ABSTRACT

Academic debate about the obsolescence of national borders has strengthened over the last three decades, although the general population, the media and political commentators have been less keen to embrace such ideas. This article explores the concept of Australian Studies and recent debates about its demise, or otherwise, at Australian universities in the context of a globalising world in which the idea of area studies is beginning to look anachronistic. It considers the history of debates around the content and place of Australian Studies, as well as recent calls for greater support for Australian Studies teaching and research at Australian universities. It concludes that discussions about the value of Australian Studies typically ignore the Australian focus of teaching and research more generally, and function to reinforce a nationalist agenda.

摘要

在过去的三十年里，关于国界过时的学术辩论有所加强，尽管一般民众、媒体和政治评论员不太热衷于接受这些想法。本文探讨了澳大利亚研究的概念以及最近在澳大利亚大学中关于它的消亡或其他方面的辩论，在全球化的世界中，区域研究的想法开始显得不合时宜。它考虑了围绕澳大利亚研究的内容和地点的辩论历史，以及最近呼吁为澳大利亚大学的澳大利亚研究教学和研究提供更多支持。它的结论是，关于澳大利亚研究价值的讨论通常忽略了澳大利亚更广泛的教学和研究重点，并起到了强化民族主义议程的作用。