Australian Studies at UNSW

The National Museum of Australia, Canberra. The controversies surrounding the National Museum reflect broader debates about how Australians understand themselves, their nation and their past.

Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Australia.

Welcome

The Australian Studies program gives students the opportunity to explore Australian history and culture in an international context through a broad range of disciplines and other area studies.

The program is co-ordinated through the School of History and Philosophy by:

Dr Grace Karskens
Convenor: Australian Studies Program
School of History and Philosophy
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Room: Morven Brown 340
Telephone: +61 (2) 9385 1673
Fax: +61 (2) 9385 1251

Email: G.Karskens@unsw.edu.au

Australian Studies is one of a number of faculty-wide interdisciplinary programs in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. It is currently administered from the School of History and Philosophy, but undergraduate courses are offered toward an Australian Studies major by a number of different Schools and Disciplines including English, History, Indigenous Studies, History and Philosophy of Science, Geography, Political Science, Music, Theatre Studies, Film Studies and Art History.

Australian Studies offers both Australian and international students the opportunity to examine Australian culture and society from a variety of perspectives. Questions surrounding Australian national identity have preoccupied generations of Australians and, following the Prime Minister’s historic apology to the Stolen Generations on 13 Feb 2008, they continue to resonate loudly in public discourse. Australian Studies enables students to critically analyse how a variety of disciplines, using different theories and methods, approach the task of understanding the shifting ideas Australians have held about identity and tradition.

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