EC 21st century Australia

This course takes a geohistorical approach to understanding the challenges facing contemporary Australian society in an “age of uncertainty”. Combining the methods and analytical tools of a ‘history of the present’ of the postcolonial nation with an awareness of Australia’s 65,000 year ‘deep history’, we shall critically assess three unresolved issues in contemporary political debates which call into question scholarly and popular assumptions about the relationship between Australia’s colonial past and its present: the constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples, the prospect of an Australian republic, and Australia’s controversial response to the global climate crisis.

(*lecture recommandée)

Davis, Megan. “The Voice of Reason: On Recognition and Renewal.” Quarterly Essay Issue 90, 2023.

Gergis, Joëlle. “Highway to Hell: Climate Change and Australia’s Future”. Quarterly Essay Issue 94, 2024.

Hirst, John. Australian History in 7 Questions. Collingwood, Vic.: Black Inc., 2016.*

McKenna, Mark. “The Stunted Republic”, The Monthly, December 2021-January 2022.