Winter 2004

Talking History

Why studies of Asia deserves a place in Australia's history curriculum

More than half of humankind lives in Asia. Australia is in the Asian region. Asia represents huge markets in a global world. But, reports DEBORAH HENDERSON, it is in challenging stereotypes and bridging cultural divides that Studies of Asia has a specific role to play in the teaching and learning of history.

Recently, the Australian historian, Inga Clendinnen, reflected on the value of history.

History for me is a giant reservoir of human experience and it’s most valuable when that human experience comes in cultural forms unfamiliar to us, because one of the most difficult things to do in the world is to get a grip on our own pre-conceptions, assumptions, unexamined convictions.

Clendinnen’s comments are timely, as we attempt to make sense of, and deal with, the new international order following the events of September 11, Bali and, most recently, Madrid. For it is through the study of history that we can understand the processes of change and continuity that have shaped contemporary events.

Given the challenges of negotiating cultural differences in an increasingly complex and interconnected world, we might assume that the study of Asia—the region in which we are located—is of great importance in the history curriculum. Indeed, the significance of Asia for Australia’s future has been noted by the peak body representing Australian scholars of Asia—the Asian Studies Association of Australia. Its 2002 report indicates that ‘the forces of globalisation will lead Australia to interact increasingly with the countries of Asia’. Yet until recently, the study of Asia has been an elective for many history students and teachers, and it could be argued that Australian students know less about Asian history and culture than other parts of the world.

This is despite the fact that Asia includes 60 per cent of the world's population, 30 per cent of the earth's land and presents the largest emerging markets. Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation and one of our most important neighbours, is a significant nation in this region, as are India and China, two of the world’s most populous nations. The range of Asia’s belief systems, which includes Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, indicate aspects of the region’s diversity and its cultural complexity. And Asia’s history is rich with the experiences of humankind.

Part of the reluctance to include Studies of Asia in the history curriculum derives from Australia’s recent history as an outpost of the British Empire and can be seen in the formative influences of British and European traditions on Australian political and cultural life. Enlightenment notions of civilisation suppressed or silenced the histories and cultures of non-Western peoples. As Edward Said observed in Orientalism (1978), European scholarship frequently constructed Asia as a representation of what it desired from the ‘East’. This invented ‘Orient’, and the knowledge built upon this representation of it, was accepted by many Australians as accurate ‘knowledge’ about Asia.

At the level of the classroom, critics of such traditions argue that non-Europeans were marginalised and often excluded from curriculum materials, and that Australian school children developed a view of the world dominated by European, and more recently, North American traditions in discipline-based subjects. Moreover, the sort of history taught at this time was one that celebrated the past as an epic of heroic achievements and the might of powerful nations and empires. Students rote-learned unquestioned facts and were instructed to study ‘the truth’ about the past from their history textbook. If Asia was included in these texts, it was often in terms of being ‘enlightened’ by benevolent European colonialists. This double bind meant that students unquestioningly absorbed stereotyped representations of Asia and its peoples. Such stereotypes fostered racism and jingoistic fears of Asia such as ‘the yellow peril’.

Fortunately, much has changed. Today, history classrooms are places where students form their knowledge of the past through careful inquiry rather than accepting unquestioned representations. New source books include a range of materials and investigative activities encourage students to construct their knowledge of the past through diligent inquiry. Students investigate past practices, beliefs and values in order to probe motives, causes and consequences. Significantly, students encounter different points of view about events and realise that history is not a value-free enterprise.

Much effort has been put into considering the cultural implications of teaching and learning about Asian history in the Australian classroom. Australian academics whose scholarly work on Asia is highly regarded have translated documents and made their research available so that a rich variety of materials is accessible for classroom use. Curriculum materials are now available that support the critical inquiry of Asian history and culture, so that students can engage in the process of interpretation, which is central to the study of history. Since 1992, the Asia Education Foundation has promoted the use of curriculum emphases that encourage students and teachers to challenge stereotypes, explore contemporary issues, develop concepts of Asia, investigate the implication of closer Asian-Australian relationships and identify the contributions of the cultures of Asia to world heritage, traditions and human endeavour. Increasing numbers of primary, middle and secondary schools are using such materials and adopting this approach in the curriculum.

These resources and curriculum approaches help facilitate the development of a sympathetic understanding of what it might be like to experience events in different cultures, times and places. This engagement with others is one of the most powerful ways to develop values of tolerance and respect for human rights. Few would disagree that these values are core components in building a better world. Such knowledge, acceptance and empathy for others is also important for dealing with our own communities, as significant numbers of today’s Australians have migrated here in the last three decades from the region or can trace their family origins to Asia. As the historian John Ingleson put it, the study of Asia is ‘the obverse side of the coin to Australian studies’ and ‘that in teaching about Asia … we constantly seek ways of reiterating this to our own society …’ And it could be argued that this reciprocal process of engaging with those who are different helps us to understand ourselves.

Of course, as Clendinnen reminds us, the historian’s obligation is to humankind, not to a particular group. And therefore, arrogant as it must seem and painful as it is, we have to make the effort to cross cultural boundaries in our investigations. For history in schools, this is a question of balance. It means that students should be able to investigate the forces and influences that have shaped local, national, regional and global issues. In emphasising the importance of our region, the Asian region, it is crucial to remember that for too long, the study of Asia has been left out. Our students need to understand a part of the world that is home to 60 per cent of humankind.

References

Asian Studies Association of Australia (2002). Maximising Australia’s Asia Knowledge: Repositioning and Renewal of a National Asset, a Report by the Asian Studies Association of Australia, ASAA Inc, Melbourne.

Clendinnen, I (2003). Interviewed by Miriam Cosic, Weekend Australian, Review, October 4-5, p 9.

Ingleson, J (1989). Asia in Australian Higher Education, Report of the Inquiry into the Teaching of Asian Studies and Languages in Higher Education, vols 1 & 2, Asian Studies Council, Canberra. (The Ingleson Report)

Said, E (1978). Orientalism, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Deborah Henderson is a past president of the History Teachers’ Association of Australia and lectures in History curriculum and Studies of Society and the Environment at Queensland University of Technology.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au