ARTICLE - Asia@Home: New Directions in Asian Australian Studies

This article is a critical introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Australian Studies, ‘Asia@Home’.

Excerpt from the introduction:

While current research develops its engagement with transnational and globalised fields, and scholars persist in theoretical debate about issues such as cosmopolitanism and hybridity, it is important that we do not lose sight of the local/national context. Without at least one eye on the national context, Asian Australian or Asian Canadian, Asian American or Asian British loses its political relevance and purpose. Ideals of ‘borderless’ identities produced by the potential of transnational mobilities, and particularly of cyberspatial relations, have been repeatedly debunked in favour of ‘how place and embodied everyday life still matter’. Our delineation of the new directions in Asian Australian Studies flags a timely confluence of interests: intensified attention to social research by humanities/cultural production researchers, and social science researchers recognising the value of cultural politics and production as indices of social cohesion. For the near future, these new connections for interdisciplinary scholarly work and community engagement mean that Asian Australian Studies can remain a fresh and responsive entity, while also further establishing itself and feeling more ‘at home’.

Journal of Australian Studies Vol. 32, No. 4, December 2008, 425432

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