crossings vol 8.3, 2003



From the Editor

David Carter
Australian Studies Centre
The University of Queensland

In this issue of Crossings (Volume 8, no. 3), in place of the postgraduate work-in-progress essays which have featured in the final issues of recent years, we publish a number of essays recently presented at a three-day 'masterclass' held in Brisbane and sponsored by the Australian Studies Centre at the University of Queensland. The subject of the masterclass was Territorial Techniques and presentations ranged across a broad cross-disciplinary range of topics in the area of spatial histories. Session leaders were Libby Robin, Tony Birch and Ross Gibson. More than 20 graduate students and younger researchers attended.

The essays published here are by Laina Hall (University of Sydney), 'Leisure Overlanding in Australia'; Will Grant (Political Science, University of Queensland), 'National Spaces and World Politics'; Mary Ann Hunter (UQ), 'City Space/Festival Space'; Robert Schütze (Journalism, UQ), 'Terrorism in our Backyard'.

We are also delighted to publish a review-essay by Eugenie Pinto, University of Madras, on Inez Baranay's new book Neem Dreams, first published in India.




In the 'News' section we have posted an advertisement for the Australian Studies chair at Tokyo University, an annual appointment. Note that applications close mid-January. We also include information on Australian studies positions in Hungary and Wales.

We also have reports on recent new developments in Australian studies work in China and Indonesia. China has one of the longest-running Australian-government-supported Australian studies programmes in Asia, Indonesia one of the newest (though building on earlier developments). Andrew Hassam reports on recent activities from the Centre for Australian Studies in Wales.

Note that there are major international Australian studies conferences coming up in India, in January, and in Wales, in September. The conference of the Chinese Australian Studies Association will take place later in 2004, in Xuzhou (Jiangsu), exact dates yet to be confirmed. Under our 'News' heading there is also a call for contributions to a new electronic journal in China which will have a strong Australian focus. I'm also happy to announce that applications are invited for two PhD (APAI) scholarships to work with me on an ARC project studying popular cultures in rural Australia (Qld).

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