Teaching 'Australian Civilization' at the University of Montenegro

Dr Janko Andrijasevic
University of Montenegro
Beogradska A1/4
81400 Niksic
Montenegro
tel.: +381-565-820
fax: +381-247-109
e-mail: iank@net.hr

The University of Montenegro is a young institution, established only three decades ago, while the four-year studies of English at the Faculty of Philosophy were introduced in 1990. Montenegro is a small country, with slightly more than 600 thousand people, and we have always been facing the problem of the lack of staff. Even now, after fifteen years of the English Department, we have more visiting professors than permanent ones, though the situation is slowly changing as the first generations of young scholars are gradually taking over lectures in language, literature and cultural-based subjects. Besides this, we are currently undergoing a thorough reform of the overall educational system, including the university. The new regime offers the possibilities for a number of elective courses to be introduced within English language and literature studies. It is a challenging idea since it is quite new for us, but at the same time an alluring one for the great degree of creativity it requires. Being already busy with many teaching and administrative tasks, I still did not want to miss the chance, and I chose to prepare a course in Australian civilization.

The idea to teach Australian culture was slightly intimidating at first, because the resources about Australia are extremely scarce here in Montenegro. I applied for a scholarship with the European Society for the Study of English, which would enable me to stay at the Centre for Australian Studies in Melbourne, after receiving a most kind invitation by Professor Kate Darian-Smith, but I did not win the grant. I also failed in getting a Tempus scholarship for a visit to the Menzies Centre in London, after being kindly invited by Professor Carl Bridge. Then I went to the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, where I managed to find some essential books on Australian history, literature and art. Besides, Prof. Darian-Smith kindly sent me several books and course-materials used at her Centre. After finally managing to collect the basic books for starting this project, I set off reading extensively and drafting my lectures.

I am sure that many things about Australia will be as new and surprising to my students as they are to me. This country is still a terra incognita for most of us living in this part of the world, although many people have family members who moved 'down under', and although Australia is quite present in the media. Our general knowledge is burdened with clichés, and I hope this course points out some essential truths about the distant, southern continent. The element of surprise and discovery will hopefully be an encouraging and motivating element for the students who choose to take up this one-semester course in September 2005.

Bearing in mind the fact that both I and the students will be starting from scratch, I decided to design a rather conservatively structured course which includes the main elements of Australian cultural history. Thus, the course consists of general characteristics of the country, a short historical outlook, including the history and culture of Aboriginal Australians, then a short outline of Australian literature, music, architecture and art, the stories of six state capitals and finally the main political and cultural issues in Australia today. I am well aware that the scope of this comprehensively conceived course requires a lot of knowledge and mastery, which takes a long time to acquire, but on the other hand this scheme is convenient as a general framework within which any particular segment of Australian cultural heritage can smoothly be dovetailed.

When I start teaching the course next September, and when I get some student feedback, I will have a better insight into the whole project. For the time being, I am reading as much as I can. I hope I can visit Australia soon to get some immediate impressions, talk to experts and purchase more teaching material. On the other hand, if an Australian scholar is in a position to visit our University and deliver some lectures here, it would be of immense value for the Montenegrin students of Australian civilization and greatly appreciated by the English Department.

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