Australian Literature - Postcolonialism, Racism, Transnationalism

Sep 20, 2026

The book examines Australian postcolonial literatures through the lenses of postcolonialism, racism, and transnationalism. It situates Australia’s contemporary racial tensions in relation to broader global dynamics, using the Cronulla incidents as a starting point for asking whether such episodes constitute race riots and how social rage is produced and interpreted. Grounded in historical and cultural analysis, the work argues that racism operates not only nationally but through capitalist social relations and a shifting transnational imaginary between local and global perspectives.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages210

Reading Time5 h 23 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

Cronulla incidents and the question of “race riots”

Parallels between Australia and America

Racism as a transnational phenomenon

OXFORD STUDIES IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES The Oxford Studies in Postcolonial Literatures aim to offer stimulating and accessible introductions to deﬁnitive topics and key genres and regions within the rapidly diversifying ﬁeld of postcolonial literary studies in English. Under the general editorship of Professor Elleke Boehmer, the Studies in each case elucidate and explicate the informing contexts of postcolonial texts, and plot the historical and cultural co-ordinates of writers and of the leading movements, institutions, and cultural debates situated within those contexts. Individual volumes reﬂect in particular on the shaping effect both of international theory and of local politics on postcolonial traditions often viewed as uniformly cross-cultural, and also on the inﬂuence of postcolonial writing on the protocols of international theory. Throughout the focus is on how texts formally engage with the legacies of imperial and anti-imperial history. Australian Literature Graham Huggan Pacific Islands Writing Michelle Keown West African Literatures Stephanie Newell Postcolonial Poetry in English Rajeev S. Patke The South Asian Novel in English Priyamvada Gopal OXFORD STUDIES IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES General Editor: Elleke Boehmer AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE Postcolonialism, Racism, Transnationalism Graham Huggan 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With ofﬁces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York 􀀁 Graham Huggan 2007 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope ofthe above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by Laserwords Private Limited, Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 978–0–19–927462–8 (Pbk. ) ISBN 978–0–19–922967–3 (Hbk. ) 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 PREFACE Towards the end of 2005, as this book was nearing completion, there were ugly scenes at Cronulla and other beachside suburbs in Sydney. White and Lebanese youth squared off in a series of violent inpromptu encounters which, leaving bystanders bruised and property vandalized, propelled a nation that had long prided itself on its reputation for interethnic tolerance into a state of much-publicized collective shock. Were these race riots or not? Perhaps, as Cornel West had argued of the much more serious upheavals in LA more thana decade before, easy terms such as ‘race riot’ and ‘class rebellion’are not applicable in such cases; rather, what was being witnessed in Cronulla and elsewhere was a ‘multi-racial, trans-class ... display of justiﬁed social r

FAQs

Why does the preface begin with the Cronulla incidents?

It uses the Cronulla clashes as an entry point to ask how racialized violence should be understood and whether labels like “race riot” fit such situations.

How does the book connect Australian events to international contexts?

It argues that Australia’s social tensions can be linked to wider global developments, including post-9/11 fallout, while still acknowledging differences in scale and history compared with America.

What claim does the preface make about racism?

Racism is presented as more than a national problem; it is shaped by transnational capitalist social relations and by a transnational imaginary that moves between local and global perspectives.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Lucas Martin