Australia's Asia: From Yellow Peril to Asian Century

David Walker and Agnieszka Sobocinska

Australia’s Asia provides an original, compelling and often surprising account of Australia’s multiple responses to Asia over the last 150 years.

Asia has long been at or near the centre of Australian thinking. For many, Australia’s much-discussed proximity to Asia appeared as a threat. Shadowy Asian figures seemed to lurk around the edge of the continent, biding their time. 

Yet proximity also offered new opportunities for trade, travel and cultural exchange. A great number of Australians were fascinated by Asian societies and cultures, relishing the opportunities they offered for new ways of seeing and comprehending the world. 

From the late nineteenth century, competing visions of Australia’s relations with its region have jostled for attention on the national stage and in private lives.

Praise for Australia's Asia:

Every now and then a book comes along that forces us to reconceptualise our national history, to see that history, and thus ourselves, in a new way, and to understand how we failed to see what is now so strikingly obvious. Australia’s Asia should be credited as one of these landmark collections.

PETER COCHRANE, THE AUSTRALIAN

 

This is the first sustained collection of writings on Australian perceptions of Asia in over twenty years. Australia’s Asia provides a critical overview of the field, integrating the carefully selected articles into an important statement for the twenty-first century.

ADRIAN VICKERS, PROFESSOR OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

 

Australia’s Asia could not be a more timely publication, coming on the heels of the government’s recently released White Paper on Australia in the Asia Century…As the best history does, Australia’s Asia makes the link between past and present in ways that move us forward in the work of replacing emptiness with intellectual plenty.

NICHOLAS JOSE, SYDNEY REVIEW OF BOOKS

 

The editors have done a first-class job in assembling high-quality chapters that make an important contribution to the existing literature on Australia and Asia ... Moreover, this book tells an important story about the role and impact of individuals ... in building Australia’s relations with Asia. It is a valuable remedy to the ahistorical approach of so many of the debates within Australia over regional engagement and is a useful text for those outside Australia interested in acquiring insights into what motivates the country’s approach to its region.

ANDREW O'NEIL, PACIFIC AFFAIRS JOURNAL

Book details

PUBLICATION DATE: 2012
FORMAT: Paperback
EXTENT: 384 pages
SIZE: 234 x 153 mm
ISBN: 9781742583495
RIGHTS: World
CATEGORY: Agnieszka Sobocinska, Australian Studies, David Walker, General Non-fiction, UWAP Scholarly,