“I don’t care about Asia”: teaching Asia in Australia
Past the critiques of static contexts and hermetic conceptualisations of sociocultural communities, this paper argues that an important part of the work that remains to be done in Asian Australian studies is at the other frontline part of academia – teaching. In a world of contrarily increasing mobi...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Routledge
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50041 |
| _version_ | 1848758379541954560 |
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| author | Leong, Susan Woods, D. |
| author_facet | Leong, Susan Woods, D. |
| author_sort | Leong, Susan |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Past the critiques of static contexts and hermetic conceptualisations of sociocultural communities, this paper argues that an important part of the work that remains to be done in Asian Australian studies is at the other frontline part of academia – teaching. In a world of contrarily increasing mobility and cultural apathy, how do we ‘sell’ the relevance of ‘Asia’ to students without resorting to the discourses of Asia as ‘the exotic other’ and/or as a market. In what ways can ‘Asia literacy’ be interpreted for a student body whose identities are becoming both more complex and syncretic? We suggest that university teachers are uniquely positioned to equip students with an understanding of Asia that is more processual than factual and more attitudinal than learnt. Drawing on the experience of teaching over a decade in Perth and Brisbane, we reflect on how the task has changed over the years, what the typical obstacles/barriers faced are and what students understand Asia literacy to mean in the midst of the current political and media discourses surrounding Asia today. Finally, we reflect on how our own experiences of such teaching emerges from our own sense of being and belonging as Australians of Asian origins. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:43:03Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-50041 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:43:03Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-500412019-01-18T03:42:52Z “I don’t care about Asia”: teaching Asia in Australia Leong, Susan Woods, D. Past the critiques of static contexts and hermetic conceptualisations of sociocultural communities, this paper argues that an important part of the work that remains to be done in Asian Australian studies is at the other frontline part of academia – teaching. In a world of contrarily increasing mobility and cultural apathy, how do we ‘sell’ the relevance of ‘Asia’ to students without resorting to the discourses of Asia as ‘the exotic other’ and/or as a market. In what ways can ‘Asia literacy’ be interpreted for a student body whose identities are becoming both more complex and syncretic? We suggest that university teachers are uniquely positioned to equip students with an understanding of Asia that is more processual than factual and more attitudinal than learnt. Drawing on the experience of teaching over a decade in Perth and Brisbane, we reflect on how the task has changed over the years, what the typical obstacles/barriers faced are and what students understand Asia literacy to mean in the midst of the current political and media discourses surrounding Asia today. Finally, we reflect on how our own experiences of such teaching emerges from our own sense of being and belonging as Australians of Asian origins. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50041 10.1080/14443058.2017.1343251 Routledge fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Leong, Susan Woods, D. “I don’t care about Asia”: teaching Asia in Australia |
| title | “I don’t care about Asia”: teaching Asia in Australia |
| title_full | “I don’t care about Asia”: teaching Asia in Australia |
| title_fullStr | “I don’t care about Asia”: teaching Asia in Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | “I don’t care about Asia”: teaching Asia in Australia |
| title_short | “I don’t care about Asia”: teaching Asia in Australia |
| title_sort | “i don’t care about asia”: teaching asia in australia |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50041 |