Students
MHIX114 – The World Since 1945: An Australian Perspective
2016 – SP2 OUA
General Information
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| Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Tutor
Nicholas Irving
Contact via iLearn dialogue/ email
Online
Online
Lorna Barrow
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| Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
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| Corequisites |
Corequisites
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| Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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| Unit description |
Unit description
This unit examines one of the most dynamic periods in human history, and some of the major global forces that have influenced Australian society since World War II. The unit interprets the effects of decolonisation, globalisation and neoliberalism on Australian politics and culture. Beginning with post-war reconstruction and the advent of the Cold War, we explore colonial rebellions and wars of national liberation as well as 'peaceful' transitions of power in the developing world; the experience of the 1960s in the first world and the end of the 'First Cold War'; the advent of neoliberal policies under Thatcher and Reagan and the impact of globalisation in the 1980s; the end of the Cold War; and the foreign policy of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the 'New World Order', and the influence of terrorism. This unit will be of great benefit to students and teachers of Australian history and politics, as well as anyone wishing to understand Australia’s current relationship with the wider world. Assessment focuses on the development of one essay constructed through a step-by-step process.
All enrolment queries should be directed to Open Universities Australia (OUA): see www.open.edu.au
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Important Academic Dates
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.open.edu.au/student-admin-and-support/key-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 |
|---|---|---|
| Quiz | 20% | Ongoing |
| Secondary Source Exercise | 20% | Midnight, Friday Week 2 |
| Primary Source Analysis | 20% | Midnight, Friday Week 6 |
| Research Essay | 40% | Midnight, Friday Week 12 |
Quiz
Due: Ongoing
Weighting: 20%
Each quiz contains two multiple choice questions about that week's reading. There will be ten quizzes in total. Each quiz is thus worth 2% of your final grade.
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: Midnight, Friday Week 2
Weighting: 20%
This exercise consists of five short answer comprehension questions on two set readings. You will complete it after the week one discussions, and submit it by midnight on 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.
Primary Source Analysis
Due: Midnight, Friday Week 6
Weighting: 20%
This exercise consists of four short answer comprehension questions on two set primary sources. You will submit it by midnight 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 assessment 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.
Research Essay
Due: Midnight, Friday Week 12
Weighting: 40%
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
All lecture content is provided online. All students will need sufficient internet connection speed to watch video lectures, listen to audio presentations and to participate in online learning exercises. Following discussion each week, students will be required to reflect on their learning in their iLearn blog posts. Essential readings are provided online. Students will need to do additional research for their major essay.
Unit Schedule
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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.
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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
Late Submission - applies unless otherwise stated elsewhere in the unit guide
Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.
Extension Request
Special Consideration Policy and Procedure (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policies/special-consideration)
The University recognises that students may experience events or conditions that adversely affect their academic performance. If you experience serious and unavoidable difficulties at exam time or when assessment tasks are due, you can consider applying for Special Consideration.
You need to show that the circumstances:
- were serious, unexpected and unavoidable
- were beyond your control
- caused substantial disruption to your academic work
- substantially interfered with your otherwise satisfactory fulfilment of the unit requirements
- lasted at least three consecutive days or a total of 5 days within the teaching period and prevented completion of an assessment task scheduled for a specific date.
If you feel that your studies have been impacted submit an application as follows:
- Visit Ask MQ and use your OneID to log in
- Fill in your relevant details
- Attach supporting documents by clicking 'Add a reply', click 'Browse' and navigating to the files you want to attach, then click 'Submit Form' to send your notification and supporting documents
- Please keep copies of your original documents, as they may be requested in the future as part of the assessment process
Outcome
Once your submission is assessed, an appropriate outcome will be organised.
OUA Specific Policies and Procedures
Withdrawal from a unit after the census date
You can withdraw from your subjects prior to the census date (last day to withdraw). If you successfully withdraw before the census date, you won’t need to apply for Special Circumstances. If you find yourself unable to withdraw from your subjects before the census date - you might be able to apply for Special Circumstances. If you’re eligible, we can refund your fees and overturn your fail grade.
If you’re studying Single Subjects using FEE-HELP or paying up front, you can apply online.
If you’re studying a degree using HECS-HELP, you’ll need to apply directly to Macquarie University.
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
New Assessment Policy in effect from Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy_2016.html. For more information visit http://students.mq.edu.au/events/2016/07/19/new_assessment_policy_in_place_from_session_2/
Assessment Policy prior to Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html
Grading Policy prior to Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/complaint_management/procedure.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://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources 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
- 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 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 task
- 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
- Quiz
- Secondary Source Exercise
- Primary Source Analysis
- 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
- Quiz
- Secondary Source Exercise
- Primary Source Analysis
- 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
- Quiz
- Secondary Source Exercise
- Primary Source Analysis
- 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
- Quiz
- Secondary Source Exercise
- Primary Source Analysis
- 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 task
- 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.