Australia's whaling discourse: global norm, green consciousness and identity

Abstract

This paper reviews the evolution of Australia's whaling discourse as it has appeared in Australian popular non-print media from the early 1900s to the early 2000s. Language and images from over 380 items (including films, television and radio reports, and home movies) were used to examine the formation of the anti-whaling idea, in which the media is considered to have played a significant role. The study was inspired by the nature of the current global whaling debate, which has become polarised politically and socially. Australia opposes whaling nations, primarily Japan. Significantly, Australia made a rapid transition to an anti-whaling nation once its own whaling industry terminated in 1979; its discourse now belongs to the globally dominant norm, in which whales have come to symbolise a strong green consciousness and identity. Such consciousness, framed as specific to the West, shapes the pro-whaling and counter-hegemonic or anti-anti-whaling stance taken by Japan. Reviewing the discourse, I have analysed how whales have positioned Australia in relation to the whaling issue and to environmentalism, while referring to the interplay between globality and language, and aiming to provide some insight into the current controversy.