Culture and Difference in Australia
Outcomes: Students achieve greater understanding of the multicultural, multivocal nature of contemporary Australian society; the relationship of contemporary Australian cultural identity to that of the past; the representation of contemporary Australian identity in its literature and film. Students become familiar with literary and historical material which establishes and broadens an understanding of the cultural complexity of Australia now and in the past, and are encouraged to view reading itself and the process of publication and presentation of literary work as a significant factor in the construction of a sense of national identity. Students achieve a certain level of verbal fluency and general debating/discussion skills through the requirement to organise, present and defend their research in a tutorial paper; and extend their skills by taking the initiative in research and in primary responses to texts and ideas by formally presenting those initiatives and responses in major items of written work.
Content: Recent Australian literature reflects not just an Anglo-Saxon or Celtic heritage but a multicultural, multivocal society with differences in the ways Australians see themselves or traditional Australian concerns such as the relationship between the human and the landscape. This unit examines some of the distinct Aboriginal, Asian-Australian and other migrant voices which have contributed to a redefinition of Australian literature.
This comprises an exercise, essay, and participation and attendance.
