In-Person Panel PS1.6

Roundtable
Asian Australian Studies: Past/Present/Futures

Still Negotiating Asian-Australia 

Jacqueline Lo 

As one of the ‘pioneers’ of Asian Australian Studies, I will reflect on the Asian Australian Studies journey. What makes Asian Australian Studies distinctive today? Who ‘does’ Asian Australian Studies? Where is this knowledge production taking place and why?

Asian Australian Screen Media 

Olivia Khoo

This paper will consider the development of Asian Australian Screen Media from the early 2000s through to the present day. It will reflect on shifts in scholarship and practice from representations of Asians on screen to the rise of Asian Australian creatives across a variety of screen media including film and television, web series, and streaming platforms.

Reflecting on Asian Australian Mobilisations in Public Discourse 

Sukhmani Khorana 

This presentation will reflect on key moments of ‘mobilisation’ among Asian Australian communities and their representatives in public-facing realms such the media, politics, and social movements in the past two decades. These include the Tampa and Children Overboard crisis following 9/11, the election of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister, the Abbott Government’s proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‘flying in’ of white candidates in diverse seats during the 2022 federal election, and engagement (and lack thereof) with Asian Australian communities during the latest Voice to Parliament referendum. Providing an overview of how communities and their representatives responded and framed responses to these moments of crisis will help understand how Asian Australians’ claims to belonging in Australia are shifting, and also signal how Australian institutions are grappling with these shifts.

Representing Australia’s engagement with Asia in the news media 

Denise Woods 

Over the years Australia’s engagement with Asia has been shaped by many different policies and events. This paper will examine the discourses around Australia’s engagement with Asia and how these impacted Australia’s relationship with the Asian diaspora within Australia as well as the region as a whole.  Focusing on the news media, I will examine the narratives and the voices of Asian-Australians in this area.

Creating Community, Identity and Place

Eleanor Jackson