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Works about this Work
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Australians Going Native : Race, Hybridity and Cultural Anamorphism in G.E. Morrison’s 'An Australian in China'
2015
single work
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies of Australia , vol. 6 no. 1 2015;This essay explores the notion of ambivalence in colonial modes of representation of Asian subjects in An Australian in China (1895) by G.E. Morrison (1862-1920). Morrison's attitudes and judgements about the Chinese reflect a complex set of attitudes that reflect a British Imperial stance inflected by pre-Federation bias toward Western values and toward a dominant Australian tendency to use Western standards of democracy and egalitarianism to judge the shortcomings of its Asian neighbours, as argued by D'Cruz and Steele (2003 33-4). Morrison's ambivalence has an origin in the fear that the Chinese would perhaps become more successful economic colonisers than white people. But if Morrison was ambivalent about Asians, caught between admiration for, and an anxiety about the Chinese especially, was he one of those Australians cited as those unable to "engage with constructive and continuous relations with Asia" (D'Cruz and Steel 34)? I argue that Morrison is not simply a eugenicist or anti-Asian racist, but re-iterates a British imperialist grand narrative on best-practice colonial governance and an example of how knowledge of the orient may be acquired so as to serve Imperial interests. Within this narrative all races have strengths and weaknesses, and this "melange" must be managed by enlightened white British administrators in order to ensure cultural harmony throughout the empire, and especially where British geo-political interests are at stake. This multiculturalism is segregationist but may also allow room for hybrid or cross-cultural cultures to take root through intermarriage of chosen white elites and selected subalterns (much as plant breeders select seed stock). While Morrison may praise far-flung edges of empire and those regions that the British engages with for reasons of trade, he argues that predominantly white colonies like those in Australia should remain white. Like a benign object suddenly appearing as the anamorphic skull in a Holbein portrait (Reading 26), viewed from a certain angle, what seems like Morrison's affection for China can just as easily appear as a form of aversion and suspicion. [From the journal's webpage]
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Australian Journalists, Travel Writing and China : James Hingston, the 'Vagabond' and G. E. Morrison
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , June vol. 32 no. 2 2008; (p. 237-250) The article 'investigates the relationship between the extensive popular "knowledge" of China and the experience of actually being there in the travel writing of three influential nineteenth-century Australian journalists' (237). -
Who are the Custodians?
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 63 no. 1 2003; (p. 154-161) -
An Interview with Sang Ye
Sang Ye
,
Yu Ouyang
(interviewer),
2001
single work
autobiography
interview
— Appears in: Otherland , no. 7 2001; (p. 207-223) -
Literature. An Australian in China
1895
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 31 August vol. 60 no. 1834 1895; (p. 436)
— Review of An Australian in China : Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Across China to Burma 1895 single work autobiography
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Literature. An Australian in China
1895
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 31 August vol. 60 no. 1834 1895; (p. 436)
— Review of An Australian in China : Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Across China to Burma 1895 single work autobiography -
Who are the Custodians?
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 63 no. 1 2003; (p. 154-161) -
Australian Journalists, Travel Writing and China : James Hingston, the 'Vagabond' and G. E. Morrison
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , June vol. 32 no. 2 2008; (p. 237-250) The article 'investigates the relationship between the extensive popular "knowledge" of China and the experience of actually being there in the travel writing of three influential nineteenth-century Australian journalists' (237). -
An Interview with Sang Ye
Sang Ye
,
Yu Ouyang
(interviewer),
2001
single work
autobiography
interview
— Appears in: Otherland , no. 7 2001; (p. 207-223) -
Australians Going Native : Race, Hybridity and Cultural Anamorphism in G.E. Morrison’s 'An Australian in China'
2015
single work
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies of Australia , vol. 6 no. 1 2015;This essay explores the notion of ambivalence in colonial modes of representation of Asian subjects in An Australian in China (1895) by G.E. Morrison (1862-1920). Morrison's attitudes and judgements about the Chinese reflect a complex set of attitudes that reflect a British Imperial stance inflected by pre-Federation bias toward Western values and toward a dominant Australian tendency to use Western standards of democracy and egalitarianism to judge the shortcomings of its Asian neighbours, as argued by D'Cruz and Steele (2003 33-4). Morrison's ambivalence has an origin in the fear that the Chinese would perhaps become more successful economic colonisers than white people. But if Morrison was ambivalent about Asians, caught between admiration for, and an anxiety about the Chinese especially, was he one of those Australians cited as those unable to "engage with constructive and continuous relations with Asia" (D'Cruz and Steel 34)? I argue that Morrison is not simply a eugenicist or anti-Asian racist, but re-iterates a British imperialist grand narrative on best-practice colonial governance and an example of how knowledge of the orient may be acquired so as to serve Imperial interests. Within this narrative all races have strengths and weaknesses, and this "melange" must be managed by enlightened white British administrators in order to ensure cultural harmony throughout the empire, and especially where British geo-political interests are at stake. This multiculturalism is segregationist but may also allow room for hybrid or cross-cultural cultures to take root through intermarriage of chosen white elites and selected subalterns (much as plant breeders select seed stock). While Morrison may praise far-flung edges of empire and those regions that the British engages with for reasons of trade, he argues that predominantly white colonies like those in Australia should remain white. Like a benign object suddenly appearing as the anamorphic skull in a Holbein portrait (Reading 26), viewed from a certain angle, what seems like Morrison's affection for China can just as easily appear as a form of aversion and suspicion. [From the journal's webpage]
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cChina,cEast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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cBurma,cSoutheast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,