Cirrus@Austlit

'Our public debates are often marked by hostility and exclusion. Many of them touch on identity, and seem to say more about the protagonists than about the issues. Underlying and adding to the heat of such debates are questions about Australian identity. Can a Muslim, a Jew, an opponent or supporter of Israeli actions in Gaza, be regarded as authentically Australian, for example? Though the debates are usually vituperative in tone and simplistic in argument, they raise, however, deeper questions about why they start and what fuels their energy.' (Introduction)