'Dr John Barrett (1931–1997) established this award by way of a bequest to La Trobe University in 1987. Dr John Barrett was a lecturer and reader at La Trobe University from 1969 until his retirement in 1990. His research specialisation was twentieth-century Australian history, particularly national involvement in the world wars. Dr Barrett was a member of the Journal of Australian Studies editorial board from 1979 to 1990.
'The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies is awarded annually for the best written article published by the Journal of Australian Studies (JAS). The award is administered by the International Australian Studies Association.' (Journal of Australian Studies
'Dr John Barrett (1931-1997) established this award by way of a bequest to La Trobe University in 1987. Dr Barrett was a lecturer and reader at La Trobe University from 1969 until his retirement in 1990. His research specialisation was twentieth-century Australian history, particularly national involvement in the world wars. Dr Barrett was a member of the Journal of Australian Studies editorial board from 1979-1990.
The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies is awarded annually for the best-written article published by the Journal of Australian Studies (JAS). The prize has been dormant since 1996 but has recently been revived. From 2008 there will be two prizes awarded each year: the best article by a scholar (open) the best article by a scholar (postgraduate). The award comprises a cash prize of AUD$500 plus a year's membership to InASA (including a subscription to Journal of Australian Studies). A prize committee established by the International Australian Studies Association (InASA) executive will make the award each year.' Source: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/competitions/rjau.pdf (Sighted 06/10/2011).
'The politico-historical settings of Christos Tsiolkas’s novels The Jesus Man (1999) and The Slap (2008) compromise the expressions of self manifested by his transcultural characters. The failure of Howard-era multicultural policies combines with the economic rationalising of the culture wars and the xenophobic hysteria spread by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party to haunt those marginalised by the Eurocentricity of Australian culture. As a result, the transcultural characters of The Jesus Man are forced to externalise an augmented version of their performative selves, compromised as they are by such cultural homogenisation; in The Slap, the failure of neoliberal multicultural policies manifests in the anxieties experienced by the characters. The characters of both novels are forced to confront these sociocultural, historical and psychological conflicts in a space laden with historical tensions, cultural erasure and political uncertainty. This article argues that Tsiolkas’s real-world fictional settings problematise the performance of his multicultural characters in ways that unsettle hegemonic constructions of Australian culture. In particular, I contend that from this tension, a blurred space emerges that offers a way forward for transcultural subjects: it is a liminal space in which cultural syncretism is encouraged, cultural performance is delimited, and hegemonic cultural norms are mitigated.'(Publication abstract)
'The 1970s is often characterised as the decade of Australia’s “new nationalism”, expressed most potently in a wave of cultural activity nurtured by government funding. The figure of the ocker was central to this new nationalism, particularly in film. The ocker, a contemporary masculine archetype devoted to beer, sex and swearing, was a star of Australian films such as The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, Alvin Purple, Petersen and Don’s Party. Yet few scholars have considered the ocker in a gendered context, remarkable when we consider that while the ocker films were being produced, the women’s liberation movement was mounting a radical challenge to Australian cultural, social and political norms. What new understandings of 1970s society and culture might result if we read the new nationalist ocker and women’s liberation in the same frame? This article examines the relationship between ocker culture and women’s liberation in the 1970s. It argues that we can read new nationalist popular culture as a site of gendered cultural contest, with a particular focus on feminist responses to ocker culture, including Alvin Purple, and a reading of the film Petersen.' (Publication abstract)
'Kim Scott’s novel Taboo (2017) centres on the Kukenarup massacre, which followed the fatal spearing of John Dunn in 1880 on the ancestral lands of the Wirlomin Noongar people. Taboo traces the dynamics of silence that run through the lives of Noongar and settler descendants in the wake of massacre. What the novel underscores is that while a massacre may be located at a particular site and commemorated by public gestures (plaques, memorials and ceremonies), its reality cannot ultimately be separated from the inner lives of the survivors and their descendants. This article argues that the terrain of massacre is shown in Scott’s novel to be quintessentially extimate, a word that Jacques Lacan coined to describe the intimate exterior of psychic reality. As a concept, the extimate helps name the space that is routinely excluded by the deployment of public and private domains in the liberal capitalist order, whereby social suffering is consigned to a privatised interior, and private violence is made banal by empty public utterance.' (Publication abstract)
'In Australia, language and song are integral to maintaining Aboriginal knowledge systems. British colonisation and ensuing Australian government policies of assimilation have adversely impacted these knowledge systems, at least partially by functioning to dramatically diminish the vitality of many Aboriginal languages and song traditions. As a Noongar researcher motivated by community-oriented goals, I employ a multidisciplinary approach to enhance the revitalisation of the endangered Noongar language and its song traditions in the south coast region of Western Australia. This work draws on established methods from ethnomusicology and linguistics, engaging with community knowledge-holders and archival records to rebuild repertoire while increasing opportunities to gather together, sing and speak. While the processes developed to aid this endeavour may function as useful models for others involved in similar projects across the world, its aims are primarily oriented towards empowering the local community. Given the continued development of approaches to Indigenous research, this article will discuss the potential for language revitalisation, song and performance to expand available ways of knowing.' (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)
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