Culture In Australia Research Articles

‘Chifley spells security’: Tracing the Origins of Contemporary Australian Security Discourse

Strong claims have been made about the significance of the concept of security in modern governance. The study of security has developed from its post-1945 focus on the state’s role in securing the population from external threat to include broader and critical perspectives, which seek to embed the concept of security in its cultural and historical contexts. This article traces the origins of contemporary security culture in Australia to the first half of the twentieth century. It examines the concept of security from debates about the provision of national insurance and the amelioration of the suffering of the Great Depression to the Curtin and Chifley Labor governments’ postwar reconstruction program in the 1940s. The article argues that the origins of national security culture in the present lie in mid-twentieth-century debates about the role of the state in securing the population from economic deprivation, unemployment and ill health.

NZYQ and constitutional culture

The political and social reaction to the High Court's decision in NZYQ is evidence of a deficit of constitutional culture in Australia: there has been a race to the bottom in public debate. This is against the background of the failed Voice referendum. Possible ways forward are discussed, and France is mentioned as counterpoint on the issue of constitutional culture.

The Postmodernisms of Russell Hall: Exploring Australia’s Changing Architecture Culture Through a Biographical Approach

ABSTRACT This paper studies the work and practice of Brisbane-based architect Russell Hall to better understand how architects in Australia negotiated the professional and formal changes that emerged in architectural culture from the 1970s. Architectural historiographies tend to discuss postmodernism as plural and multiple, while also boxing it into various branches or strands, such as ecological, traditionalist/historicist, vernacular, or pop/fun. Many of these strands, however, co-exist within the work of architects. When you study their professional biographies up close, it becomes difficult (if not impossible) to sustain these categorisations, as architectural designs often blend different interests in specific, situated ways. If broad categorisations exist about postmodern architectural forms, so too do they exist about postmodern professional practice. In the latter decades of the 20th century, it is often said, the “hired-gun-architect” and the “conglomerate architecture-building-business corporation” replaced the “gentleman-artist-architect.” However, once again, on the ground, the situation is often more nuanced and multifaceted than that. This paper adopts a biographical approach to better understand how one architect, Hall, negotiated the professional and formal changes that emerged in architectural culture from the 1970s. In doing so, it seeks to improve our understanding of postmodern architectural culture in Australia—and Queensland specifically.

WebQuest development based on Google Maps for studying language and culture of Australia

Introduction. Language and Culture studies, studying the relationship between language and culture, is an important component of linguistic education, which today is not given enough attention in the training programs for linguistics students. This problem can be solved by integrating students' research activities based on WebQuest technology into the foreign language training course. The purpose of this study is to determine the didactic potential of a WebQuest created with Google Maps geolocation application in the study of Australian Language and Culture by linguistics students. Methodology. The authors analyzed scientific literature and teaching materials in the field of Language and Culture studies, linguoculturology, australistics and digital linguodidactics. As a basis for the web-quest, an interactive map of Australia was created with Google Maps geolocation application, which allows to link GPS-coordinates of geographical objects with selected sociocultural and linguistic data. WebQuest scenarios containing Language and Culture studies tasks and instructions for their fulfillment were developed. Results. Experimental work was carried out on the basis of Linguistics faculty of Bauman Moscow State Technical University. The WebQuest was tested in groups of 2nd year students majoring in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. The criterion-based evaluation of the obtained results was carried out, as well as the analysis of self-evaluation sheets and written feedback from the students participating in the WebQuest. Conclusion. The analysis and generalization of the above experience allowed the authors to formulate the conditions for WebQuest successful inclusion in English as a Second language course in order to increase linguistics students’ motivation to study mutual influence of language and culture and develop communicative skills in Australian English.

The Role of Shared Resilience in Building Employment Pathways with People with a Disability

For workers living with a disability, pathways to sustainable employment in the open labour market are inhibited by barriers operating at different structural and societal levels. The culture of Australia’s government employment services has applied a ‘work-first’ approach that emphasises finding people employment rather than supporting the acquisition of skills and education. The net effect of this approach is the preferencing of short-term employment solutions, with a focus on individual behaviour or so-called resilience and an emphasis on personal responsibility instead of addressing structural issues. In this paper, we explore how people with disability can be supported in finding employment through a shared resilience approach offered by a Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE). We suggest that WISEs can provide the conditions for shared resilience by developing and sustaining networks needed to generate hybrid pathways to work and by role modelling inclusive work conditions in the open labour market.

ИРЛАНДСКОЕ ВЛИЯНИЕ НА АВСТРАЛИЙСКИЙ ВАРИАНТ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА И КУЛЬТУРУ

The article focuses on the lexical, grammatical and phonetic composition of the Australian English language (AusE), which was mainly influenced by the Irish variety of English (IrE). The Australian variety had practically emerged by the 19th century and reflected not only British dialects, but also many historical processes, namely the migration of white people to the continent, mainly from Ireland, which had a direct impact on the formation of the Australian variety of the English language. In this form, it has been generally preserved to this day. The character of the Australians, which they are proud of and which makes them special, is also acquired from the Irish, who moved to the "ever-green continent" with their traditions, enriching the local population with their culture. Toponymic names of geographical objects on the map of Australia also appeared due to Irish borrowings. The Irish influence on the language and culture of Australia will be discussed in this article.

Return Fantasies: Martial Masculinity, Misogyny and Homosocial Bonding in the Aftermath of Second World War

AbstractThis article explores male popular culture in Australia in the mid‐1940s, particularly men's magazines of the period, to illuminate aspects of the psycho‐sexual dimensions of Australian veterans returning to civil society. The sexual landscape of Australian society had undergone considerable transformation, especially through an increasing sexualisation of popular culture in the 1920s and 1930s. This provided a context for considerable sexual anxiety and tension, especially in the context of numerous stories of Australian women consorting with American servicemen during the war. Men's popular culture, especially short fiction, where more lurid fantasies could play out, often depicted women as sexually voracious and duplicitous. Many of the short stories involved love triangles where the men were betrayed by women. But the resolution of these rivalries often pathologised women while preserving the male bonds of war. Homosocial bonds were a bulwark in the troubled transition from war to peace.

Chinese-Australian Culture in a Sinophone History and Geography

ABSTRACT This article proposes to view Australian Chinese cultural products through a Sinophone studies lens to clarify the position of Australia in transnational patterns of Chinese-language cultural production. Three examples illustrate how Sinophone studies can expand research on Chinese-language culture in Australia, by showing them to also be instances of wider phenomena: Chinese-language theatre, Federation-era fiction, and the foreign student literature of the 1990s. Examining how these examples fit into wider patterns of Chinese-language production allows us to expand dyadic views of diaspora or transnationalism while also directing greater attention to community diversity and marginalised texts. The Australian Chinese studies community is right to celebrate the length and breadth of Chinese cultural production in Australia, and considering Sinophone Australian literature and theatre in the context of global Sinophone cultural production can help sharpen perspectives on what is shared and what is particular about the Australian case.

What’s it going to take? Lessons learned from COVID-19 and worker mental health in the Australian construction industry

In Australia, rates of suicide and poor mental health among construction workers were high before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Lock downs”, “restrictions”, “social distancing” and legislative changes responding to the pandemic have likely exacerbated the working conditions that foster poor mental health. This study analyses the way in which workplace health and safety (WHS) is regulated in Australia against the backdrop of existing research relating to the development of Australia’s WHS laws, and the state of mental health of those working in Australia’s construction industry. This study was conducted using a doctrinal research methodology and utilising legal theory. This study assesses the capacity of the Australian WHS regulatory system to protect construction workers’ mental health by examining and interpreting key provisions in Australia’s WHS laws. It then uses a regulatory theory, responsive regulation, to explain the inconsistency between the capacity of those laws to safeguard mental health and the very poor state of mental health of Australia’s construction workers. The conclusion reached is that there is scope to improve current WHS laws to better protect construction workers’ mental health. A recommendation is made, that current WHS laws are changed to prescribe minimum standards of worker mental health, and mandate control measures to minimise and/or eliminate psychosocial risks. It is submitted that these changes in the law will contribute to a changed culture in Australia’s construction sector, which is supportive of mentally healthy workplaces and workers.

Australian Objects in the Religious Studies Collection at the University of Münster: The “Pater Worms Collection” as a Case of Inter-Religious Contact

The paper discusses the Australian artefacts in the collection of the Institute for the Study of Religion at the University of Münster. The collection was established in the 1950s with the intention to exemplify, for students of Catholic theology, the wide variety of material expressions developed by different religious traditions in the world. The collection also highlights zones of missionary contact and their inclusion in theological thinking about non-Christian traditions. The Australian objects were given to the collection in the second half of the 1950s by the Pallottine missionary Ernest Worms. It is not the goal of this paper to attempt a thorough ethnological analysis of the objects; instead, we discuss how these objects from indigenous Australian cultures were included in a collection of religious artefacts owned by the Faculty of Catholic Theology of the University of Münster and to what extent the founder of the collection, Anton Antweiler, considered these objects expressions of the religions and religious history of Australia. To this end, the correspondence between Worms and Antweiler has been analysed, particularly where Worms discusses these objects extensively from both a missionary perspective and from his point of view as a scholar researching Australian cultures. In addition, his German treatise on the religions of Australia (*Die Religionen der Südsee und Australiens*) was consulted. Based on these sources, Worms’ perception of the religions and cultures of Australia and how it informed his collecting activities can be reconstructed at least partially. At the same time, the paper attempts to direct the focus at the objects themselves as bearers of information. The material artefacts that were collected, described and finally sent to Münster to be exhibited tell their own stories about cultural and religious contact, in Australia as well as in Germany, where they were shown to students of Catholic Theology and are accessible for students and staff members until today.

Australia

In this contribution, we provide a brief overview of the development of Hip Hop culture in Australia, looking specifically at rap and breaking (breakdancing). We show how Australian rap has for a long time been dominated by white Australian artists attempting to solidify an Aussie Hip Hop identity distinct from the United States. Because rap from Indigenous and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) communities did not fit the tropes of dominant (white) Australian culture, and were instead disregarded as simple mimicry of African American rap, the gatekeepers of Aussie Hip Hop for a long time locked out these minority artists. This created a divide in the rap scene that reflected broader Australian racial politics. In contrast, the breaking community has historically been more inclusive and reflective of a multicultural Australia, and has been more connected with the breakers of North America, Europe and Asia. In this contribution, we demonstrate how Australian Hip Hop has evolved over the past two decades to be more culturally inclusive, supported by key Australian artists, community radio, social media and finally validated by the Australian music industry as a distinct musical genre worth celebrating.

The Role of Women-Journalists and Writers in the Development of Democracy and Culture in Australia (the end of the XIXth century – 70s of the XXth century)

The emancipation of Australian women in particular journalists and writers, who dedicated their lives to the development of culture of the fifth continent has been detected in this article. The goal of the article is to analyse the arrival of women – journalists, editors, publishers - in the print media and to determine their role in the formation and development of democracy and culture of the young state.
 As a result of the interdisciplinary research (combination of history, sociology, philology, culturology) new data on the role of women were obtained in the formation of democracy in Australia. This gives reason to affirm that this is the first study of this problem in Ukraine.
 New names of such outstanding Australian men – journalists, editors, publishers, writers as E.S. Hall, S. Bennet, H. Parks, G. Mott, C. Feilberg, W. Winn and women – L. Lawson, F. Baverstock, N. Palmer were introduced into scientific circulation. Significantly expanded and supplemented historical and cultural information about such outstanding women writers and journalists as M. Gilmore, E.F. Richardson, M. Franklin, K.S. Prichard, C. Stead, C. McCullough. Their life is investigated in the context of socio-historical development of Australia and world events that were reflected in their work. Great is their contribution to the antifascist struggle, to the defence of freedom and democratic values in Australia.
 The artistic value of the work of each of them is determined. The humanistic and realistic approach in creating their characters is clarified. It reflects the historical and socio-cultural development of Australia since the mid-XIX century to the 70-s of the XX century. It is proved that the history of periodicals and the development of literature on the fifth continent is the story of extraordinary talented women, in whose destinies the history of the development of the fourth power and the literature of Australia is reflected. The stages of The Bulletin magazine’s existence, the reasons for its closure and its influence on formation of Australian national literature are analysed.
 The practical value of the work lies in the fact that it brings new data to academic courses such as “The History of Australia”, “The Print Media of Australia”, “The Literature of Australia”.
 It is proved than women writers and journalists of Australia enriched Australian literature with bright original works and also made a significant contribution to its culture and democracy.

Digital arts and culture in Australia: Promissory discourses and uncertain realities in pandemic times

This article critically interrogates the promissory discourse underpinning the cultural sectors’ ‘digital pivot’ in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021; namely, that artistic and creative work could be done lucratively online, offer equal opportunities for all, and assure ongoing audience consumption. Drawing on empirical data from two research projects with arts and culture workers in Australia during COVID-19 restrictions, we investigate the intersection of this promissory discourse with individual and institutional practices of digital disengagement. We contend that, rather than a panacea to lost work and income and the assurance of continued cultural consumption, digital disengagement meant that the pivot prohibited, multiplied, and negated artistic and cultural labour. By considering disengagement that was imposed upon, resourcing contingent, and that actively pushed back, this article complicates our understanding of digitalised arts and cultural labour.

Critiquing the “What Is Jazz” Puzzle in a Diasporic Setting: “Jazz-Related” Performance and Patronage in Australia before “Jazz”

ABSTRACT This article proposes that the framing of jazz diaspora in relation to Australia must embrace significant antecedents of jazz-related performance and culture in Australia, including blackface and African-American minstrel show music, improvisatory popular and art music practices and various subgenres of ragtime. It argues that the spirit of “jazz” as a vehicle for extroverted self-expression and identification with American popular modernity and youthful rebellion through music, dance, and fashion was already present in the Antipodes from around 1912 to the final year of World War I, when a “ragging” and “jazzing” novelty act called Australia’s First Jazz Band appeared in vaudeville.

Special issue introduction: utilitarian filmmaking in Australia 1945–80

ABSTRACT While Australian cinema is generally defined by the feature filmmaking tradition, at least since the 1970s, ‘utilitarian filmmaking' represents a significant but barely visible portion of screen culture in Australia, a portion that has had an emphatic but unexamined influence on the media industries, education systems, industrial relations, research culture and national culture. Recent scholarly work undertaken internationally has shown how this vital strand of cultural and industrial history has often been overlooked; worse, it has often been expunged from cultural memory, either by critical neglect or through the destruction of archives previously deemed worthless by businesses and collecting-agencies. Given the insights and impacts of the latest studies of utilitarian filmmaking in the US and Europe, it is no exaggeration to propose that local, Australian holdings in the genre will come to be understood as a hitherto overlooked skein of ‘DNA’ in our national media systems. To study this heritage is to deepen our understanding of general/global and local/national characteristics of audiovisual culture and aesthetics as they operate in Australia, as well as to contribute in a major way to the burgeoning scholarship in international media archive research.This Introduction will focus on the manner in which ‘utilitarian cinema’ operates in relation to conceptions of Australian national cinema as well as to how this term can also contribute to formulations of transnational cinema. It will introduce the findings of this Australian Research Council funded research project being conducted by Ruby Arrowsmith-Todd, Stella Barber, Mick Broderick, Ross Gibson, John Hughes, Grace Russell and Deane Williams as well as introducing the case studies that were undertaken.

Bakmaranhawuy - the broken connection. Perspectives on asking and answering questions with Yolŋu patients in healthcare contexts.

Questioning is a key method in general information-seeking behaviour and teaching used by the dominant culture in Australia. Within an Australian health context the fundamental diagnostic tool used by medical staff is the biomedical interview or history taking, which is based on a battery of direct questions. Similarly, many health professionals rely on patient questions to prompt the sharing of information, or to make them aware of gaps in communication. This is problematic for many First Nations peoples, including Yolηu (First Nations people of North-East Arnhem Land), who are culturally less inclined to use direct questioning as it is deemed impolite within their cultural context. Semi-structured conversational interviews using culturally congruent communication processes were conducted with participants in their preferred language. Interviews were translated, transcribed and analysed inductively using NVivo v12. A total of 30 participants were interviewed (10 health staff and 20 Yolηu with recent experience in engaging with health services). All participating health staff believed that questioning was essential for determining how to best treat patients but many felt that questions created problems for some Yolηu patients. They also felt that Yolηu patients ask fewer questions related to their health issues than patients of other cultures. Yolηu participants conveyed overwhelmingly negative experiences with the health system and at the tertiary hospital in particular. Yolηu participants described feelings of frustration, fear and trauma when talking of their experiences, and these feelings were often direct outcomes of poor communication with staff. Regarding the use of questions in health care specifically, Yolηu participants identified four key and interrelated conditions within which questioning was deemed an acceptable communication mechanism. Dhämanapan (connection) was identified as an essential condition for effective communication between health staff and patients. This connection was established and maintained through a shared understanding of matha (language), dukmaram (Yolηu understandings of healing) and djuηuny (Yolηu norms of polite communication). Strategies for overcoming barriers to effective communication related to the concept of dhuwurr (skill) in health communication, which could increase the acceptability of health staff asking questions of Yolηu and the confidence of Yolηu patients in asking questions of health staff. The findings from this study indicate a fundamental disconnect between the current health system and the needs of the Yolηu patients it seeks to serve. In order for this to change, Yolηu patients and health staff need to develop dhuwurr in health communication, which incorporates the four key conditions for effective communication identified in this study. To achieve this, ongoing and mandatory intercultural communication training for health staff is needed, just as mandatory training is required for hygiene and resuscitation training. Intercultural communication training must be comprehensive - reflecting the complexity involved in developing this dhuwurr - and sustained, for example with ongoing support from cultural communication mentors.

Walking together: Artistic collaboration across cultures in Australia and New Zealand

As an artist and writer who often works across disciplines and cultures, my education into effective and respectful engagement has been built on my experience working with First Nations friends, collaborators, and Elders. The aim of this paper is to explore teachings from a number of these leading thinkers, writers, and Elders on the topic of knowledge sharing, cross-cultural awareness, and ethical engagement through practice-led research. Drawing from personal experience, it will incorporate learnings that have informed a world view that has been evolving since childhood. The paper highlights the importance of giving rightful recognition to knowledge keepers and provides some guidance for readers interested in developing productive and respectful partnerships with First Nations collaborators. Here knowledge can be safely shared and celebrated as ways to understand the world around us that are restorative and regenerative. I speak as a woman of mixed European background raised in Australia on Gubbi Gubbi Country of South East Queensland, and Larrakia Country of Darwin. Culturally, I am descended from Norse, Celt, Saxon, and Druid ancestors. Through this lived experience I hope to share learnings that support the goals of reconciliation, truth telling, and First Nations determination in my home country, as well as facilitating greater awareness for people seeking to respectfully engage with Indigenous knowledge.

Colonial Politics and Problem of Language in David Malouf’s Remembering Babylon

Language plays a critical role in postcolonial literature. English has been the dominant language of European imperialism that carried the European culture to the different colonies across the world. Australia is the settled countries where English has become not only the official and mainstream language of the country but has also put the indigenous languages on the verge of extinction. David Malouf’s Remembering Babylon is a postcolonial text that re-imagines the colonial history of Australian settlement presenting the early socio- cultural and linguistic clashes between the settlers and the Aboriginals. The present paper tries to analyze the various dimensions of language envisioning its micro to macro impacts on the individual, community and nation as well. British used English language as the weapon of spreading European culture in Australia causing the systematic replacement of local dialects and other vernacular languages; hence the issues of linguistic and cultural identities would also be among the focal points of the discussion. The paper also attempts to examine how David Malouf provides a solution by preferring and appropriating native languages and culture for the future ofs Australia.

A broader palate? The new and exotic food experiences of the Australian imperial force 1914–1918

This article explores the new food experiences of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the First World War, drawing evidence from scholarly works, archives and soldier accounts. Having come from a predominantly British food culture in Australia, the AIF encountered new tastes and eating habits in the Middle East and Europe, which they experienced in dual roles as soldiers and tourists. Some soldiers responded warmly while others reacted defensively to these new foodways such as self-catering, exotic ingredients and dishes, regular dining out and new food customs. The lack of long-term impact of these novel experiences on Australian foodways is also noted.

Metal burial: Understanding caching behaviour and contact material culture in Australia's NE Kimberley

This paper explores identity and the recursive impacts of cross-cultural colonial encounters on individuals, cultural materials, and cultural practices in 20th-century northern Australia. We focus on an assemblage of cached metal objects and associated cultural materials that embody both Aboriginal tradition and innovation. These cultural materials were wrapped in paperbark and placed within a ring of stones, a bundling practice also seen in human burials in this region. This ‘cache' is located in close proximity to rockshelters with rich, superimposed Aboriginal rock art compositions. However, the cache shelter has no visible art, despite available wall space. The site shows the utilisation of metal objects as new raw materials that use traditional techniques to manufacture a ground edge metal axe and to sharpen metal rods into spears. We contextualise these objects and their hypothesised owner(s) within narratives of invasion/contact and the ensuing pastoral history of this region. Assemblage theory affords us an appropriate theoretical lens through which to bring people, places, objects, and time into conversation.