[csaa-forum] re: Magpie studies, etc

[Adrian Martin]

Thanks to everybody who has so far joined in this fascinating discussion of 
crossovers between cultural studies and other stuff. I am not trying to be 
overly nostalgic about 'the scene 20 years ago' - because often the life of 
a freelance writer, then as now, ain't a lot of fun - and I totally welcome 
responses like Felicity's indicating that new 'magpies' are rising up 
everywhere (but let's name names, please, don't keep them a secret!). That 
said, I too very much share the concerns articulated in some recent posts in 
this thread about how something does feel like it has changed since then and 
now. The significant date is surely around 1990, when Cultural Studies 
departments and courses start calling themselves such, and a certain 
territorial status-anxiety about establishing 'professionalisation' and 
'institutionalisation' of the 'field' sets in. Hence all the 
histories/genealogies of Cultural Studies departments, journals, textbooks, 
conferences, etc. I do think an AWFUL lot of 'prehistory' gets devalued and 
actively ignored/suppressed the moment this happens. If I can be forgiven a 
moment of immodesty - since I am my own best example to hand! - I left 
university teaching in 1992 and became a weekly film reviewer in THE AGE by 
1995, but in-between I wrote, for what it's worth, a book that I consider 
100% 'Australian Cultural Studies' (PHANTASMS) - and yet I have never been 
asked to speak at any official cultural studies event or contribute to a 
certified academic journal in the field. And there are MANY people like me! 
I wonder how many students, these days, in the era of quick-to-hand Internet 
research, are pointed in the direction of '80s and '90s magazines like ART 
AND TEXT, TENSION, ON THE BEACH, FROGGER, STUFFING and so many others that 
once defined a certain kind of 'militant dilettante' activity in the 
yet-to-be-named area of Australian cultural studies. (You can't even get a 
decent book-anthology of this stuff!) It's only (to my knowledge) in the 
intro to the Frow-Morris AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL STUDIES anthology, and in the 
work of people like our own redoubtable Melissa G, that this kind of 
'archive' gets unearthed and reactivated, and connected to similar signs of 
life that have happened here since. I am keen to hear more from everybody 
else on this topic ...

Adrian