Ambivalent globalization, amorphous vulnerable nationalism Considering debates about nation and national positioning within the global from the point of view of young Australians

Abstract

Debates about nation and national positioning within the global exemplified in the Australian culture, history and literacy ‘wars’ have tended to be definitive and apparently oppositional in tone. Yet these debates have proceeded in the absence of a concretized notion of Australian identity and do not adequately address the complexities of political identification and allegiance. Despite intense concerns in these ‘wars’ about the views of young people and the role of their schooling, young people do not necessarily have less well-developed conceptions of Australia’s place in a globalizing world than their elders. Our research on young people’s responses to globalization, global cultural products and national identity offers some suggestive new directions for considering these issues and the school curriculum, directions which are built upon the actual ways in which young Australians express uncertainty about US—Australian relations, while simultaneously identifying with American cultural products.