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InASA Conference 7-9 December 2016 – ‘Across the Fence: Encounter, Recognition, Refuge and Community’

Hosted by the Centre for Human Rights Education, Australia-Asia-Pacific Institute and School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts

Curtin University
Fremantle, WA (Venue TBA)

For the first time, the International Association of Australian Studies conference will take place in Western Australia (WA), following on the zeitgeist of Griffith Review’s ‘Looking West’ (2014) and the end of the mining boom. WA has been in the national spotlight, with calls to have a ‘cashed-up bogan-proof fence’ by some east coasters; and there have been vigorous national protests against the closure of remote Aboriginal communities based on a racial and cultural politics of ‘lifestyle’ that bear the hallmarks of European Enlightenment triumph. WA offers a rich context to explore the creative, cultural and critical dynamics of Australian society. Its proximity to the Indian Ocean, to Indonesia, Southeast Asia, India and China, make WA an ideal place from which to look at Australia, as well as a place to understand how others see it.

Under the theme of ‘Across the Fence: Encounter, Recognition, Refuge and Community,’ the conference will offer the opportunity of developing new understandings of Australian Studies. Using the notion of the ‘fence’ as a key site of cultural struggle(s) in Australia, where encounter, recognition, refuge and community are central features of its politics and future(s), the conference will showcase contemporary research and creativity in understanding Australia through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches.
Further details and website will be available mid July 2015.