This
is a terrific book, with a load of original ideas to recommend it,
and the capacity to generate a lot of further work in its wake …This
is not a safe, sober study of Australia-New Zealand relations, but
an iconoclastic, streetwise, freewheeling assembly of reflections
on the logics of culture and history which bind Australia and New
Zealand (infuriatingly, inescapably) to the Union Jack.
Tracking the
Jack: A retracing of the Antipodes investigates the social, economic,
political and cultural relationship between Australia, New Zealand
and the United Kingdom. This book is not only historically relevant,
but also resonant within present discussions of republicanism, monarchism,
multiculturalism, biculturalism and cultural studies. The Jack in
the title refers to the Union Jack, the symbolic tie between 'home'
and the outer reaches of the Empire. The book traces the movements
of The Jack, incorporating the passage of people, ideas and popular
culture.
This book opens
a new intellectual terrain that has lacked systematic exploration.
New Zealand and Australia are often presumed to possess remarkable
historical and social similarities. However, this assumed shared history
has resulted in few coherent analyses of both the confluences and
remarkable differences between the two nations. British colonisation
has left a shared language and iconographic database. Yet the differences
are stark. The social systems of multiculturalism and biculturalism
have resulted in profoundly different responses to questions of social
justice. While much rhetoric emerges of Australia's placement in Asia,
and New Zealand's role in the Pacific, this book investigates the
far more complex histories that encircle this region.
The book is not
only (or even primarily) an investigation of social systems or policy
concerns. Instead, it is a coherent, well-written cultural studies
and cultural history text. Popular cultures, including popular music,
fashion, film and television, offer a reminder of how The Jack has
punctuated Antipodean history. The breadth and range of discussion
is a significant addition to Australian Studies, New Zealand Studies
and Cultural Studies.
Tracking
the Jack has been nominated for the
following awards:
