Australia’s population has been characterised by constant change for many decades, yet anxiety over a rising Asia and racism are continued factors. This has been made even more evident recently with the escalation in racial abuse towards Australians of Asian heritage due to COVID-19.

Professor David Walker, Deakin University and Professor Jing Han, Western Sydney University look at how our past still fuels anxiety and racism today.

Professor David Walker draws on his latest book Stranded Nation: White Australia in an Asian Region which looks at Australia from 1920 – 1970 and addresses how Australia sought to convince both itself and its neighbours that it belonged within the Asian region. While Professor Jing Han shares her thoughts on modern Australia’s anxiety and how her translation work on the unexpected hit ‘If You Are the One’ has led to an unprecedented cultural impact and influence on Australian audiences in understanding the ordinary lives of Chinese people.

Professor David Walker AM is a historian and emeritus professor at Deakin University. He is a leading authority in the study of Australian perceptions of Asia and has written extensively on Australian social and cultural history and is the author of Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia, 1850 – 1939. He is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, was the inaugural BHP Billiton Professor in Australian Studies at Peking University and appointed a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2018.

Professor Jing Han is Director, Australia-China Institute For Arts and Culture, Western Sydney University and was the Head of SBS Subtitling Department. She is a leading expert in subtitling, intercultural communications and translating Chinese culture. Over the last 23 years, she has solely subtitled and been individually credited for the English versions of over 200 major Chinese films and documentaries broadcast on SBS channels.

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Perspectives:Asia is a program of public seminars designed and promoted by the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University and the Australian Centre for Asia-Pacific Art (ACAPA), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art to explore issues of contemporary culture, politics and society in our region, while fostering public discussion of Australia’s relations with its region.  

Copies of Stranded Nation: White Australia in an Asian Region are available at https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/stranded-nation