Genealogies of Identity Politics

There has never been a more urgent need for Asian Australian studies and scholarship, arts, architecture, activism and advocacy, to be at the forefront of our cultural politics, national dialogue and the public sphere today. The debates and exchanges that have been taking place at the various forums of the AASRN are now also garnering relevance and significance within the larger socio-political spaces of Australia, in part to counter a pervasive economic instrumentalism that often seems to accompany such discussions. These conversations and contestations are also taking place in a climate of resurgent fundamentalisms, a return to racist vocabularies and policies, and attempts to split and stifle civil society discourse everywhere, including in Asia. The resilience and endurance of Asian Australian identities and their enormous contribution in the national imaginary-space to tell the “Australian” story, and more, is a matter of expediency and utter necessity.