asia Endeavour Awards page on the Monash site.

From Superwomen to Domestic Goddesses

On 16 July, the National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University, in conjunction with the Victorian Women’s Trust, hosted the launch of Dr Natasha Campo’s From Superwomen to Domestic Goddesses: The Rise and Fall of Feminism.

The book was launched by Professor Marilyn Lake (La Trobe University) and by Professor Rae Frances, Dean of Arts (Monash University). It examines the rise and fall of feminism in the public imagination in the last twenty years and explains why ‘feminism failed me’ has become the catch-cry of a generation.

Published by Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, the book is available now in the Monash University bookshop.

In this photo from left to right: Mary Crooks, Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust; Professor Rae Frances, Dean of Arts, Monash University; Professor Marilyn Lake, History Program, La Trobe University; Dr Natasha Campo, author, National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University.

Photo courtesy of The Victorian Women’s Trust – Steb Fisher Photography.

Dr Robin Niblett, Director of Chatham House, will presenting a public lecture on Monday 24 August, 2009:

Ready to Lead? Rethinking the Role of America in dealing with Islamic Extremism

Visit the School of Political and Social Inquiry for further information and registration.