School of Culture and Communication - Research Publications
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Item'Race portraits' and vernacular possibilities: heritage and culture(Cambridge University Press, 2001)'Heritage' is a term both broad and slippery. Beyond the literal meaning of property passed between generations, its contemporary evocations include 'inherited customs, beliefs and institutions held in common by a nation or community . . . [and] natural and "built" landscapes, buildings and environments held in trust for future generations' (Davison et. al. 1998, p. 308). Even this elemental definition strongly associates cultural institutions and heritage. Most cultural institutions articulate inherited customs and beliefs through a sense of heritage which, in turn, certifies their authenticity and legitimacy. Parliamentary conventions, halls of fame and honour boards, much judicial ritual, the use of uniforms, anniversary commemorations of all sorts and university degree conferring ceremonies are strong examples of such practices. At the same time the more material and codified notion of heritage as things held in trust explicitly organises the work of many cultural institutions.
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ItemChained to their signs: remembering breastplates(Pluto Press, 2001)At first glance, breastplates might seem to be just another device in the technology of colonial capture in Australia. Take the photograph of Bilin Bilin wearing a plate inscribed 'Jackey Jackey - King of the Logan and Pimpama'. The plate, the chain and the conventions of photography produce a Yugambeh elder as a shackled criminal on display - he is both a primitive in tableau and one of 'the usual suspects'. The image seems to both document captivity and evoke those 'frontier photographs' of Aboriginal prisoners in the desert bound together with heavy chains attached to manacles around their necks. This initial impression is right in that it recognizes some of the ways in which colonial captivity is not only about actual imprisonment but equally about how captivity is understood, represented, interpreted and made historical. Still, in this chapter I want to persuade you that breastplates and photographs of breastplates performed other roles: as cross-cultural objects and signs.
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ItemMeatworkers' memories: the mnemonics of the nose(Department of History, University of Melbourne, 1994)It is entirely proper that I have travelled from Melbourne to Sydney to present a few thoughts on memory, history and smell. The first time I visited Sydney as an adult was at the end of a surfing safari along the coast from Melbourne. As we came into the metropolitan area four of us were in what might loosely be described as high spirits. I was driving, and the portable tape-recorder was probably playing one of those tuneful post-punk numbers that tended to be our favourites at the time. Elisa was the most excited of us all. She had spent some of her childhood in Sydney, and had not been back for many years. Going along one of the freeways that carve through the hills south of the city, I looked over to the passenger seat and was startled by a pair of legs. Elisa had not so much put her head out of the window as she was out the window, sitting on the door frame and hanging on to the roof-rack. She was laughing and sniffing and yelling, all at the same time. "Breathe . . . Breathe. Can't you smell it . . . can't you smell it!" Once we got her back in the car we agreed – yes, we could smell this place that for Elisa came with memories of smells and for us was a brand new sensation.
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ItemHistories and collecting: museums, objects and memories(Oxford University Press, 1994)I want to explore the question of how we might understand the museum in relation to collection and memory. This is one approach to much more general issues around the rules, modes and rhythms of social memory. The capacity of institutions like the museum have, in general, been radically undervalued in thinking about memory.