Offered
Not offered in 2008
Synopsis
This unit explores major issues in Australian visual culture since white settlement from a postcolonial perspective. Areas for study will include the imaging of settlement from the colonial era to the present; the changing conception of Australia's cultural relationship with the South Pacific and its inhabitants; the apparent need to create popular heroes such as the bushranger and explorer; the meaning of the war experience for the Australian populace; the issue of race relations in both colonial and postcolonial contexts; and, inevitably, the perennial appeal of the landscape in Australian visual culture.
Objectives
Upon completion of this subject students will have:
- A sound general knowledge of major issues in colonial Australian visual culture and their critique in contemporary art, film and theory.
- An understanding of postcolonial theory and its relevance to Australian visual culture, both past and present.
- Studied the inter-relationship of both still and moving media in constructing changing identities.
Assessment
Essay (3500 words): 60%
Visual test (2 hours): 40%
Contact hours
4 hours (1 x 1 hour lecture, 1 x 1 hour tutorial and 1 x 2 hour screening) per week
