The Politics of Identity in Australia

by Geoffrey Stokes (Editor)

Overview

This superb collection of essays represents a significant rethinking of received ideas on identity, and reveals how issues of identity lie at the heart of Australian political thought, and form the foundation of Australian society and culture. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the political discourse surrounding Australian identity through a consideration of key themes. The book rejects many assumptions underlying contemporary political debates, including the promulgation of a singular national identity in historical fact or as a political goal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521586726
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/30/1997
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Geoffrey Stokes works in the areas of democratic theory, citizenship, Australian political thought, and public policy.

Table of Contents

Part I. Theorising Identity: 1. Situating Australian national identity in theory and practice Jeff Archer; 2. 'Other times': Thatcher, Hawke, Keating and the politics of identity Carol Johhson; 3. Universal obligations: liberalism, religion and national identity Gregory Melleuish; Part II. Gender and Sexuality: 4. 'Manly, true and white': masculine identity and Australian socialism Michael Leach; 5. 'Stirring tales': Australian feminism and national identity, 1900–1940 Marilyn Lake; 6. The making of an Australian civic identity: the bodies of men and the memory of war Helen Pringle; 7. (Homo)sexual identities, queer theory and politics Denis Altman; Part III. Race, Place and Citizenship: 8. Racialism and democracy: the legacy of White Australia John Kane; 9. Immigration and national identity: multiculturalism James Jupp; 10. Australia and Asia: place, determinism and national identities Wayne Hudson and Geoff Stokes; 11. Citizenship and Aboriginality: two conceptions of identity in Aboriginal political thought Geoff Stokes; Part IV. Culture, Literature and Film: 12. Political identity in contemporary Australian literature: David Malouf, Peter Carey and M. D. Fletcher; 13. Australian film and national identity in the 1990s Graeme Turner.