Australian Studies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives – serie

This book explores the ways in which Australian Indigenous filmmakers, performers and writers work within their Indigenous communities to tell the stories of early Indigenous resistance leaders who fought against British invaders and settlers, thus keeping their legacies alive and connected to community in the present. It offers the first comprehensive and trans-disciplinary analysis of how the stories of Pemulwuy, Jandamarra and Yagan (Bidjigal, Bunuba and Noongar freedom fighters, respectively) have been retold in the past forty years across different media. Combining textual and historical analysis with original interviews with Indigenous cultural producers, it foregrounds the multimodal nature of Indigenous storytelling and the dynamic relationship of these stories to reclamations of sovereignty in the present. It adds a significant new chapter to the study of Indigenous history-making as political action, while modelling a new approach to stories of frontier resistance leaders and providing a greater understanding of how the decolonizing power of Indigenous screen, stage and text production connects past, present and future acts of resistance.

Examining social imaginaries is important for exploring how we might live differently. This interdisciplinary book combines ethical, narrative, and media analysis to investigate emerging ideas regarding human-animal interaction and cohabitation in Australia in the twenty-first century. The authors appraise the range of conventions, standards, and narratives that have driven Australians’ interactions with animals. They further trace how animal advocates, activist groups, and other influencers are calling for change, together with inspiring everyday Australians to better consider the status and wellbeing of animals in Australia. In this work they draw on a wide range of sources: from activist campaigning and well-known cultural narratives to diverse forms of mainstream media production and scientific analysis. They examine the treatment of livestock animals, common understandings of companion animals, the protection of threatened species, the complexity of living alongside native animals, and the possible rewilding of Australian communities and landscapes. The book also addresses the question of what living in more-than-human, multispecies communities might mean and look like in practice. In every chapter the authors endeavour to better understand how Australians live alongside animals and imagine how better models for interaction, cohabitation, and communal living with animals might be built.

«Just like Prisoner and Wentworth, this book is an instant cult classic. Written with love by a collective of expert aca-fans, TV Transformations & Transgressive Women takes us on a fascinating journey through the cultural legacies of Australia’s favourite prison TV dramas. Contributors use a rich palette of methods, from genre analysis to production research, to unpack the significance of these shows. An exemplary textual study, this richly multi-perspectival collection is essential reading for anyone interested in television genres.» (Ramon Lobato, Associate Professor, RMIT University)«This collection is a wonderful example of how certain TV shows can have tremendous impact, not only in the time of their making, but for several decades, when suddenly there’s the opportunity to travel even further in an on-demand age and meet new audiences, academics and analytical approaches. The chapters offer a wide range of interesting interpretations and discussions, not the least on the way women have been represented on screen then and now. A good read for academics, fans and aca-fans.» (Eva Novrup Redvall, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen)　A deep dive into iconic 1980s Australian women-in-prison TV drama Prisoner (aka Cell Block H), its contemporary reimagining as Wentworth, and its broader, global industry significance and influence, this book brings together a range of scholarly and industry perspectives, including an interview with actor Shareena Clanton (Wentworth’s Doreen Anderson). Its chapters draw on talks with producers, screenwriters and casting; fan voices from the Wentworth twitterverse; comparisons with Netflix’s Orange is the New Black; queer and LGBTQ approaches; and international production histories and contexts. By charting a path from Prisoner to Wentworth, the book offers a new mapping of TV shifts and transformations through the lens of female transgression, ruminating on the history, currency, industry position and cultural value of women-in-prison series.

This book explores how working-class experience is represented in contemporary Australian literature and theatre and asks whether working-class stories continue to be underrepresented in the contemporary Australian literary scene. The book examines a wide range of examples from published Australian fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and theatre that has working-class content, and considers what kinds of representations are present in these works. Is the nuance of working-class life being included? Do the authors challenge stereotypes? What kinds of stories are privileged? Who is writing about working-class people? And what can we learn about working-class Australia from reading contemporary literature? The book also takes an intersectional approach and considers how contemporary Australian authors and playwrights such as Melissa Lucashenko, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Tony Birch and Alana Valentine show the intersections of class with race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.