Law Commons^™

Anti-Radicalism And History From Below, Rowan Cahill

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

In 1969, American historian Jesse Lemisch was in his early thirties. His politics and approach to history were shaped by the Cold War, as well as his involvements in the civil rights and anti-war movements and other struggles against the power structures of the day. That year, his paper ‘Present-Mindedness Revisited: Anti-Radicalism as a Goal of American Historical Writing Since World War 11’ was the centrepiece of a controversial session of the American Historical Association in Washington, D.C.

Passionate, strident, scholarly and forensic, the Lemisch paper detailed the ways leading American historians variously claimed political neutrality even as they were …

Vinyl: A History Of The Analogue Record, Andrew Whelan

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

This article presents a review of the book "Vinyl: A History of the Analogue Record" by Richard Osborne.

'Once Upon A Time There Was A Wonderful Country': Representations Of History In Rwanda, Deborah Mayersen

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

In April 1994, genocide erupted in Rwanda with an unprecedented ferocity. Over the course of 100 days, more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed. A major contributor to the violence was an intense propaganda campaign that dehumanised and demonised the Tutsi minority prior to and during the genocide. This propaganda presented the Tutsi as foreign and feudal oppressors, who would again oppress the Hutu majority as they had in the past if they were not targeted for extermination. Such dubious representations of history have deep roots in Rwanda, which can be traced to the early colonial period. This …

History Foundation To Year 12 (In Review Of The Australian Curriculum - Supplementary Material), Gregory Melleuish

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The Australian history curriculum is compulsory for Years Foundation through to Year 10. It states that its rationale is as follows: ‘The curriculum generally takes a world history approach within which the history of Australia is taught.’ The curriculum is also defined, and limited, by its three cross-curriculum priorities:

* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

* Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia

* Sustainability.

The Future Of History, Rowan Cahill

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

war in Iraq (2003) in the bloody search-and-destroy mission against non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) recently confessed to being a little embarrassed.

On the September 2014 eve of the release of The Menzies Era, his book of hero worship about conservative Australian PM Sir Robert Menzies, Howard told an interviewer that, when it became public knowledge, the US intelligence reports he based his decision on regarding WMD were faulty, well, he was embarrassed. Not ashamed, mind you, not distraught … which might be expected, since he has a huge amount of civilian blood on his hands … no, just …

Economics Hijackers Could Do With A History Lesson, Simon Ville

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Behind every economic policy initiative lies a narrative justifying that course of action: immigration increases unemployment; public debt is unsustainable; manufacturing is interminably declining; city growth is out of control.

We have many “narrators” driving these discussions of economics – the media, political parties, public sector bodies, business and indeed universities – each with their own set of interests and values.

Unfortunately, among these claimants, the voice of economic history has remained largely silent or selectively galvanised to prosecute a triumphalist or doomsayer interpretation: “the clever country’s many successes in policy and business”; or “the lucky country’s history has been …

'Fictional' History Opens New Front In War On Workers, Rowan Cahill

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

At the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards on 8 December 2014, the joint winner of the Australian History Award was Hal G. P. Colebatch for his book Australia’s Secret War: How Unionists Sabotaged our Troops in World War II. The judging panel was chaired by right-wing think tanker Gerard Henderson of the Sydney Institute, a diehard fan of ‘Pig Iron’ Bob Menzies, and included Peter Coleman, variously author, journalist, former Liberal Party politician, and veteran Cold War warrior.

Colebatch’s book was published in October 2013 by the conservative Australian cultural journal Quadrant, founded during the Cold War as part of the …