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Welcome To Bogan-Ville: Reframing Class And Place Through Humour, Chris Gibson

Chris Gibson

On August 4, 2009, Australian online news commentary website the Punch announced that Albion Park, in the Australian industrial city of Wollongong, was one of the nation's top ten “most bogan” places. This paper explores what it means to be bogan in Australia, tracing historical antecedents, local debate at the time of this media event, and the manner in which the politics of class and place identity are negotiated through humour. Some local residents railed against associations with “lower-class” culture or feared damaged reputations for their neighbourhoods; others responded in sometimes unexpected and creative ways—through humour, and by claiming bogan …