When: 6pm-9pm, Tuesday 5 September 2017
Where: The Mint, 10 Macquarie Street, Sydney
Tickets: $45 HCNSW members / $50 General admission (excl fees)
Contact: 02 9252 8715, admin@historycouncilnsw.org.au
Drinks and canapés will follow the lecture
SPECIAL OFFER: $30 Students – contact us to claim the offer. Places are limited.
The History Council of NSW is excited to announce one of its most popular events, the Annual History Lecture – ‘The Popular is Political: struggles over national culture in 1970s Australia’ – will be delivered by Associate Professor Michelle Arrow. The lecture will take place during our flagship festival, History Week, on Tuesday 5 September 2017. Join us for all things history, networking, drinks and nibbles!
Abstract
The 1970s in Australia is remembered as a decade of rapid social change. Women, Indigenous people, lesbians, gays, and migrants all made demands for national recognition. Australia’s shift away from Great Britain and the election of Gough Whitlam saw the advent of the ‘new nationalism’.
In cultural terms, this saw masculinity scrutinized and celebrated as central to a new Australian identity. While the women’s movement’s challenge to Australian norms is well-known, the cultural dimensions of this struggle are less familiar. Historian Marilyn Lake characterised the emergence of the bushman as a ‘national type’ in the 1890s not as the product of nationalist sentiment, but as the result of a contest between men and women for ‘control of the national culture’.
Associate Professor Michelle Arrow will explore how a similar contest unfolded in the popular culture of the 1970s. How did popular culture make sense of the social change of the seventies? Was the popularity of the ocker a reaction to the women’s movement? And how did popular histories on film and television contribute to this cultural contest?
Dr Michelle Arrow
Associate Professor, Macquarie University
Michelle Arrow is Associate Professor of Modern History at Macquarie University. She is the author of Friday on Our Minds: Popular Culture in Australia since 1945 (2009) and numerous other works examining the history of popular culture and the ways history is represented in the media.
In 2014, together with Catherine Freyne and Timothy Nicastri, Michelle won the NSW Premier’s Multimedia History Prize for the radio feature ‘Public Intimacies: the Royal Commission on Human Relationships, 1974-1977’.
Image: Susan Papuan photography
The Annual History Lecture is proudly presented by the History Council of NSW during its flagship festival, History Week. Supported by Create NSW, Sydney Living Museums and De Bortoli Wines.
Hello there,
I wanted to write a quick note re: the history lecture next week
http://historycouncilnsw.org.au/annual-history-lecture-2017/
I’ve chatted about this with a few friends who have looked to go to this. To be frank – we all found the price for the lecture outrageous. At over $50 a ticket, it just makes this sort of cultural event completely inaccessible to many Sydney siders. I have a reasonable income, culture is important to me and I make an effort to go to lectures like this. However, the price is more than I have ever paid for such a talk. The price essentially means that only a certain social demographic has access to lectures like this – and in most cases, they are already familiar with much of the content. The price automatically excludes many who may want to go to talks like this – who could inspire those around them with the content.
Culture is not about making money – it about sharing and discussion. Please consider for future events.
Joseph
Hi Joseph, thanks for your comment. We have responded to your initial email directly.
Kind regards,
Nicole
Thanks for pointing that out Joseph. I agree!
Thanks for your comment Tobin, I have responded to you directly via email.
I would also like to add the Annual History Lecture, which was first hosted in 1996, is the History Council of NSW’s premier event hosted during its flagship festival, History Week. The ticket covers an hour-long lecture, preceded by an awards ceremony and a fully catered reception before and after the ceremony and lecture. We do the best we can with the ticket prices, and to ensure greater access to the lecture, we also offer a heavily discounted student ticket.
The History Council of NSW is a not-for-profit organisation with charity status who uses the funds it receives from the NSW Government through Create NSW as efficiently as it can to provide a range of events for History Week across NSW, the vast majority of which are co-ordinated in partnership with our member organisations and are free to the public. We also further contribute our resources and financial support to our member organisations who participate in our Speaker Connect program, which links history professionals speaking on a great variety of talks with organisations across NSW. These are, again, events hosted free to the public. You can find out more about our programs here: http://historycouncilnsw.org.au/about/programs/
If there are any further questions about our events, programs and/or the Annual History Lecture, please contact us at admin@historycouncilnsw.org.au, we would be happy to answer your queries or address your concerns.
Kind regards,
Nicole Cama
Executive Officer