Echoes of Vietnam: Counterinsurgency, “warrior hero” culture, and war crimes in Afghanistan

Echoes of Vietnam: Counterinsurgency, “warrior hero” culture, and war crimes in Afghanistan

By Mia Martin Hobbs In our latest article, Dr Mia Martin Hobbs finds important parallels between war crimes committed by the US and Australia in the Vietnam War and those alleged to have been committed by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan. These echoes, she argues, should cause our politicians to think carefully before sending fighting […]
Managing the Federation During a Pandemic: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19

Managing the Federation During a Pandemic: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19

Global health pandemics, it would seem, make us reach for local remedies and cling to local identities. As state borders have closed and parochialism has increased, COVID-19 has made Australians more aware of their federal system of government than they have been for a long time.  In this piece about the 1919 Spanish influenza outbreak, […]
What now for Black Lives Matter? Whatever happens under Biden, the role of African American women will be vital

What now for Black Lives Matter? Whatever happens under Biden, the role of African American women will be vital

  AAP/AP/Paula Bronstein Clare Corbould, Deakin University During the northern summer, anti-Trump sentiment fused with anti-racist activism in the US, causing huge numbers of Americans to protest all around the country. President Donald Trump has been voted out of office, but the issues at the heart of Black Lives Matter remain as critical as ever. […]
Border Wars: History and Creative Imagination

Border Wars: History and Creative Imagination

In our latest opinion piece, Richard Trembath steps into the always-contentious debate about history, historical fiction and ‘narrative non-fiction’, prompted by the publication of Kate Grenville’s A Room Made of Leaves.  Kate Grenville’s latest novel set in early colonial New South Wales, A Room Made of Leaves, was published in July this year to positive reviews […]
Australian Foreign Aid in Historical Context

Australian Foreign Aid in Historical Context

In our latest opinion piece, Nicholas Ferns, author of the recently published Australia in the Age of International Development, 1945–1975: Colonial and Foreign Aid Policy in Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia (Palgrave), describes the decline of Australian aid to our region. Reviewing decades of developmental policy to the Pacific and south-east Asia, he argues […]
The Department of Immigration was central to Australia’s post-World War II recovery. What role might it play in Australia’s recovery from COVID 19?

The Department of Immigration was central to Australia’s post-World War II recovery. What role might it play in Australia’s recovery from COVID 19?

On May 3 Kristina Keneally, the federal opposition Immigration and Home Affairs spokesperson, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald  that ‘As a result of COVID-19, Australia will soon have an opportunity to do something we have never done before: restart a migration program’. Kenneally has a point. The COVID 19 crisis presents challenges commensurate with […]
Australia’s universities, Covid-19 and the future.

Australia’s universities, Covid-19 and the future.

In our latest opinion piece, John Doyle and Scott Doidge survey the effect of COVID on the university sector, and urge the higher education sector to use this crisis to reinvigorate its broader mission as a pillar of civic society. As 2020 dawned, Australia’s university sector was anticipating another prosperous year, notwithstanding perennial concerns about […]
Could Thatcher and Reagan inspire Australia’s economic recovery?

Could Thatcher and Reagan inspire Australia’s economic recovery?

A recent editorial in the Australian Financial Review declared that after devising Australia’s biggest ever stimulus package, the Government now needs to develop a sweeping ‘supply-side reform program’ to drive recovery from the economic downturn caused by the global response to COVID-19 (AFR 2020). The Government has said that it is devising a supply-side policy […]
Economic Rationalism and University Course Pricing 1989-2020

Economic Rationalism and University Course Pricing 1989-2020

The Morrison government recently announced plans to overhaul the pricing structure for university courses (Duffy 2020). The government’s proposal can be understood as operating at four levels: first, the ideological level where abstraction hides the personal significance and social impact of the proposed changes; secondly, the level of the political-economic theory that provides the basis […]
Why is the Confederate flag so offensive?

Why is the Confederate flag so offensive?

Clare Corbould, Deakin University Most Australians — aside from a few groups dedicated to reenacting American Civil War battles and history buffs including Bob Carr and Kim Beazley — were not familiar until recently with the charged history of the flag of the Confederate States of America. Now the flag is in the Australian news […]
What Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods gets wrong about veterans returning to Vietnam

What Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods gets wrong about veterans returning to Vietnam

  Netflix Mia Martin Hobbs, University of Melbourne Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, out now on Netflix, tells the story of five Black US veterans who return to Vietnam to hunt for gold and recover the remains of their lost squad leader. Beginning with the reunion of five old “Bloods”, and peppered with flashbacks to […]
Vaccine, Cure and Trust: COVID-19 and Those People in White Coats

Vaccine, Cure and Trust: COVID-19 and Those People in White Coats

‘Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’ The White Queen in Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871).   I write as confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus in Victoria have risen sharply, dashing the hopes of the more optimistic that the epidemic had peaked in Australia.  […]