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Cultural Studiesis an international journal committed to exploring the relationships between cultural practices and everyday life, economic relations, the material world, the State, and historical forces and contexts. ... Read more

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Australian civilization is described in this book with subtlety and irony as a "wildly problematic, discursive and sometimes cranky thing. It can be a sensitive thing. It can still be chauvinistic." The book brings together leading intellectuals who discuss the various dynamics of civilization in the Australian context. They debate openly and honestly the strengths and weaknesses of Australian civilization. The contributors each narrate Australian civilization from monographic viewpoints. Together these monographic views narrate the central concerns of this volume. The production of a master narrative is resisted. But it is equally obvious that in the diversity of approaches--the pluralism of the monographic views--there are recurring important themes. This timely book is concerned with the tremendous changes that have overtaken Australia in the second half of this century. It demonstrates that many time-honored beliefs have been broken up, but argues that this intensely creative period has seen Australia transformed from a provincial inward-looking society with blinkered conceptions of history and self-importance to one of the world's oldest and most successful liberal plural democracies. ... Read more

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An introduction to the basic concepts and skills of textual analysis. From Saussure to Bourdieu, this text presents a range of approaches to the study of communication and culture. It shows how the division between theory and practice can be overcome. ... Read more

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Clear Overview of Contextualised Communication
Schirato and Yell offer a clear and comprehensive overview of communicative practices in the contemporary world.The strength of their text is in bringing together the work of eminent theorists and researchers - among them Pierre Bourdieu, Jean Baudrillard, Ferdinand de Saussure, V.N. Volosinov, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Gunther Kress, Michael Halliday, M.M. Bakhtin - to explain communication practices within and across various cultures (though it still retains a distinctly Australian flavour).

Through frequent application of theoretical principles to everyday situations and cultural artefacts (such as newspaper articles, images, emails, letters, etc.) as examples, the authors are able to explain some complex ideas in highly accessible ways.The concept of 'cultural literacy' is deployed, relating together various theories, in order to explain the ways in which individuals communicate effectively within cultural contexts.It is this concept of 'context' that is at the centre of all communicative practices, and which shape the manner in which speech, writing and image (among other mediums) are used for meaning making.

In offering a broad overview of theories related to communication and culture, Schirato and Yell provide clear indications for further reading (there are brief, highlighted descriptions of central figures and their work).In acknowledging the limitations of their own work as an examination of communicative practices, therefore only generalisable in a limited sense, the authors nevertheless create a complex and relevant theory of 'cultural literacy' to explain ways in which individuals communicate effectively across various `cultural fields'.

At times, ideas could have been explained in a little more detail and drawn together more tightly into explicit observations (especially after the analysis of example texts), though this would have increased the complexity of the text overall.As adequate compensation, each chapter offers a brief concluding summary, which work well to draw the theories being developed into a cohesive whole.This could have been enhanced further with a more comprehensive concluding chapter, drawing together the ideas of the entire text.

Nevertheless, Schirato and Yell have provided an excellent introduction to communication and cultural theory.Accessible and well supported with evidence, the work of various researchers and theorists is drawn together to create clear and relevant theoretical observations for the modern world.An excellent introduction for anyone interested in cultural studies, communication, literacy studies or just the way that the modern 'information world' is changing the way human beings relate to each other.
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This analysis of Western Sydney's myriad faces explores its roles as suburban wonderland, ethnic trouble spot, home of gated communities. Western Sydney has become notorious for its supposedly uncharitable attitudes toward migrants and asylum-seekers, yet it's still the number-one destination for new arrivals. Evidence about the region's aspirations and social attitudes, and its place in the political nation, is surveyed. The area's recent reputation for racism and intolerance is explored as well. ... Read more

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essential guide to Aboriginal religion and symbolism
Dr. Howard Morphy's articles and books are consistently well researched and readable; Ancestral Connections is no exception. This book provides a fascinating and rewarding insight into thought system poorly understood by the average layperson.Although this book presupposes a bit of background knowledge of the social systems and cultures of Arnhem Land, a careful reading of this work will unveil a beautiful and intricate symbolic and artistic system, intimately binding the clans of the Yolngu people to their land and the great ancestral beings who created them. Numbering around 5,000 people organized into 40 clans, the Yolngu are one of the largest and most politically influential Aboriginal groups in Australia, and their social system and totemic organization is representative of many of the cultures of the Top End.Their are few detailed and anthropologically sound studies of Aboriginal thought accessible to the non-specialist; Ancestral Connections is highly recommended as it truly humanizes this poorly understood and complex society, so often subject to inaccurate characterization by the popular media and New Age movement.If you want to understand Aboriginal religion and its place in society, read this book... ... Read more

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This collection assembles some of Australia's leading historians to present new perspectives on the 1950s. Focusing on social and cultural themes, they reveal a decade full of contradictions which belie the common, simplistic accounts of the time. Ranging from the education of the young Barry Humphries to the idea of an Australian 'identity' in the lead-up to the 1956 Olympics, these essays also include the personal recollections of three leading historians, providing a lively and critical insight into the Australia of the period. ... Read more

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Nation, Culture, Text is the first collection of work in cultural studies from Australia, selected and introduced for an international readership. Participating in the `de-centering' of cultural studies--considering what perspectives non-Europeans or Americans have to offer--the contributors raise important issues about the role of a national tradition of critical theory, and about the cultural specificity of theory itself.

Contributors:Tony Bennett, Stuart Cunningham, Ross Gibson, Pam Gilbert, Helen Grace, Ian Hunter, Elizabeth Jacka, Eric Michaels, Meaghan Morris, Virginia Nightingale, Tom O'Regan, Noel Sanders, John and Marian Tulloch. ... Read more

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What this book represents is, quite literally, a “slice” of (white) Australian life. By noting the patterns and parallels that emerge in a random sampling of social phenomena of widely varying types, from soap operas to political behaviour, Gaile McGregor has constructed a model that, in its challenge to uniformitarianism, is a test case in ethnographic theory. Using methods ranging from the hermeneutic through the structuralist to the psychoanalytic, McGregor deploys the self-evidence of communal life and language to establish not only that all cultural phenomena are “patterned,” but that this patterning is unique to and consistent across the entire system.

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Australian education has been substantially re-shapedover the past decade or more, as part of a wider re-shaping of theAustralian state. Equity agendas have been increasingly muted, whileeconomic priorities have increasingly dominated educationalreforms. The book analyses key policy areas (Aboriginal education,multicultural education, gender, social class, schooling and work, andback-to-basics-curriculum movements) in light of these changes, andexamines whether these changes are best seen as reforms, or are theresult of a crisis in the Australian state. ... Read more

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A title from the THREATENED CULTURES series illustrated with colour photographs, looking at the history and culture of the original inhabitants of Australia and the challenges they face today in forcing the rest of Australia's population to acknowledge their rights. ... Read more