What a time it is to an historian!
Here in our corner of the world in Australia, the last few weeks have witnessed a series of social and political events that have absorbed the nation.
To my mind at least, they show that the gaping cracks long evident in the notion of citizenship and belonging (and therefore sovereignty) that underpinned 20th century Australia are now so wide as to be swallowing us whole.
This was a notion of citizenship founded on settler colonialism, racial exclusion, imperial benevolence (British or American), wage arbitration, and the gendered politics that came with it. And it is in this sense that the dual citizenship crisis engulfing parliament, the Manus Island refugee crisis still unfolding with tragic consequences, the politics of the non-binding same-sex marriage postal survey, the Liberal government’s out-of-hand rejection of the Uluru Statement’s proposal for an Indigenous voice to parliament, the ongoing disaster of environmental blindness and destructive resource extraction, and the interlinked outrage of insecure work and tax avoidance are all connected.
Who gets to belong? Who gets to participate and on what (and who’s) terms? These questions underpin our political moment, not just in Australia but across the globe.
They cry out for contextualisation – no wonder the historians are out in force:
- Tim Jones, ‘The marriage equality survey is won but the battle against discrimination continues’, The Conversation, 15 Nov.
- Anne Rees, ‘When the US locked up white Australian immigrants like Australia does to Asylum seekers’, The Conversation, 20 Nov
- Billy Griffiths, Lynette Russell & Richard ‘Bert’ Roberts, ‘When did Australia’s human history begin?’ The Conversation, 17 Nov
- Anna Clark, ‘Plenty of fish in the sea? Not necessarily, as history shows’, The Conversation, 3 Oct
- Frank Bongiorno, ‘Beyond the Hipster Line’, Inside Story, 19 Nov
- Leigh Boucher, ‘Muriel’s wedding the musical is a deeply satisfying tribute to Australia’s most loved dag’, 23 Nov
Are you an historian who has written for a wider audience? Send your #publichist pieces in for puffing!
Cap and Gown 