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EDITORIAL
Author Information: Guest Editors: Panizza Allmark and Dennis Wood
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY: POLITICS, PERFORMANCE AND POP CULTURES
The articles in this issue of Illumina have been developed from a one-day seminar held in September 2006, which aimed to provide cultural debate surrounding the issues of national identity in Australia. This was a signature event of the Media, Culture and Society Research Group, in conjunction with the Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education & Communications (CREATEC), Edith Cowan University. We would like to thank Professor Jon Stratton for his critical insights, contribution and advice for the speakers and we would also like to express our appreciation to Nahid Kabir for her generous support and advice.
We were interested in exploring the spaces that enact an imagined community, the symbols that portray a sense of banal nationalism and the issues of borders and boundaries relating to the conservatism of Australian culture. The three key areas that were addressed in this seminar were politics, performance and pop cultures.
The articles as well as conference papers in this issue, address how Australian national identity is constructed, negotiated, communicated and expressed in response to cultural developments in Australian society. There is also a focus on how conceptions and practices of Australian identity are being reshaped under the pressures of globalisation, migration and multiculturalism.
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‘DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?’: POPULAR MUSIC IN PERTH IN THE EARLY 1960S
Author Information: Jon Stratton
The Beatles toured Australia in June 1964. Everywhere they went they were greeted by extraordinary scenes. In Adelaide, which had not originally been on the itinerary, over 300,000 people, approximately a third of the population, turned out to greet them.
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'WALLS' BY WORDS: THE REAL AND 'IMAGINEERED' SPACES OF INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
Author Information: Dennis Wood
From Hadrian’s Wall to the Great Wall of China; Castles to Forts these edifices were not only physical, topographical structures but also alluded to a predominantly (constructed) absented ‘other’. These configurations spoke to an ‘us’ of community whilst imagining an ‘other’ of the invader.
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MILITARISING AUSTRALIA — PERFORMING THE NATION IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA
Author Information: Rob Imre
In this paper I claim that a key element of the John Howard government has been the fabrication of efficiency through military interventions. In this case I am using the notion of ‘performativity’ to show that the Howard government, like many other contemporary governing parties in liberal-democratic state systems, is primarily concerned with the ‘efficient management’ of politics.
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FLAGGING AUSTRALIA: PHOTOGRAPHS OF BANAL NATIONALISM
Author Information: Panizza Allmark
Michael Billig suggests that “the place of national flags in contemporary life bears a moment’s consideration” (1995, p. 117). He then discusses the role of the unwaved flag referring to the notion of banal nationalism, arguing that only “the passionately waved flags are conventionally considered to be exemplars of nationalism” and that attention must be given in remembering the everyday ways in which nation-hood is literally flagged (1995, p. 117).
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MUSLIMS, MEDIA AND POLICY: CHALLENGES TO AN INCLUSIVE AUSTRALIAN IDENTITY
Author Information: Jude Elund
Recent trends in Australian government policy have seen a return to a non-inclusionary nationalism which has been reinforced by a fear of the ‘other’, exacerbated by increasing global tensions between Islam and the West. The climate of fear is perpetuated by the nation’s media, effectively demonising a section of society that is often misunderstood and misrepresented.
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NATIONAL IDENTITY, RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND LITERATURE: NEGOTIATING IDENTITY IN DOES MY HEAD LOOK BIG IN THIS?
Author Information: Firouzeh Ameri
Islam in general and Muslim communities in the West in particular have been the centre of attention in the last few decades in Western societies, and after the events of 9/11 and terrorist attacks in London (2005) and Bali (2002), this attention has clearly increased.
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MOBILISING IDENTITY: STRATEGIES OF THE MOBILE PHONE MOVIE POST-CITIZEN
Author Information: Tania Visosevic
These notes are an accompaniment to my mobile phone movie Post-Citizen (2006). Post-Citizen is a short film that attempts to capture the complex reality of migration and national identity.
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