Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor Tanya Evans tanya.evans@mq.edu.au Contact via Tanya Evans - email W6A 402 TBC Matthew Bailey matthew.bailey@mq.edu.au
Credit points	Credit points 3
Prerequisites	Prerequisites
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description This unit is a survey of the chief world developments influencing Australian history from 1945 to the present. Principle interest will focus on: a) Europe from post-war crisis and decline to present day resurgence, with themes of particular interest to Australia including migration, ideological trends, economic integration and decolonisation; b) the United States of America in its period of peak world power, with special attention to the politics and economics of the Cold War era and to the spread of American cultural values; c) East Asia (principally China and Japan) from post-war settlement to economic transformation with special reference to trade ties and accompanying Australian cultural adjustments.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

A broad overview of world history since 1945, including the role of the United States, Europe and China, and the major events of the Cold War and post-Cold War period
A conceptualisation of the Australian nation that places it in its global context, emphasises the interconnectedness of Australian history, and highlights the ways global ideas are changed by exposure to local cultural and political conditions when they are adopted by Australians.
Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Due
Seminar Quiz	20%	Ongoing
Secondary Source Exercise	15%	Friday 7th August
Research skills peer review ex	5%	14th August
Primary Source Analysis	15%	Friday 4th September
Essay Draft	15%	Monday 28th September
Research Essay	30%	Friday 30th October

Seminar Quiz

Due: Ongoing
Weighting: 20%

Each week in class you will be asked two multiple choice questions about that week's reading. There will be ten quizzes in total, and no quiz for the reading week, or for the essay writing workshop. Each quiz is thus worth 2% of your final grade. You must get both questions right to earn the marks for that week's tutorial. On-campus students must attend a class to complete the quiz. External students will have a week to complete the quiz online.

On successful completion you will be able to:

A conceptualisation of the Australian nation that places it in its global context, emphasises the interconnectedness of Australian history, and highlights the ways global ideas are changed by exposure to local cultural and political conditions when they are adopted by Australians.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Secondary Source Exercise

Due: Friday 7th August
Weighting: 15%

This exercise consists of five short answer comprehension questions on two set readings. You will complete it after the week one discussions, and hand it in (electronically through turnitin) on the Friday of week two. The aim of this exercise is to produce a synthesis of two historical articles. A detailed description of the task, including the short answer questions, is available on iLearn.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Research skills peer review ex

Due: 14th August
Weighting: 5%

This week you will watch a short video about Library resources and practise using them to locate useful sources for your essay. Then, in small groups, you will select and assess journal articles that will aid you in writing your essay. You are encouraged to meet with the other members of your group on-campus and discuss your essay topic. External students can collaborate online.

The assessment exercise requires you to locate a single journal article that will be useful for your essay and upload it through the peer-review task on I learn. Then you will read over two of your classmates' chosen articles and rate them for usefulness.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Primary Source Analysis

Due: Friday 4th September
Weighting: 15%

This exercise consists of four short answer comprehension questions on two set primary sources. You will hand it in (electronically through turnitin) on the Friday of week six. The aim of this exercise is to analyse two primary sources in light of the two secondary sources you sythesised in the first asessment task. A detailed description of the task, including the short answer questions, is available on iLearn.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Essay Draft

Due: Monday 28th September
Weighting: 15%

This task concentrates on your writing. You will write a draft of your essay that you will need to share with your tutor and peers. In Week 8 you will need to bring to class a hardcopy of your essay draft for peer review. From that draft do the following:

Write a thesis statement in response to your essay question. It should be no longer than one sentence, and it must answer the question.
Choose two consecutive paragraphs to include as representative of your work.

A full description of the task is available on iLearn. On-campus students will bring a hard copy to tutorials in week 8 and submit a second copy electronically through turnitin by the end of Friday of Week 9 9th October. External students will attach a soft copy to the tutorial discussion and also submit a second copy electronically through turnitin.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Research Essay

Due: Friday 30th October
Weighting: 30%

The major assessment task for this unit is a 2000-word essay. You will build on the work from the previous three assessment tasks to write an essay in response to your set question. You are expected to do research beyond the set texts for this question. It is due the Friday of Week 12. You will submit it electronically through Turnitin.

On successful completion you will be able to:

A broad overview of world history since 1945, including the role of the United States, Europe and China, and the major events of the Cold War and post-Cold War period
A conceptualisation of the Australian nation that places it in its global context, emphasises the interconnectedness of Australian history, and highlights the ways global ideas are changed by exposure to local cultural and political conditions when they are adopted by Australians.
Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Delivery and Resources

This unit will be taught as a flipped unit for the first time. All lecture content will be provided online and internal students will attend a 1/12-2 hour seminar. All students will need to have watched/listened to lectures before coming to class. All students will need a high speed internet connection to watch video lectures, listen to audio presentations and to participate in online learning exercises. At the end of face-to-face tutorials, internal students will be required to reflect on their learning in their OU blogs. External students will do this online. OU blogs will be accessible via the unit's I learn pages. Students can use laptops or mobile devices to record these reflections at the end of class each week.

External students will contribute to seminar discussions online.

Unit Schedule

Week 1: Australia in the Post-War World

Readings:

Bell, Philip and Bell, Roger. “Cultural Shifts, Changing Relationships: Australia and the United States”, in Australian Cultural History, Vol. 28, Nos. 2-3 (August/December 2010), pp.283-297

Tute Questions:

How do Australians differently characterise ties with the United Kingdom and with the United States?
What do you think is the relationship between geopolitical or strategic explanations of these ties, and cultural explanations?
Why do narratives of “Americanisation” make sense in post-war Australia?

Week 2: Australian Anticommunism in the First Cold War

Readings:

Murphy, John. Imagining the Fifties: Private Sentiment and Political Culture in Menzies’ Australia, Ch. 7, “A War-Haunted World”, UNSW Press, 2000, pp. 91-104.

Tute Questions:

What Cold War anxieties worried Australians in the immediate post-war period?
How did different Australians respond to these anxieties?
Why did Menzies’ attempt to ban the Communist Party fail?

Week 3: Australians at Home in the 1950s

Readings:

Arrow, Michelle, Friday on our Minds: Popular Culture in Australia Since 1945, Ch. 2, “Popular Culture and Family Life in the Postwar Years”, UNSW Press, 2009, pp. 14-43.

Tute Questions:

How did Television change Australians’ home lives?
How did Australian gender relations change in the 1950s, and why?
What impact did television have on Australians’ view of the world outside their borders?

Week 4: Looking Towards Asia in the 1950s

Readings:

Walker, David, “Nervous Outsiders: Australia and the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung”, in Australian Historical Studies, vol. 36, no. 125, (2005), pp. 40-59.

Tute Questions:

Why were Australian observers of the proceedings at Bandung “nervous” about the outcome of the conference?
How were Australian attitudes towards the “Third World” filtered through assumptions about race?
How were Australian attitudes towards Bandung shaped by the Cold War?

Week 5: Protesting Vietnam in Australia

Readings:

Curthoys, Ann, “The Anti-War Movements”, in Grey, Jeffrey and Doyle, Jeff (eds.), Vietnam: War, Myth and Memory, Allen & Unwin, 1992.

Tute Questions:

In what ways were the American and Australian anti-war movements similar?
How did the movements differ?
To what extent was the Australian movement dependent on the American movement for its ideas?

Week 6: Aboriginal Land Rights in the 1960s and 1970s

Readings:

McGregor, Russell, “Another Nation: Aboriginal Activism in the late 1960s and Early 1970s”, in Australian Historical Studies, Vol. 40, No. 3, 2009.

Tute Questions:

How did Aboriginal Australians understand themselves in relation to the Australian nation?
How did they understand themselves in relation to the rest of the world?
How are ideas of citizenship rights and land rights different when talking about colonised people?

Week 8: Essay Writing Workshop

Readings:

Print out and bring your completed Writing Task, along with a copy of the Peer Review Comment Sheet, for the peer review exercise in class.

Week 9: Australian Cultural Nationalism in the 1970s

Readings:

Curran, James and Ward, Stuart. The Unknown Nation: Australia After Empire, Melbourne University Press, 2010. Ch. 1, “‘A Salutary Shock’: Abandoned Britons”, pp. 26-57.

Tute Questions:

How did culture-makers and politicians try to reinvent Australian national identity in the 1960s and 1970s?
What drove them to attempt this renewal?
In what ways were these attempts a legacy of decolonisation?

Week 10: Australia After the White Australia Policy

Readings:

Moran, Anthony. “Multiculturalism and Nation-Building in Australia: Inclusive national identity and the Embrace of Diversity”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 34 No. 12 (December 2011), pp. 2153-2172.

Tute Questions:

In what ways was ‘multiculturalism’ a legacy of the White Australia Policy?
How did Australia’s colonial past and the presence of indigenous people complicate multiculturalism as a political project?

Week 11: Capitalism Gone Wild

Readings:

Turner, Graeme, Making it National: Nationalism and Australian Popular Culture, Ch. 2: “Bond-ing: Business, Boats and the National Character”, Allen & Unwin, 1994.

Tute Questions:

How were global trends towards neo-liberal capitalist economics reflected in Australian capitalism in the 1980s?
What do the experiences of Bond, Skase and other failed Autralian millionaires tell us about Australia’s place in a globalising world?

Week 12: Australians Abroad: Tourism in Asia

Readings:

Sobocinska, Agnieszka, “Innocence Lost and Paradise Regained: Tourism to Bali and Australian Perceptions of Asia”, in History Australia, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2011.

Tute Questions:

How did tourism shape Australians’ attitudes towards Asia before the Bali Bombings?
How did the Bali Bombings change Australians’ attitudes towards travel and tourism in Asia, and why?
How has travel and tourism shaped Australian assumptions about Australia’s place in the world?

Week 13: Australia and the War on Terror

Readings:

Burke, Anthony. In Fear of Security: Australia’s Invasion Anxiety, Cambridge University press, 2008. Ch. 6, “The Wages of Terror, 2001-2007”, pp. 207-233.

Tute Questions:

What was the relationship between the Tampa ‘crisis’ and September 11?
How were Australian responses to these two moments contingent on the perceived relationships between Australians and ‘Asia’?
Is race always a factor in Australian foreign relations?

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html

Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html

Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/

Results

Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.

Late penalties, Extensions and Disruption to Studies

Assessments handed in late in this subject will be penalised at 2% per day late, with Saturday and Sunday counting as one day. Assessments handed in after the Post Date on Turnitin (ie the date on which assessments are returned to students) will not be accepted without a Disruption to Studies application.

Informal extensions of up to one week need to be approved by the course convener. Extensions of more than one week need to be made via the Disruption to Studies policy, outlined above.

No extensions are available on the weekly quiz. If a Disruption to Studies application covers a weekly quiz, then alternative arrangements will be made in that case.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Creative and Innovative

Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.

Assessment tasks

Primary Source Analysis
Essay Draft
Research Essay

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.

Assessment tasks

Secondary Source Exercise
Research skills peer review ex
Essay Draft
Research Essay

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

A broad overview of world history since 1945, including the role of the United States, Europe and China, and the major events of the Cold War and post-Cold War period
A conceptualisation of the Australian nation that places it in its global context, emphasises the interconnectedness of Australian history, and highlights the ways global ideas are changed by exposure to local cultural and political conditions when they are adopted by Australians.
Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Assessment tasks

Research skills peer review ex
Essay Draft
Research Essay

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

A broad overview of world history since 1945, including the role of the United States, Europe and China, and the major events of the Cold War and post-Cold War period
A conceptualisation of the Australian nation that places it in its global context, emphasises the interconnectedness of Australian history, and highlights the ways global ideas are changed by exposure to local cultural and political conditions when they are adopted by Australians.
Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Assessment tasks

Seminar Quiz
Secondary Source Exercise
Primary Source Analysis
Essay Draft
Research Essay

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
An approach to historical knowledge that acknowledges that such knowledge is constructed, contains assumptions in line with contemporary political and social debates, and is thus not values-free.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Assessment tasks

Seminar Quiz
Secondary Source Exercise
Research skills peer review ex
Primary Source Analysis
Essay Draft
Research Essay

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Discipline-specific skills, and an understanding of how to use discipline-specific tools to identify relevant material and use it to make an original argument in response to set questions.
The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Assessment tasks

Seminar Quiz
Secondary Source Exercise
Research skills peer review ex
Primary Source Analysis
Essay Draft
Research Essay

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

The ability to form informed opinions about the past, backed by evidence and tested through peer review and debate with peers in class.
The ability to gather, engage with and synthesise a historical information, form an evidence-based argument from it, and communicate that argument with clarity in writing.

Assessment tasks

Seminar Quiz
Secondary Source Exercise
Research skills peer review ex
Primary Source Analysis
Essay Draft
Research Essay

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

A conceptualisation of the Australian nation that places it in its global context, emphasises the interconnectedness of Australian history, and highlights the ways global ideas are changed by exposure to local cultural and political conditions when they are adopted by Australians.

Assessment tasks

Research skills peer review ex
Research Essay

Socially and Environmentally Active and Responsible

We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Assessment task

Research Essay

Changes from Previous Offering

This unit will be delivered as an entirely flipped unit for the first time.