Cirrus@Austlit

'THE IDEAS EXPRESSED in the above statements – plucked from myriad ‘official’ examples – will likely be familiar to readers. They reflect two key assumptions that permeate the provision of maternal and infant care in Australia and throughout the Global North. The first is that breastfeeding constitutes the optimal foundation for a child’s development. The second is that a mother and baby share an ‘inseparable’ dyadic attachment. These assumptions are presented as ahistorical universal truths. In fact, they are radically new.'  (Introduction)

'Do Not Go Gentle, presented by the Sydney Theatre Company, is a marvel of a play, and this is a marvel of a production. Patricia Cornelius’s words, spoken by Scott of the Antarctic and his ragtag bunch of fellow travellers, are poetic, quixotic, trenchant, and potent. The liminal space offered by the ice and the snow of the setting takes the characters deep into their own psychic extremities. They become ruminative, playful, despairing, and libidinal as they encounter the limits of their physical and emotional capacities. They yearn for the ever-elusive South Pole, seeking to reach an end that promises liberation and obliteration.' (Introduction)   

'First things first, the audience loved it. As Julia Gillard, in a performance that blended naturalism and impersonation, Justine Clarke held the crowd in the palm of her hand. They swooned and sighed to the wholesome depiction of Gillard’s working-class Welsh parents and cackled at the pleasurable jokes made at the expense of Kevin Rudd, Mark Latham, and John Howard. And when Julia wrestled with her conscience over the policy compromises of her government – the refusal of same-sex marriage, the resumption of offshore processing for asylum seekers, the reduction of the single-mother benefit – the audience was encouraged to see that such disappointments were the cost of doing business in a dirty game.' (Introduction)

'The Bible in Australia does a wonderful job of revealing the ubiquity of the Christian Bible in Australian history. Meredith Lake moves dextrously between temporal and geographical interactions with the biblical text. She understands the text read and worshipped by ‘bible-bashers’, but she also notices and taxonomises the scriptural references that infuse ostensibly secular cultural products, such as a Nick Cave song or a Tim Winton novel. That Lake’s book begins with the image of Koby Abberton emerging from the surf at Maroubra with the words ‘My brother’s keeper’ tattooed across his chest, tells us much about the range and the remit of this book. This is not a history of exegesis or of religious institutions. It is the history of the uses to which the Christian Bible has been put in the making of Australia. And she argues that ‘The Bible still gets under Australian skin’ (3).' (Introduction)

'There has been a lot happening on Australia’s small screens. Neighbours turned 30. Struggle Street was accused of poverty porn. Pete evangelised Paleo. Gina got litigious. Netflix muscled in. The Bachelor spawned The Bachelorette. Peter Allen’s maraccas were exhumed. The Labor Party ate itself. Anzac was an anti-climax. And so much more...

'Join us as we survey the Australian televisual landscape, and try to make sense of the myriad changes transforming what and how we watch. We’ve come a long way since Bruce Gyngell welcomed us to television in 1956. We now watch on demand and wherever we want, in our lounge rooms and on our devices.

'But some things stay the same. The small screen is still a place for imagining Australia, for better or for worse. Small Screens challenges and celebrates our contemporary TV worlds.' (Publication summary)