New Voices, New Visions brings together a collection of papers that engage with the ideas of nation, identity and place. The title New Voices, New Visions harks back to earlier scholarship that endeavoured to explore these issues. It therefore makes links between old and new stories of Australian identity, tracing the continuities, shifts and changes in how Australia is imagined. The collection is deliberately interdisciplinary, gathering work by historians, literary and film scholars, communication and cultural theorists, political scientists and sociologists. This mixed perspectives enables the reader to trace ideas, concepts and theories across a range of disciplines and understand the distinctive ways in which different disciplines engage with ideas of nation, space and Australian identity. The book is written in an engaging and accessible manner, making it an excellent text for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of Australian Studies. It will be especially useful for the growing number of students living outside Australia who engage with Australian literature and culture. The book provides a range of topics that introduces students to key issues and concepts. It also situates these ideas in historical context. New Voices, New Visions engages with key contemporary issues in everyday Australian life: environment and climate change, immigration, consumerism, travel and cities. It explores these various topics by considering case studies, both contemporary and historical. For example the issue of attitudes to Asia are analysed through art; the topic of national symbols through the case of the crocodile; approaches to immigration via a popular reality television programme. The contributors to this book comprise some of the foremost Australian scholars as well as emerging scholars. This combination ensures a depth of knowledge but also a vibrancy. The editors are experienced scholars whose knowledge of the field is broad and they have brought a coherence to the material ensuring a strong narrative for the reader.
About the Author: Catriona Elder is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney. Catriona's research is in the broad area of race, gender, national identity and belonging, with a focus on non-Indigenous identity in Australia. She is interested in theory building in the field of critical whiteness studies. More specific projects focus on popular historical drama on television, assimilation and government immigration and Indigenous policy in the 1950s and 1960s; (post)reconciliation Australia, nationalism and sexuality, and women and non-professional work in the 1950s-1960s. Keith Moore is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology. His research interests lie in Australian History and History of Education in Australia. Much of his research focuses on the role of the media. His publications include The Other Rebellion (Peter Lang) and, with Ross Fitzgerald, The Federation Mirror: Queensland 1901-2001 (University of Queensland Press). He has also written book chapters, articles and papers on bodgies, widgies and moral panic, the Beatles, the Vietnam War, and beach culture in the 1960s.