AustLit

'This book takes a hefty swing at Australia's arrogance in its dealings with 'people of colour'. For 340 pages of text, drawing on an impressive 47-page bibliography, the Monash authors relentlessly pursue the signifiers of arrogance and swagger percolating through government, the media, popular literature and academic debate, down to the 'nudge-nudge, wink-wink' treatment of mocking gestures, asides and speech suffered by international students in Australia - experiences that become manifold stories told to families and friends at home and long remembered. The book's message is that Australia will not be taken seriously in Asia if it cannot learn to relate meaningfully to its own or its neighbouring people of colour. It needs to embrace the possibility of treaties between equals to prepare for a genuinely postcolonial world.' (Introduction)