100-410 Imaging Australian Life: 1900-2000

Admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year combined honours in Australian studies.

In this subject students will examine and discuss ways in which Australian life was imagined and imaged, particularly within a public forum, throughout the 20th century. Students will explore three key themes through which Australian cultural history and identity is articulated: Visual Culture will include an engagement with film, photography and fine art; Public Culture will examine the ways in which Australian life is presented through public displays such as museum exhibitions, parades and processions, monuments and commemoration and other uses of public space; Written Culture will look at the way that writers, through a variety of genres, including travel writing, literature and the spoken word, have identified aspects of the Australian landscape, both physical and 'natural'. Students will engage with these forms through visits to museums, galleries and a variety of public displays and performances. Artists, writers and performers may be invited to attend specific seminars. On completion of this subject, students will be able to appreciate the various textual forms which have influenced the way in which Australia represents its history and culture throughout the 20th century.

Written work totalling 5000 words.

A subject reader will be available