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John Barrett Award for Australian Studies
Subcategory of Awards Australian Awards
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History

'Dr John Barrett (1931–1997) established this award by way of a bequest to La Trobe University in 1987. Dr John Barrett was a lecturer and reader at La Trobe University from 1969 until his retirement in 1990. His research specialisation was twentieth-century Australian history, particularly national involvement in the world wars. Dr Barrett was a member of the Journal of Australian Studies editorial board from 1979 to 1990.

'The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies is awarded annually for the best written article published by the Journal of Australian Studies (JAS). The award is administered by the International Australian Studies Association.' (Journal of Australian Studies

Notes

  • 'Dr John Barrett (1931-1997) established this award by way of a bequest to La Trobe University in 1987. Dr Barrett was a lecturer and reader at La Trobe University from 1969 until his retirement in 1990. His research specialisation was twentieth-century Australian history, particularly national involvement in the world wars. Dr Barrett was a member of the Journal of Australian Studies editorial board from 1979-1990.

    The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies is awarded annually for the best-written article published by the Journal of Australian Studies (JAS). The prize has been dormant since 1996 but has recently been revived. From 2008 there will be two prizes awarded each year: the best article by a scholar (open) the best article by a scholar (postgraduate). The award comprises a cash prize of AUD$500 plus a year's membership to InASA (including a subscription to Journal of Australian Studies). A prize committee established by the International Australian Studies Association (InASA) executive will make the award each year.' Source: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/competitions/rjau.pdf (Sighted 06/10/2011).

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2016

winner Man's Man : Representations of Australian Post-war Masculinity in Man Magazine Chelsea Barnett , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , July vol. 39 no. 2 2015; (p. 151-169)

'This article examines the representation of masculinity in Man, a men’s magazine, in post-war Australia. While the notion of the “sleepy 1950s” has implied a period of social conservatism and gender stability, the representation of (and commentary on) men’s social, cultural and familial worlds in Man tells a rather different story. In a period in which Menzies’s breadwinner masculinity idealised work and familial life as the source of men’s satisfaction (and civilised society more broadly), Man positioned its imagined reader as desperately unhappy and frustrated by the confines of suburban life and marriage. There were limits, however, to the generosity of this critique. While trying to provide Australian men with an escape from the rigid confines of hegemonic masculinity, Man remained attached to a near-misogynist attitude to women. The distress and anguish of men, in this case, became another way to restrict the lives and choices of women.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2012

winner The 'Voice' of Nature? Kookaburras, Culture and Australian Sound Diane Collins , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , September vol. 35 no. 3 2011; (p. 281-295)
'Linking auditory and animal history, this article examines the kookaburra's transformation from a 'bird of evil' to a symbol of and way of hearing nation. From the early colonial period, responses to the bird's aurality and behaviour were highly ambivalent and negative discourses in relation to the kookaburra continued well into the twentieth century. Yet the interwar years became the 'heyday' of the kookaburra as a symbol. The analysis focuses not on the use of the kookaburra as a visual icon in this period but on the kookaburra's growing aural power and presence. Here, discussion is particularly concerned with the role of new mass communication media in integrating nation with nature via the kookaburra. Central to this is the story of Jacko, the 'Broadcasting Kookaburra', a narrative that not only helps to explain the bird's ascent in national consciousness but also the limits to that identification.' [Author's abstract]

Works About this Award

Barrett Prize: Judge's Ranking and Comments 2012 single work column
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , December vol. 36 no. 4 2012; (p. 529-530)
The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies 2011 single work column
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , September vol. 35 no. 3 2011; (p. 279-280)
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