EL2039:04
Australian Society and Culture
Townsville
2 x 2 hour lectures, 6 x 4 hour workshops, conducted on weekends. Second semester and flexible delivery.
Staff: Professor P Pierce.
This subject aims to provide a critical understanding of institutions that shape Australian life and to the various disciplines through which that life has been studied.
Topics include: problems of sources and methods in Australian studies; political and social history since 1945; problems of dependence; ‘the Australian way of life’; social class in Australia; meanings of multiculturalism; the mass media; patronage and the arts; the universities; Australian literature; Australian history; Australian art; Australian anthropology; cultural diplomacy and the uses of Australian studies.
Learning Objectives:
- to encourage an informed understanding of institutions that shape Australian society and culture;
- to acquire an understanding of disciplines (art history, anthropology, sociology etc) which have been brought to the study of Australian society and culture;
- to foster student initiative in directing the lines of inquiry and analysis into this material and in selecting topics on which they wish to write;
- to develop skills of oral and written presentation.
Assessment by oral presentation and argument particularly as evinced in the delivery of a seminar paper and in seminar discussion; a short essay (1,500-2,000 words) based on the seminar paper; a long essay (4,000-5,000 words) on a topic based on any aspect of the subject, that topic to be agreed after consultation.
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