'Our first editorial of 2020 reflected on the profound impact that bushfires would have on Australian society. The devastation of the bushfires has since been dwarfed by a pandemic and a global revolt in response to the murder of George Floyd by police in the United States. The fires and the pandemic each show that our attempts to control nature are as futile as ever, while the Black Lives Matter protests lay bare another profound failure. Each of these events has brought into stark reality the structures of inequality that govern our lives. This issue looks to questions of identity in settler societies, to the history and contemporary legacies of racism embedded within them, and to the alternatives available through multicultural identities, and through popular democracy and protest.' (Editorial introduction)
'The standard story of Australian national cultural development revolves around a fundamental conflict between the forces of empire loyalism or universalism on the one hand and Australian nationalism on the other. Yet this narrative structure neglects the complexities of the settler-colonial, as distinct from the colonial, situation. This article is premised on the proposition that the settler-colonial situation is conditioned by a triangular system of relationships involving settler, metropolitan and Indigenous agencies. In this schema, the settler is compelled towards both indigenisation and neo-European replication, while both trajectories are similarly founded on the prior displacement of pre-existing Indigenous populations. While at certain historical moments exclusive emphasis on the settler–metropole relation may be maintained, at others the disavowal of the settler–indigene relation common to both sides of the “two Australias” divide is rendered untenable by changing circumstances. It is into such a moment this article aims to situate its subjects—Rex Ingamells and the Jindyworobaks—and it does so with reference to the correspondences between Jindyworobak indigenism and the indigenising settler nationalism evident in the “salvage linguistics” of Ted Strehlow. In doing so, the article aims to reveal the complexities and persistence of what it terms the settler predicament.' (Publication abstract)
'In the 1950s, the Australian Women’s Weekly represented the popular face of femininity, publishing features on the home, motherhood and romance. Among articles about raising children and cooking a family dinner, however, were regular discussions of Cold War politics. How, then, did a strong political awareness of global events fit in with 1950s ideals of femininity, when politics was still very much the domain of men? This article puts forward a framework of “feminised politics” to discuss the ways in which the Weekly adapted, generated and fused contemporary ideas about womanhood with discourse on global events to encourage women’s increasing participation in the politics of the Cold War. As Australian society grappled with the myriad changes brought about by the end of World War II and new power struggles between East and West, the government and media often presented conservatism as the antidote to the fear generated by these widespread changes. Therefore, this article suggests that the magazine’s framing was necessary to alleviate anxieties surrounding women’s changing place in the postwar world. Understanding the Weekly’s feminised politics reinforces recent scholarship on the complexities of womanhood in the 1950s and illustrates the diverse formulation and expression of femininity in the 20th century.' (Publication abstract)
