This subject explores cross-cultural interactions in Australia, with particular emphasis on two key themes:
relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians;
the impact of mass immigration on Australian society, and the resulting policy of multiculturalism
These issues are discussed with reference to social relations in two very different environments: the multicultural city of Melbourne and the outback region of Central Australia.
The course aims to expose students to a variety of experiences, theories and perspectives. A special feature is a series of field trips designed to prompt academic inquiry in the context of personal encounters with different environments and cultures. These include an intensive five-day field trip to Central Australia where students will be able to investigate a unique geographical environment with a complex history of cross-cultural interactions between settlers and indigenous people. Students will spend time in the frontier town of Alice Springs and then travel on the Uluru (commonly but erroneously known outside of Australia as Ayers Rock) in the heart of the desert. Uluru is located within a national park and has been listed as UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage. It is one of Australia’s most famous and striking landmarks both nationally and internationally and its representations and cross-cultural histories are integral to the themes of this subject.
Lectures, tutorials and readings for this module will also be supplemented by a number of field trips to relevant locations and organisations within easy reach of the University of Melbourne campus. These are intended to illustrate the role and influence of Melbourne’s Italian, Koori, Greek, Middle Eastern, Asian and various other communities.
Learning outcomes:
Students who complete this module should:
develop an understanding of the key issues and events which have shaped the lives and experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and the complex interactions between these two groups;
gain insight into cross-cultural interactions in Australia through a variety of media, and disciplinary and theoretical perspectives;
develop an awareness of contemporary debates on Indigenous and multicultural issues, and the wide range of interests, values and ideas represented in such discussions;
understand the diverse meanings of place and culture in Australia; in the context of the country’s colonial history;
be able to construct final projects that fit their major field of study at home.
Field study:
Here are more details about the field trip to Central Australia.
Below is a list of items – some of which you will need and many of which you will want – to take with you to Central Australia. It is important to note that Central Australia in July will potentially offer wide extremes of weather conditions, from warm to hot days (average 28 degrees Celsius) to very cold nights (below 10 degrees Celsius) with heavy frost. We will be camping and spending a lot of time outdoors, so it is important to come prepared with a range of appropriate clothing and other items, including the following:
Sturdy and comfortable walking shoes (if you intend to take new shoes, make sure you wear them in first!) – we are doing a lot of walking on this trip!
Appropriate clothing for walking
A hat that protects your face and neck from the sun
High UV protection sunscreen (it is advised you apply sunscreen every morning)
A small water bottle that you can carry with you
A torch for camping
Toiletries (ie. shampoo, toothpaste and brush, soap, bandaids, etc. Also it is advisable to bring your own paracetamol/aspirin/ibuprofen and any other medicines you might need for headaches etc. as staff are unable to distribute these)
Insect repellent
A towel
Notepads, pens and any other stationery items you will need for study/note-taking purposes (you may want to bring this reader to assist in this)
A camera
Sunglasses
Snack foods (it is advisable you carry snack foods with you. Some days we spend considerable time on buses and there is often limited choice at roadhouses and other places we stop. Food can, of course, be readily bough in Alice Springs itself! Please remember to always dispose of your rubbish responsibily.)
Warm clothing for evenings (you might appreciate a polar fleece or warm jacket, especially for around the campfire and in the tent)
Small backpack for carrying water bottle, camera, notebook etc.
Swimsuit (the motel in Alice Springs has a pool, as does the camping ground at Uluru)
Lightweight raincoat (It rarely rains in Central Australia but if it does and we are outdoors, such an item will be more than welcome!)
SAFETY ISSUES ON FIELDTRIP
While in Central Australia, students should conduct themselves in safe manner at all times. Behaving safely will include:
abiding by the laws of the locality;
abstaining from violent or offensive behaviour and respecting customs and sensitivities of local people;
responsible use of alcohol/no drugs;
being alert to potentially dangerous situations in the locale;
avoiding extreme sports and other high risk activities;
respecting one’s own fitness and ability in relation to particular activities;
acquaint yourself with emergency and evacuation procedures of all venues, accommodation and transport.
Students are particularly reminded that climbing Uluru is considered a high risk activity. It is a difficult and dangerous climb and should only be attempted by fit and experienced climbers. The University of Melbourne will not take responsibility for this and any other high risk activity and students who undertake such activity do so in cognisance of their personal responsibility for their actions.
Be aware that in an unfamiliar environment there may be risks of which you are not aware. Therefore, when you are in an unfamiliar environment you should be more cautious than usual and seek advice from staff members. Things of which you need to be mindful may include, but are not limited to:
extreme weather conditions. The area can be extremely hot and many of the places we visit are unprotected from the sun. Students should take more care than usual to protect themselves from the sun and other elements.
wear sunhats, sunscreen and sunglasses, and a lightweight, long-sleeved shirt;
always carry a water bottle with you and drink plenty of water;
temperatures can drop rapidly at sundown. Be prepared with clothes to keep you warm and dry, especially when camping.
dangerous animals.
be aware, especially when camping and bush-walking, that Central Australia has, among other things, venomous snakes, spiders, scorpions and other insects, and dingoes.
the potential for natural disasters (floods, bushfires, etc).
Use common sense during the field trip and:
if someone is injured or ill during the field trip, make sure a staff member is informed. There will be first-aiders on staff to assist. An incident report form should also be filled out upon returning from the trip if there has been an injury. If you have any kind of medical condition which may cause problems during the field trip, make sure the staff members are informed. Pre-existing long-term medical conditions should be entered on to the medical forms provided before departure.
Dress appropriately. Wear adequate clothing for the conditions in which you will be travelling. It is a good idea to wear sturdy walking boots/shoes, and not just on designated bush walks. Even in and around Alice, terrain is variable; boots will also reduce the risk of bites and stings.
You will be asked to sign a declaration – to be handed in to Jess before the trip – that you have read and understood these safety issues.
FIELD TRIP PRESENTATIONS
After we return from the field trip each of your assigned groups (designated prior to the fieldtrip) will present the results of your research in class. Presentations should be between 10 and 15 minutes long, followed by a brief discussion. You should also to prepare one or two questions to generate class discussion in response to the key themes and issues highlighted by your presentation.
In groups of 3-4 students, you are asked to think about and to critically assess you experience during the field trip to Central Australia.
You will draw on the readings, and any material you collect on the trip (eg. photos, promotional material, tourism literature, your own feelings and thoughts, seminars presented on the trip, etc) as a means to unpack the representations/spaces of Central Australia; that is, we are asking you to think about the ‘Central Australia package’ in light of your own informed experiences there.
While the presentations should be critically grounded, like your journal entries, you are encouraged to be as creative as you like. PowerPoint and other audio visual equipment will be available in the seminar room. Please remember, however, that while presentation helps, the project will be assessed primarily on content and critical engagement with the site and other materials.
In our assessment of your presentations, we will be looking for:
Quality, quantity and variety of your primary data (i.e. field notes, visual material, perhaps interviews etc.)
Critical analysis of the data using concepts learned in class, the trip, the readings.
Good presentation in class (ie. good structure, clear presentation; you can use OHP or PowerPoint slides but don’t read straight off them.)
Engaging the group and stimulating discussion (prepare one or two questions, problems or activities related to your topic that you would like to discuss in class).
Required work and form of assessment:
General tutorial participation 10%
Journal Assessment 45%
Open book examination 45%
Tutorial participation:
Attendance at all lectures and tutorials is a threshold requirement for this subject. Students are expected to complete the required reading for each tutorial and to involve themselves in group discussion.
Everyone will be expected to make short presentations to the group on the findings from the field trip projects. Presentations on Melbourne’s communities for seminar 6 should be between five to ten minutes long. For the trip to Central Australia, groups of 3-4 people will be assigned a field project each. These projects will be presented in class after returning to Melbourne and should be between 10-15 minutes long. All presentations should provide some personal comment on the experience but also include references to the relevant readings and issues discussed in lectures.
Journal of 1500-2000 words:
Students are required to keep a journal reflecting upon your experiences of Module B, and more generally reflecting upon your perceptions of cross-cultural interactions in Australia. We encourage you to be creative and adventurous with your journal. It may include pictures, postcards, photographs, newspaper clippings, poems or stories.
Please note: There are also some essential criteria that must be met. Your final journal submission must include:
at least one entry for each topic covered in the course (ie. both immigration/multiculturalism and Indigenous issues must be discussed; Melbourne and Central Australia must both be addressed);
each of the three Journal Assessment components must include references to both the lectures and readings.
In order to assist you in completing this task, and so that you receive feedback on your work, you will submit two initial sections of your journal (ie. Journal assessments 1 and 2, of 500-800 words each, and each worth 15%), and a final completed journal (this you can revise significantly) of at least 1500 words but no more than 2000 words.
Individual entries can be as long or as short as you like, but the journal as a whole must total between 1500 and 2000 words.
The journal must be submitted to Jess on the dates indicated in your lecture program. They can either be emailed to her or be left in the box outside her office at 149 Barry Street, but no later than 5pm.
Open book examination:
There will be a two-hour open-book examination.
You will be required to complete two short essays of approximately 1000 words each on a selection of the topics covered in the course. You may refer to the course reader, lecture and tutorial notes during the examination but may not bring in pre-prepared essays.
content:
WEEK ONE
Introduction to Module B
Diversity, Identity and Place in Australia
It is often said that one of the great Australian pastimes is the search for a national identity. As a white settler colony that displaced the original custodians of the land and as a federated nation that was built upon immigration from a diverse range of places of origin, there are various histories, cultures and perspectives that must be considered carefully in order to develop any sort of understanding of Australia and its national identity. Some say this causes conflict and disunity, while others argue that to impose a single national identity would be more fractious than embracing diversity and complexity. Cultures and identities – even on a national scale – are not static but in a state of flux, influenced by place, experience and time. We can see shifts in how Australia has imagined itself as a white nation to a multicultural nation to a global player.
Today’s seminar provides an outline of the course themes with particular reference to Australia’s multicultural, indigenous, postcolonial and cosmopolitan contexts. It emphases the intersection between place and identity, and briefly interrogates the concepts of race and ethnicity.
Readings:
James Jupp, From White Australia to Woomera: the story of Australian immigration, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 5-19.
David Carter, ‘Multicultural Australia or Australian multiculturalism?’ in Dispossession, Dreams & Diversity: Issues in Australian Studies French’s Forest, NSW, Pearson Education, 2006, pp. 323-54.
Sara Wills, ‘Finding Room for Loss’, Meanjin, vol. 60, no. 4, 2001, pp. 73-78.
Petro Georgiou, ‘Refugee policy a sad return to a dark past’, Age, 4 June 2010.
We will meet in the foyer of the Immigration Museum for an introduction to the Museum and its facilities.
You will then take a self-guided tour of the Museum, using the questionnaire, which will be handed out at the Museum, and responding to the questions set out. You are expected to complete this for tutorial discussion.
The class will meet again in the Museum Café to discuss your visit and talk over your questionnaire responses.
In addition to the permanent exhibits located on the first floor, you are encouraged to also make your way up to the visiting “Australia’s Muslim Cameleers” exhibit on the second floor, where you will learn about the role these migrants played in shaping Central Australia.
WEEK TWO
Indigenous Australian Culture
In today’s lecture and tutorial we will examine Australian Indigenous culture and history in a broad sense, but also look at the specific contexts of Melbourne and Central Australia. How do cultural practices and histories of Indigenous people in Melbourne and Central Australia differ? What was the impact of European settlement on Indigenous culture in these two areas? What are the current Indigenous issues in Australia?
Readings:
Richard Broome, ‘Being Aboriginal’, in Aboriginal Victorians: a history since 1800, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2005, pp. 375-397.
Tony Birch, ‘Returning to country’, in Carolyn Rasmussen (ed.), A Museum for the People, Melbourne, Scribe, 2001, pp. 397-400.
Moira Simpson, ‘Bunjilaka’, in C. Healy and A. Witcomb (eds), South Pacific Museums: Experiments in Culture, Melbourne, Monash University Press, 2006, pp. 15.1-15.5.
Chris Healy, ‘Very Special Treatment’, in C. Healy and A. Witcomb (eds), South Pacific Museums: Experiments in Culture, Melbourne, Monash University Press, 2006, pp. 16.1-16.10.
Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC), Bringing Them Home Education Module: ‘Effects of laws and policies – the children’s experiences’. Available from HREOC website: http://www.humanrights.gov.au.
HREOC, Resources sheet, ‘Personal stories: Paul and Evie’. Available from HREOC website: http://www.humanrights.gov.au.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations and Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson’s response, 13 February 2008.
Larissa Behrendt, ‘The pointed view: Failing on human rights’, National Indigenous Times, 29 April 2010.
Russell Skelton, ‘How hard is Howard’s way?’, Sunday Age, 1 July 2007.
Tutorial: Fieldtrip to Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Melbourne Museum
After today’s seminar, we will walk over to the Melbourne Museum (Carlton Gardens).
The visit to Bunjilaka today serves three functions:
As an introduction to Australian Indigenous culture;
As a means to examine the exhibits and think about the sorts of histories, narratives, cultures and knowledges these display;
As a way to think about how Bunjilaka draws on concepts from discourses of the museum and reworks them for Australian Indigenous purposes.
Tutorial Instructions:
As a starting point for your exploration, we’d like you to think about the following:
How is the space of Bunjilaka marked out as an Indigenous space?
What are its boundaries?
How does it work within the overall Melbourne Museum site?
How does the design of the interior shape your experience?
What can you say about the way Indigenous culture is represented here?
What is the role of Bunjilaka?
That is, who are these exhibits for?
Are different exhibits intended for different audiences?
If so, how did you determine this?
We’ll then meet up to discuss your findings.
Framing Central Australia Tourism and Representation
From colonial explorers in the nineteenth century to present day international tourists who make the pilgrimage to Uluru, Central Australia has long help a fascination for many people, We look at the history of ‘the Centre’ and its main town, Alice Springs, examining the European development of the region and the impact it has had on the local Indigenous communities. We discuss the important role that Indigenous people have played and continue to play in the economic and social development of the Centre. We consider the sources of the appeal of the Centre and the diverse myths that have been constructed about it.
We will also examine the ways in which Central Australia, and in particular the iconic status of Uluru, is packaged as a tourism product. Thinking about issues of representation, we will also consider how the experiences of a fieldtrip may correspond to or differ from these sorts of tourist images. We will prepare for the field trip to Central Australia through the readings set for this week, as well as a discussion of the more practical concerns of travelling.
N. B. There is a lot of reading assigned for this seminar to prepare you for the trip. Please ensure the asterisked readings are completed in time for the seminar but that you have read all of these pieces prior to leaving for Central Australia.
Readings:
* Michael Cathcart, ‘Uluru’, in T. Bonyhady and T. Griffiths (eds), Words for Country, Sydney, UNSW Press, pp. 207-221.
Barry Hill, ‘Naked in Alice’, Arena Magazine, 75, 2005, pp. 36-68.
Graham Ring, ‘Black and White: a place of healing’, National Indigenous Times, 26 June 2007.
Ann McGrath, ‘Travels to a Distant Past: the mythology of the Outback’, Australian Cultural History, 10, 1991, pp. 113-124.
* Cathy Robinson, Richard Baker and Lynette Liddel, ‘Journeys through an Australian Sacred Landscape’, Museum, vol. 55, no. 2, 2003, 74-77.
* Stanley Breeden, ‘Origins: Anangu and Tjukurpa’, in Uluru: looking after Uluru- Kata Tjuta the Anangu way, Sydney, Simon and Schuster, 1994, pp. 15-21.
* Jim Davidson and Peter Spearritt, ‘The rediscovery of the Centre and Aboriginal tourism’, in Holiday business: tourism in Australia since 1870, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 2000, pp. 187-209.
Gordon Waitt, ‘Selling paradise and adventure: representations of landscape in the tourist advertising of Australia’, Australian Geographical Studies, vol. 35, no. 10, 1997, pp. 47-60.
Journals can be deposited in the box marked ‘IES Assessment’, which will be located outside of Jess’s office, room 101, Australian Centre, 149 Barry Street.
Students are required to keep a journal reflecting upon your experiences of Module B, and more generally reflecting upon your perceptions of cross cultural interactions in Australia. We encourage you to be creative and adventurous with your journal. It may include pictures, postcards, photographs, newspaper clippings, poems or stories.
Please note: There are also some essential criteria that must be met. Your final journal submission must include:
at least one entry for each topic covered in the course (ie. both immigration/multiculturalism and Indigenous issues must be discussed; Melbourne and Central Australia must both be addressed);
each of the three Journal Assessment components must include references to the lectures and readings.
In order to assist you in completing this task, and so that you receive feedback on your work, you will submit two initial sections of your journal (i.e. Journal Assessments 1 and 2, each worth 15%), and a final completed journal of at least 1500 words (but up to 2000 words).
For Journal Assessment One:
Cultural institutions, such as the Immigration Museum and Bunjilaka that we visited in these first few tutorials, are important for representing, preserving and displaying culture and history. They can also present particular historical and cultural narratives, emphasising certain events and stories. Our fieldtrips to the Immigration Museum and Bunjilaka were not simply for learning about Australian immigration and Indigenous cultures, but for thinking critically about how these narratives are displayed in the space of the museum; the museum is as much an object of analysis as it is a site for experiential learning. In this exercise, you are asked to reflect upon how identities, cultures and histories are displayed in the space of the museum, and how this might coincide with or contradict your understandings of Australian culture more broadly, including its migrant and Indigenous aspects.
You are asked to prepare a report of at least 500 words (but up to 800 is permitted). Drawing on the first two seminars and their associated fieldtrips, and what you have observed and discussed, you are to choose 4-5 items (eg. museum displays/objects, pictures, brochures, newspaper clippings) and discuss the successes and problems of displaying migrant and Indigenous cultures in the space of the museum.
This assessment is worth 15% of the final mark.
WEEK FOUR
Melbourne’s Communities
Using the examples of ‘Little Italies’ and ‘Chinatowns’, we will look at the changing way in which ethnic precincts are constructed and consumed over time by the migrant groups who needed them as a source of community and by the host society that has come to rely upon such spaces as a way of mapping out the multicultural city of Melbourne.
Readings:
Kay Anderson, ‘Otherness, Culture and Capital: ‘Chinatown’s’ Transformation Under Multiculturalism’, in Gordon L. Clark, Dean Forbes and Roderick Francis (eds), Multiculturalism, difference and postmodernism, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1993, pp. 68-89.
Graeme Turner, ‘The cosmopolitan city and its Other: the ethnicising of the Australian suburb’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, vol. 9, no. 4, 2008, pp. 568-582.
Marie Alafaci, excerpt from Savage cows and cabbage leaves: an Italian life, Alexandria, NSW, Hale and Iremonger, 1999, pp. 25-39.
Alice Pung, excerpts from Unpolished Gem, Melbourne, Black Inc, 2006, pp. 1-4, 219-232.
Tutorial: Field trip to Sydney Road, Brunswick
In today’s field trip/tutorial, we will examine the ways in which different immigrant groups have influenced and altered Melbourne’s streetscape, and how these changes may have altered the ways in which Melburnians ‘live’ in their city. We will visit Sydney Road, Brunswick, and examine the ways in which the street, the industries and inhabitants create particular identity/identities for the area.
The tutorial will commence at 11.30am at the tram stop on the corner of Albion Street/Sydney Road, Brunswick (at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel). Take tram 19 from Royal Parade to North Coburg and get off at Albion Street (stop 26).
During the field trip you will explore the ways in which the streetscape of Sydney Road reflects or corresponds to the different waves of migrants into Melbourne. Questions to consider during the field trip include:
Can you determine the presence of particular cultural or ethnic groups through the material landscape? (Eg. buildings, types of shops and restaurants, signage, advertising, etc.)
How would you describe the character of Sydney Road?
Who uses the street at the time we are there? (Eg. office workers, families, mothers and children, young people, different cultural or ethnic groups.)
What about streets running off Sydney Road – do they have a similar character? Or are there marked differences?
We will meet outside the Town Hall (corner of Sydney Road and Glenlyon Road) at 12.30pm to discuss your responses.
Review of Central Australia field trip
Student presentations
In today’s tutorial you present your research projects. You will draw on the readings and any material you collected on the trip (eg. photos, promotional material, tourism literature, your own feelings and thoughts, seminars presented on the trip, etc) as a means to unpack the representations/spaces of Central Australia; that is, we are asking you to think about the ‘Central Australia package’ in light of your own informed experiences there.
Presentations should be between 10 and 15 minutes long, followed by a brief discussion. You should also to prepare one or two questions to generate class discussion in response to the key themes and issues highlighted by your presentation.
Checklist for good presentations:
In our assessment of your presentations, we will be looking for:
Quality, quantity and variety of your primary data (i.e. field notes, visual material, perhaps interviews etc.)
Critical analysis of the data using concepts learned in class, the trip, the readings.
Good presentation in class (ie. good structure, clear presentation; you can use OHP or PowerPoint slides but don’t read straight off them.)
Engaging the group and stimulating discussion (prepare one or two questions, problems or activities related to your topic that you would like to discuss in class).
WEEK FIVE
Exploring Melbourne’s communities
Student presentations
Tutorial: Field trips to Melbourne’s ethnic precincts
Students are to work in groups of 3-4. Each group will be given a different destination and detailed instructions explaining how to get to these places. You will explore these places thinking about them using similar questions and observations used in the Sydney Road field trip.
We will meet again as a class at 1.00pm where each group will talk about the places they visited.
JOURNAL ASSESSMENT TWO
You are asked to prepare at report of at least 500 words (but up to 800 is permitted). In the lectures and tutorials of the last two weeks, we have explored the policy of multiculturalism and the ways in which different immigrant groups have settled in Melbourne. On our trip to Central Australia, we have also had the opportunity to learn about different cultural groups and their diverse histories, particularly Indigenous Australians. In your journal submission, you are asked to reflect and comment on how different groups foster particular relationships to place, as well as the development and maintenance of particular ethnic, cultural and racial identities.
Some questions you may wish to consider include:
How have different ethnic and cultural groups maintained their identity?
What is the importance of place in fostering, maintaining and communicating a sense of belonging and identity? How is this achieved?
How are migrant and Indigenous relationships to place complicated in contemporary Australia and why?
Do you think contemporary Australia is successful in the ways issues arising out of difference are handled?
What have you seen as positive and negative in Australia’s understanding and management of its diverse population?
Please note: There are also some essential criteria that must be met. Your final journal submission must include:
at least one entry for each topic covered in the course (ie. both immigration/multiculturalism and Indigenous issues must be discussed; Melbourne and Central Australia must both be addressed);
each of the three Journal Assessment components must include references to the lectures and readings.
This assessment is worth 15% of the final mark.
“Walkin’ Birrarung” Cultural Tour
Today we will look at the city of Melbourne through different eyes on a walk along the Yarra River, where we have the unique opportunity to experience Aboriginal Melbourne on a guided tour organised by the Koori Heritage Trust.
From the “Walkin’ Birrarung” leaflet:
As the very first white explorers rowed their way up a log-tangled river, they found their passage blocked by a small but formidable waterfall. Unable to go further they gave this river the local Aboriginal name “Yarra Yarra”. It was not until later this same party realized they had misunderstood the local Aboriginal inhabitants, the Kulin people, and had incorrectly named the river.
The Ancestral Kulin name is Birrarung: the ‘River of Mists’.
In around ninety minutes this special walk gives patrons a sense of a small but significant portion of the ancestral lands of the Kulin people.
A place we today call Melbourne.
This experience evokes the memories of a vibrant natural, and cultural landscape. A memory that now lies beneath our urban existence today. Come and dispel some old misunderstandings for yourself and see the city with new eyes.
This cultural experience, led by Aboriginal Cultural Interpreters is designed with Melbournians in mind. It is a walk back through time.
Back through the place we now call the CBD of Melbourne.
It is a journey not only through the natural heritage, but equally the cultural heritage and the dramatic irrevocable changes of both people, and place.
Several stops are made along the way highlighting important Aboriginal Kulin sites, sites now trapped beneath the asphalt and the high-rise apartments of our 21st century.
At each stop photos, colonial imagery and cultural stories are revealed by your Aboriginal Cultural Interpreter ~ enriching the experience and unravelling the layers of history, and that undeniable spirit under our feet.
‘Walkin Birrarung’ is not only a cultural and history journey of understanding, but is an intimate personal one connecting everyone regardless of age or background back to a connection with a Spirit of Place.
WEEK SIX
Review and discussion of course material
During the seminar, we will review the key themes and ideas of this course, as well as talk about the exam and strategies for preparing for it.
FINAL JOURNAL ASSESSMENT
In this final section of the journal, you are free to write on any topic you wish. For example, you may wish to reflect upon your experiences in Melbourne and Central Australia, or you may wish to explore an issue which you find particularly interesting, compelling, inspiring, or which you have found challenging or puzzling. This is the concluding chapter of your journal, so you are also encouraged to refine and reflect upon arguments, ideas and experiences discussed in previous entries.
The total final assessment for the journal is worth 45%, of which you will already have received 30% in Journal assessments 1 and 2. These parts should be collated and submitted as a whole product, with this final component clearly marked (the previous sections will not be re-marked). This final document should be between 1500 and 2000 words in length. You are encouraged to be as creative as you like with the journal.
Please note: There are also some essential criteria that must be met. Your final journal submission must include:
at least one entry for each topic covered in the course (ie. both immigration/multiculturalism and Indigenous issues must be discussed; Melbourne and Central Australia must both be addressed);
each of the three Journal Assessment components must include references to both the lectures and readings.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Jess is a senior tutor and lecturer with the Australian Centre. She holds a doctorate in Australian Studies from the University of Melbourne, and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Queensland. Her doctoral thesis examined the representations of ethnic identities in Italian Australian literature and film.
Jess has taught in a wide range of undergraduate subjects at both Melbourne and Monash Universities in such disciplines as Australian Studies, International Studies and Gender Studies. She also coordinates several courses for the Centre’s International Programs, including specialised programs for Holy Cross and Villanova in the United States and Tamagawa University in Japan. The subjects Jess teaches focus on Australia’s immigration history; its multicultural and postcolonial identity/ies; the importance of place; comparative transnational studies of Australia and America; and media representations and experiences of war.
Jess’s research interests are cultural diversity and identity, place, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism, and cultural texts, such as film and literature. She is currently developing research focusing on soccer as a particular site at which Australian multicultural belonging can be examined and understood.
Cross-Cultural Currents: Indigenous And Multicultural Issues In Australia
This subject explores cross-cultural interactions in Australia, with particular emphasis on two key themes:
These issues are discussed with reference to social relations in two very different environments: the multicultural city of Melbourne and the outback region of Central Australia.
The course aims to expose students to a variety of experiences, theories and perspectives. A special feature is a series of field trips designed to prompt academic inquiry in the context of personal encounters with different environments and cultures. These include an intensive five-day field trip to Central Australia where students will be able to investigate a unique geographical environment with a complex history of cross-cultural interactions between settlers and indigenous people. Students will spend time in the frontier town of Alice Springs and then travel on the Uluru (commonly but erroneously known outside of Australia as Ayers Rock) in the heart of the desert. Uluru is located within a national park and has been listed as UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage. It is one of Australia’s most famous and striking landmarks both nationally and internationally and its representations and cross-cultural histories are integral to the themes of this subject.
Lectures, tutorials and readings for this module will also be supplemented by a number of field trips to relevant locations and organisations within easy reach of the University of Melbourne campus. These are intended to illustrate the role and influence of Melbourne’s Italian, Koori, Greek, Middle Eastern, Asian and various other communities.
Students who complete this module should:
Here are more details about the field trip to Central Australia.
Below is a list of items – some of which you will need and many of which you will want – to take with you to Central Australia. It is important to note that Central Australia in July will potentially offer wide extremes of weather conditions, from warm to hot days (average 28 degrees Celsius) to very cold nights (below 10 degrees Celsius) with heavy frost. We will be camping and spending a lot of time outdoors, so it is important to come prepared with a range of appropriate clothing and other items, including the following:
SAFETY ISSUES ON FIELDTRIP
While in Central Australia, students should conduct themselves in safe manner at all times. Behaving safely will include:
Students are particularly reminded that climbing Uluru is considered a high risk activity. It is a difficult and dangerous climb and should only be attempted by fit and experienced climbers. The University of Melbourne will not take responsibility for this and any other high risk activity and students who undertake such activity do so in cognisance of their personal responsibility for their actions.
Be aware that in an unfamiliar environment there may be risks of which you are not aware. Therefore, when you are in an unfamiliar environment you should be more cautious than usual and seek advice from staff members. Things of which you need to be mindful may include, but are not limited to:
Use common sense during the field trip and:
You will be asked to sign a declaration – to be handed in to Jess before the trip – that you have read and understood these safety issues.
FIELD TRIP PRESENTATIONS
After we return from the field trip each of your assigned groups (designated prior to the fieldtrip) will present the results of your research in class. Presentations should be between 10 and 15 minutes long, followed by a brief discussion. You should also to prepare one or two questions to generate class discussion in response to the key themes and issues highlighted by your presentation.
In groups of 3-4 students, you are asked to think about and to critically assess you experience during the field trip to Central Australia.
You will draw on the readings, and any material you collect on the trip (eg. photos, promotional material, tourism literature, your own feelings and thoughts, seminars presented on the trip, etc) as a means to unpack the representations/spaces of Central Australia; that is, we are asking you to think about the ‘Central Australia package’ in light of your own informed experiences there.
While the presentations should be critically grounded, like your journal entries, you are encouraged to be as creative as you like. PowerPoint and other audio visual equipment will be available in the seminar room. Please remember, however, that while presentation helps, the project will be assessed primarily on content and critical engagement with the site and other materials.
In our assessment of your presentations, we will be looking for:
General tutorial participation 10%
Journal Assessment 45%
Open book examination 45%
Tutorial participation:
Attendance at all lectures and tutorials is a threshold requirement for this subject. Students are expected to complete the required reading for each tutorial and to involve themselves in group discussion.
Everyone will be expected to make short presentations to the group on the findings from the field trip projects. Presentations on Melbourne’s communities for seminar 6 should be between five to ten minutes long. For the trip to Central Australia, groups of 3-4 people will be assigned a field project each. These projects will be presented in class after returning to Melbourne and should be between 10-15 minutes long. All presentations should provide some personal comment on the experience but also include references to the relevant readings and issues discussed in lectures.
Journal of 1500-2000 words:
Students are required to keep a journal reflecting upon your experiences of Module B, and more generally reflecting upon your perceptions of cross-cultural interactions in Australia. We encourage you to be creative and adventurous with your journal. It may include pictures, postcards, photographs, newspaper clippings, poems or stories.
Please note: There are also some essential criteria that must be met. Your final journal submission must include:
In order to assist you in completing this task, and so that you receive feedback on your work, you will submit two initial sections of your journal (ie. Journal assessments 1 and 2, of 500-800 words each, and each worth 15%), and a final completed journal (this you can revise significantly) of at least 1500 words but no more than 2000 words.
Individual entries can be as long or as short as you like, but the journal as a whole must total between 1500 and 2000 words.
The journal must be submitted to Jess on the dates indicated in your lecture program. They can either be emailed to her or be left in the box outside her office at 149 Barry Street, but no later than 5pm.
Open book examination:
There will be a two-hour open-book examination.
You will be required to complete two short essays of approximately 1000 words each on a selection of the topics covered in the course. You may refer to the course reader, lecture and tutorial notes during the examination but may not bring in pre-prepared essays.
WEEK ONE
Introduction to Module B
Diversity, Identity and Place in Australia
It is often said that one of the great Australian pastimes is the search for a national identity. As a white settler colony that displaced the original custodians of the land and as a federated nation that was built upon immigration from a diverse range of places of origin, there are various histories, cultures and perspectives that must be considered carefully in order to develop any sort of understanding of Australia and its national identity. Some say this causes conflict and disunity, while others argue that to impose a single national identity would be more fractious than embracing diversity and complexity. Cultures and identities – even on a national scale – are not static but in a state of flux, influenced by place, experience and time. We can see shifts in how Australia has imagined itself as a white nation to a multicultural nation to a global player.
Today’s seminar provides an outline of the course themes with particular reference to Australia’s multicultural, indigenous, postcolonial and cosmopolitan contexts. It emphases the intersection between place and identity, and briefly interrogates the concepts of race and ethnicity.
Readings:
Tutorial: Visit to the Immigration Museum
We will meet in the foyer of the Immigration Museum for an introduction to the Museum and its facilities.
You will then take a self-guided tour of the Museum, using the questionnaire, which will be handed out at the Museum, and responding to the questions set out. You are expected to complete this for tutorial discussion.
The class will meet again in the Museum Café to discuss your visit and talk over your questionnaire responses.
In addition to the permanent exhibits located on the first floor, you are encouraged to also make your way up to the visiting “Australia’s Muslim Cameleers” exhibit on the second floor, where you will learn about the role these migrants played in shaping Central Australia.
WEEK TWO
Indigenous Australian Culture
In today’s lecture and tutorial we will examine Australian Indigenous culture and history in a broad sense, but also look at the specific contexts of Melbourne and Central Australia. How do cultural practices and histories of Indigenous people in Melbourne and Central Australia differ? What was the impact of European settlement on Indigenous culture in these two areas? What are the current Indigenous issues in Australia?
Readings:
Tutorial: Fieldtrip to Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Melbourne Museum
After today’s seminar, we will walk over to the Melbourne Museum (Carlton Gardens).
The visit to Bunjilaka today serves three functions:
Tutorial Instructions:
As a starting point for your exploration, we’d like you to think about the following:
We’ll then meet up to discuss your findings.
Framing Central Australia
Tourism and Representation
From colonial explorers in the nineteenth century to present day international tourists who make the pilgrimage to Uluru, Central Australia has long help a fascination for many people, We look at the history of ‘the Centre’ and its main town, Alice Springs, examining the European development of the region and the impact it has had on the local Indigenous communities. We discuss the important role that Indigenous people have played and continue to play in the economic and social development of the Centre. We consider the sources of the appeal of the Centre and the diverse myths that have been constructed about it.
We will also examine the ways in which Central Australia, and in particular the iconic status of Uluru, is packaged as a tourism product. Thinking about issues of representation, we will also consider how the experiences of a fieldtrip may correspond to or differ from these sorts of tourist images. We will prepare for the field trip to Central Australia through the readings set for this week, as well as a discussion of the more practical concerns of travelling.
N. B. There is a lot of reading assigned for this seminar to prepare you for the trip. Please ensure the asterisked readings are completed in time for the seminar but that you have read all of these pieces prior to leaving for Central Australia.
Readings:
WEEK THREE
Field trip to Central Australia
JOURNAL ASSESSMENT ONE Due
Journals can be deposited in the box marked ‘IES Assessment’, which will be located outside of Jess’s office, room 101, Australian Centre, 149 Barry Street.
Students are required to keep a journal reflecting upon your experiences of Module B, and more generally reflecting upon your perceptions of cross cultural interactions in Australia. We encourage you to be creative and adventurous with your journal. It may include pictures, postcards, photographs, newspaper clippings, poems or stories.
Please note: There are also some essential criteria that must be met. Your final journal submission must include:
In order to assist you in completing this task, and so that you receive feedback on your work, you will submit two initial sections of your journal (i.e. Journal Assessments 1 and 2, each worth 15%), and a final completed journal of at least 1500 words (but up to 2000 words).
For Journal Assessment One:
Cultural institutions, such as the Immigration Museum and Bunjilaka that we visited in these first few tutorials, are important for representing, preserving and displaying culture and history. They can also present particular historical and cultural narratives, emphasising certain events and stories. Our fieldtrips to the Immigration Museum and Bunjilaka were not simply for learning about Australian immigration and Indigenous cultures, but for thinking critically about how these narratives are displayed in the space of the museum; the museum is as much an object of analysis as it is a site for experiential learning. In this exercise, you are asked to reflect upon how identities, cultures and histories are displayed in the space of the museum, and how this might coincide with or contradict your understandings of Australian culture more broadly, including its migrant and Indigenous aspects.
You are asked to prepare a report of at least 500 words (but up to 800 is permitted). Drawing on the first two seminars and their associated fieldtrips, and what you have observed and discussed, you are to choose 4-5 items (eg. museum displays/objects, pictures, brochures, newspaper clippings) and discuss the successes and problems of displaying migrant and Indigenous cultures in the space of the museum.
This assessment is worth 15% of the final mark.
WEEK FOUR
Melbourne’s Communities
Using the examples of ‘Little Italies’ and ‘Chinatowns’, we will look at the changing way in which ethnic precincts are constructed and consumed over time by the migrant groups who needed them as a source of community and by the host society that has come to rely upon such spaces as a way of mapping out the multicultural city of Melbourne.
Readings:
Tutorial: Field trip to Sydney Road, Brunswick
In today’s field trip/tutorial, we will examine the ways in which different immigrant groups have influenced and altered Melbourne’s streetscape, and how these changes may have altered the ways in which Melburnians ‘live’ in their city. We will visit Sydney Road, Brunswick, and examine the ways in which the street, the industries and inhabitants create particular identity/identities for the area.
The tutorial will commence at 11.30am at the tram stop on the corner of Albion Street/Sydney Road, Brunswick (at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel). Take tram 19 from Royal Parade to North Coburg and get off at Albion Street (stop 26).
During the field trip you will explore the ways in which the streetscape of Sydney Road reflects or corresponds to the different waves of migrants into Melbourne. Questions to consider during the field trip include:
Can you determine the presence of particular cultural or ethnic groups through the material landscape? (Eg. buildings, types of shops and restaurants, signage, advertising, etc.)
How would you describe the character of Sydney Road?
Who uses the street at the time we are there? (Eg. office workers, families, mothers and children, young people, different cultural or ethnic groups.)
What about streets running off Sydney Road – do they have a similar character? Or are there marked differences?
We will meet outside the Town Hall (corner of Sydney Road and Glenlyon Road) at 12.30pm to discuss your responses.
Review of Central Australia field trip
Student presentations
In today’s tutorial you present your research projects. You will draw on the readings and any material you collected on the trip (eg. photos, promotional material, tourism literature, your own feelings and thoughts, seminars presented on the trip, etc) as a means to unpack the representations/spaces of Central Australia; that is, we are asking you to think about the ‘Central Australia package’ in light of your own informed experiences there.
Presentations should be between 10 and 15 minutes long, followed by a brief discussion. You should also to prepare one or two questions to generate class discussion in response to the key themes and issues highlighted by your presentation.
Checklist for good presentations:
In our assessment of your presentations, we will be looking for:
WEEK FIVE
Exploring Melbourne’s communities
Student presentations
Tutorial: Field trips to Melbourne’s ethnic precincts
Students are to work in groups of 3-4. Each group will be given a different destination and detailed instructions explaining how to get to these places. You will explore these places thinking about them using similar questions and observations used in the Sydney Road field trip.
We will meet again as a class at 1.00pm where each group will talk about the places they visited.
JOURNAL ASSESSMENT TWO
You are asked to prepare at report of at least 500 words (but up to 800 is permitted). In the lectures and tutorials of the last two weeks, we have explored the policy of multiculturalism and the ways in which different immigrant groups have settled in Melbourne. On our trip to Central Australia, we have also had the opportunity to learn about different cultural groups and their diverse histories, particularly Indigenous Australians. In your journal submission, you are asked to reflect and comment on how different groups foster particular relationships to place, as well as the development and maintenance of particular ethnic, cultural and racial identities.
Some questions you may wish to consider include:
Please note: There are also some essential criteria that must be met. Your final journal submission must include:
This assessment is worth 15% of the final mark.
“Walkin’ Birrarung” Cultural Tour
Today we will look at the city of Melbourne through different eyes on a walk along the Yarra River, where we have the unique opportunity to experience Aboriginal Melbourne on a guided tour organised by the Koori Heritage Trust.
From the “Walkin’ Birrarung” leaflet:
As the very first white explorers rowed their way up a log-tangled river, they found their passage blocked by a small but formidable waterfall. Unable to go further they gave this river the local Aboriginal name “Yarra Yarra”. It was not until later this same party realized they had misunderstood the local Aboriginal inhabitants, the Kulin people, and had incorrectly named the river.
The Ancestral Kulin name is Birrarung : the ‘River of Mists’.
In around ninety minutes this special walk gives patrons a sense of a small but significant portion of the ancestral lands of the Kulin people.
A place we today call Melbourne.
This experience evokes the memories of a vibrant natural, and cultural landscape. A memory that now lies beneath our urban existence today. Come and dispel some old misunderstandings for yourself and see the city with new eyes.
This cultural experience, led by Aboriginal Cultural Interpreters is designed with Melbournians in mind. It is a walk back through time.
Back through the place we now call the CBD of Melbourne.
It is a journey not only through the natural heritage, but equally the cultural heritage and the dramatic irrevocable changes of both people, and place.
Several stops are made along the way highlighting important Aboriginal Kulin sites, sites now trapped beneath the asphalt and the high-rise apartments of our 21st century.
At each stop photos, colonial imagery and cultural stories are revealed by your Aboriginal Cultural Interpreter ~ enriching the experience and unravelling the layers of history, and that undeniable spirit under our feet.
‘Walkin Birrarung’ is not only a cultural and history journey of understanding, but is an intimate personal one connecting everyone regardless of age or background back to a connection with a Spirit of Place.
WEEK SIX
Review and discussion of course material
During the seminar, we will review the key themes and ideas of this course, as well as talk about the exam and strategies for preparing for it.
FINAL JOURNAL ASSESSMENT
In this final section of the journal, you are free to write on any topic you wish. For example, you may wish to reflect upon your experiences in Melbourne and Central Australia, or you may wish to explore an issue which you find particularly interesting, compelling, inspiring, or which you have found challenging or puzzling. This is the concluding chapter of your journal, so you are also encouraged to refine and reflect upon arguments, ideas and experiences discussed in previous entries.
The total final assessment for the journal is worth 45%, of which you will already have received 30% in Journal assessments 1 and 2. These parts should be collated and submitted as a whole product, with this final component clearly marked (the previous sections will not be re-marked). This final document should be between 1500 and 2000 words in length. You are encouraged to be as creative as you like with the journal.
Please note: There are also some essential criteria that must be met. Your final journal submission must include:
Jess is a senior tutor and lecturer with the Australian Centre. She holds a doctorate in Australian Studies from the University of Melbourne, and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Queensland. Her doctoral thesis examined the representations of ethnic identities in Italian Australian literature and film.
Jess has taught in a wide range of undergraduate subjects at both Melbourne and Monash Universities in such disciplines as Australian Studies, International Studies and Gender Studies. She also coordinates several courses for the Centre’s International Programs, including specialised programs for Holy Cross and Villanova in the United States and Tamagawa University in Japan. The subjects Jess teaches focus on Australia’s immigration history; its multicultural and postcolonial identity/ies; the importance of place; comparative transnational studies of Australia and America; and media representations and experiences of war.
Jess’s research interests are cultural diversity and identity, place, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism, and cultural texts, such as film and literature. She is currently developing research focusing on soccer as a particular site at which Australian multicultural belonging can be examined and understood.