Australian Public Intellectual [API] Network

Network Scholars

Remembering Chinese ...

Greg Leong
Traditional notions of identity have been based around paradigms of a centre. In more recent times, concepts of de-centred identity have developed. These diametrically opposed visions have given rise to the struggle to define a personal sense of ‘cultural identity’ so often expressed in the literary, film, visual and performing art work of Asian Australian artists. This essay focuses on my recent body of work, Remembering Chinese,1 a collection of deceptively Chinese garments and accessories, and is an examination of the tension between the cultural identity we construct for ...
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Network Review of Books

Elect The Ambassador! Building Democracy in a Globalised World (2001)

Reviewed by Robert Imre in the October 2001 issue.
This is quite an interesting book. Duncan Kerr has distilled a great deal of information about globalisation trends in approximately 130 pages. This is not what makes it interesting, for all of this information is to be found in any number of the large variety of university texts available for the global politics courses I lecture. Elect the Ambassador! is interesting because of the recommendations for the democratisation of the institutions which are setting the various agenda for the globalisation process. While some of the suggestions are not the kind I might agree with, there are so few ... read more.

The Engine Room of Government (2001)

Reviewed by Paul Reynolds in the July 2002 issue.
By its nature this is a specialist work which deals very thoroughly with the subject addressed. As a piece of administrative history it fills a void in introducing readers to the most powerful department in the Queensland public service. While most observers would be conversant with the work of line departments and many statutory authorities, the Premiers Department remains something of a mystery. As all premiers, irrespective of party, bring their own style and emphasis to their office, so must their department adapt to a new incumbent and serve him or her in accordance with the demands ... read more.

Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World (2001)

Reviewed by Ravi De Costa in the November 2002 issue.
Those familiar with the work of Mike Davis may be surprised to find that his latest opus does not deal with aspects of the American experience. In Late Victorian Holocausts, Davis has gone global. Here is not one, but multiple, interlocking histories of the late nineteenth century. First, a study of imperial capitalism (particularly of the British) is juxtaposed with a history of the social transformation of famines and ecological change in what is now the 'third' or 'developing' world. The primary focus throughout is on three regions: the Sert�o, or high plains of the Brazilian northeast; ... read more.

Film: A Novel (2001)

Reviewed by Kelly McWilliam in the November 2001 issue.
Sean Condon's first novel, Film, strives like its central character to be more than it is. In the tradition of Condon's earlier work -- glib non-fiction travel adventure book Sean and David's Drive Thru America (Lonely Planet, 1998), and its prequel Sean and David's Long Drive (Lonely Planet, 1996) -- Film is as likeable and entertaining as it is frustrating. After initially borrowing heavily from writers like Nick Hornby and Ben Elton, Condon also sets standards he does not quite reach. Film follows the life of unappealing cinephile Henry Powdermaker who, after producing a film that breaks ... read more.

Corvus (2001)

Reviewed by Stephen Lawrence in the October 2002 issue.
The raven is traditionally a night bird; however, Tim Metcalf's collection opens with an autumn sunrise lifting this bird into flight across open land. The modern reader is thus more likely to recall Ted Hughes' Crow than the croaking raven bellowing for revenge in Hamlet. At the same time as Corvus emerges from the eye of dawn, the sun's 'harsh light' also rises over the city, and we are quickly enveloped in Metcalf's working day. The opening pieces, and those dealing with his experiences as a doctor, are amongst his best poems. They are grounded in the physical directness of the medically ... read more.

Parachute Silk (2001)

Reviewed by Iris Lowe in the August 2002 issue.
In this first novel by accomplished poet Gina Mercer, the reader is drawn into the personal worlds of forty-somethings Molly and Finn through their candid and eloquent letters to each other. There is an abundance to enjoy here and as a writer Mercer is both generous and passionate. Through the eyes of two long-term friends, Mercer explores a wide range of issues. What's more, she is not afraid to challenge stereotypes or cherished myths. Here are women of substance, painfully grappling with the contradictions and tensions of their lives and relationships. Finn, now in a monogamous ... read more.

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