Identity Anecdotes

Meaghan Morris is Professor and Chair of the department of cultural studies at Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

`Reading Meaghan Morris is like trekking on a meandering path through dense forests and over steep hills, making us pause at startling finds and taking us through unsurpassed vistas of insight and knowledge. Morris takes no shortcuts and leads us through places that may seem eccentric, but the experience is immensely rewarding for those who appreciate that serious intellectual work today demands addressing hard questions with intense dedication and patience for detail, not the easy way out of premature generalisations and sweeping statements.Meticulously attentive to the complex nuances and intricacies of what is too easily glossed as ‘cross-cultural communication’ in the front lines of global intellectual exchange, these essays offer us a unique, writerly perspective on what it takes, socially and textually, to reconcile the requirements of an effective shared discourse – cultural studies – with the intrinsic heterogeneity of our divergent glocal realities. Written with the razor-sharp precision, arresting wit and erudite acumen that are quintessential Meaghan Morris, Identity Anecdotes is an awesomely satisfying and enlightening read. It is also testimony to a fearless generosity of spirit that we need more than ever in our increasingly fraught and fractious world′ - Ien Ang, University of Western Sydney

• PART ONE: RHETORIC and NATIONALITYAfterthoughts on `Australianism′PanoramaThe Live, The Dead and The LivingWhite Panic or Mad Max and the SublimeBeyond AssimilationAboriginality, Media History and Public MemoryPART TWO: TRANSLATION IN CULTURAL THEORYThe Man in the MirrorDavid Harvey′s `Condition′ of PostmodernityA Way of Inhabiting A CulturePaul Willemen′s Looks and FrictionsAn Ethics of UncertaintyNaoki Sakai′s Translation and SubjectivityCrazy Talk Is Not EnoughDeleuze and Guattari at Muriel’s Wedding PART THREE: INSTITUTIONALLY SPEAKINGSticks and Stones and StereotypesThe Scully Protocol (`The Truth Is Out There...′)`Please Explain?′ Ignorance, Poverty and the PastUncle Billy, Tina Turner and Me