BTAN300004BA07
Introduction to Australian civilization
2010/2011
Fall semester
Instructor: Agnes Toth
Office:116/1 Main Bld.
Phone: 512 900/22152
Time and place of place: Friday 8,-.00-9.40 in Room 119 Main Bld.
The goals of this course are
- to introduce the history of Australian civilization from pre-European settlement myths and the culture of Indigenous Australians to the present;
- to provide an understanding of major currents of thought , issues and tensions leading from nation formation to multiculturalism and their problematization on the social, political and cultural terrain;
- to provide samples and illustrations for the issues outlined above (literary works, documents, paintings, films, etc.);
Class arrangement:
The discussion will be conducted by the instructor or a volunteering student. Detailes of the oral presentations will be discussed in class.
Writing assignments:
(1) End-term test: It will include a section of quiz questions and that of short essay questions. The end-term test will cover the material of the entire course including class discussions.
The date of the end-term test is fixed; make sure that you come and sit for it. No make-up papers will be offered. Those who fail the test will fail the course.
(2) A take-home essay (research papers) of (minimum) 10-12 pages long. Details to be discussed in class.
Class attendance:
It is very important that you attend each seminar. Should you miss three or more ones, I will have to consider the course incomplete and refuse your grade.
Late arrivals and early departures will not be tolerated.
Assessment:
Your grade will depend on your performance in the activities listed below:
(1) End-term test in class in writing; 100 minutes, 100 points. Parts of the test: (1) identifications (names, events, dates, etc.); (2) chronology; (3) definitions, (4) themes and concepts; (5) short essay questions. – 25%
(2) Mid-term paper in-class: evaluation or comparison of documents – 15%
(3) Student presentation – 5%
(4) Take-home research paper on a topic chosen by the student 25%
(5) Final grade heavily depends on class contribution – 30%
Proposed schedule:
(Week 1) / Introduction, orientation;“The nature of Australia” (DVD screening)
(Week 2) / Lecture:
Introducing Australia (Facts and Figures; the Australian political system;
Survey of basic Australian geography (illustrated with visual material) and history, etc.)
(Week 3) / Images of Australia 1:
(i) Pre-white settlement myths of Terra Australis Incognita;
(ii) Myths of the convict times;
AT: J. Rickard. “Immigrants” 18pp.
Students will chose a presentation topic
(Week 4) / From colony to federation
(i) Myths of the land.
(ii) Inventing Australian identity: the radical nationalism of the 1890s; The Sydney Bulletin and the Heilderberg School.
AT: White, Richard. “The National Type.” 21pp.
(Week 5) / Baptism through fire: Australia at war
AT: G. Seal. Inventing ANZAC. pp 1-35. 35 pp.
(Week 6) / Twentieth-century manifestations of the Bush legend:
AT: E. Hodges. “The Bushman Legend” 10pp.
J.B. Hirst “The Pioneer Legend” 22pp.
(Week 7) / Women and minorities in Australia
AT: K. Shaeffer. “The Bush and Women” 33pp.
Mid-term paper: in-class essay
(Week 8) / Challenges of cultural diversity: Divided loyalties, new identities;
The Heartbreak Kid (film)
(Week 9) / Australian Aboriginal culture from ancient times until today.
AT: J. Rickard. “Aborigines” 18pp.
(Week 10) / Images of Australia 2:
(i) Contemporary myths of Oz: the beach and the lifesaver
L. Huntsman. Sand in Our Souls. pp. 163-189 26pp.
(Week 11) / New Britannia or America under the Southern Cross?: Dilemmas of Australian-ness
C. Elder: Being Australian pp. 1-19 19pp.
(Week 12) / Marketing Australia for the rest of the world:
Contemporary Australian iconography
AT: Australia (film)
(Week 13) / A potpouri of everyday life in Australia:
public holidays; sport and sport heroes; car culture; world famous Australians;
Hungarians in Australia; Hungarian-Australian relations
Class based on 5-minute student presentations
(Week 14) / End-term test
Assigned texts:
Elder, Catriona. Being Australian: Narratives of National Identity. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2007, pp. 1-19.
Hirst, J. B. “The Pioneer Legend” Intruders in the Bush: The Australian Quest for Identity. (2nd ed.) Melbourne: Oxford UP Australia, 1982, pp 14-36.
Hodges, Elanor. “The Bushman Legend” John Carroll ed. Intruders in the Bush: The Australian Quest for Identity. (2nd ed.) Melbourne: Oxford UP Australia, 1982, pp 3-13.
Huntsman, Leone. Sand in Our Souls. Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 2001.
Rickard, John. “Aborigines.” Australia: A Cultural History. London: Longman, 1988. pp. 3-21.
Rickard, John. “Immigrants.” Australia: A Cultural History. London: Longman, 1988. pp. 22-40.
Seal, Graham. Inventing ANZAC: The digger and National Mythology. St. Lucia, Queensland: 2004, pp 1-35.
Shaeffer, Kay. “The Bush and Women” Franz Kuna and Graeme Turner eds. Studying Australian Culture: An Introductory Reader. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac, 1994, pp.193-224.