Agora 2020-3 Asian Histories

Asian Histories

Agora vol. 55 no. 3 (2020)

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Reflection Bianca Crawford

Editorial Guy Nolch

Aboriginal Trade with Macassan Seafarers
Lyndon Ormond-Parker

Indonesian fishermen established a trading relationship with Aboriginal people in northern Australia, harvesting sea cucumbers before processing them for markets as far away as China.

The Values of Confucius and the Eastern Zhou Aristocracy in Early China
Hyun Jin Kim and Karen Kai-Nung Hsu

While Confucian values encourage everyone to practise a moral and virtuous life, the reality was that the Confucian junzi was almost always someone from the highest echelons of society.

Archaeologists Uncover the Roots of Buddhism
Keir Strickland and Robin Coningham

The discovery of a simple tree shrine at the birthplace of the historic Buddha has helped pinpoint the date of the Buddha’s life, and shone new light on a period when Buddhism
was still an emergent religion.

Climate Change in the Fourteenth Century: The Decline of Angkor
Robert Cribb

The Angkor empire was built on a system of canals and reservoirs that could not cope with the challenges of extreme climate when the Medieval Warm Period gave way to the Little Ace Age.

The Alternate Attendance System in Tokugawa Japan
Sandra Wilson

Not only did alternate attendance enable shoguns to exert their authority over regional lords, it had a profound political, social, economic and cultural impact on Tokugawa Japan.

The Fears and Other Factors that Led Australia to War in Asia
Adrian Threlfall

Australia’s sometimes fraught relationship with Asia can be traced from the Gold Rush and the White Australia policy to four wars it has fought in Asia since World War II.

Refugee Journeys: The Stories of Vietnamese Women
Nathalie Huynh Chau Nguyen

Within four years of the fall of Saigon, more than 700,000 people had fled Vietnam. The migration stories of Vietnamese women who survived the long and perilous journey to refugee camps in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong by boat, before their eventual resettlement in Australia, make harrowing reading.

Australia’s Connection with Asian History and Culture in the Primary Years
Maree Whiteley

Beyond the explicit references to Asian History in Victoria’s primary curriculum there are many underlying cultural references for teachers and students to explore.

Handout 1 – Lesson ideas

Differentiating in a Senior History Classroom
Maddison Schmidt

Despite the dot points specifying what is examinable, there is flexibility in the way that the Senior History curriculum can be presented. It all comes back to knowing your students and how they learn.

Migration Stories from the Many Lands of Asia
Jan Molloy

Artefacts contained in the Immigration Museum’s Migration and Cultural Diversity Collection tell many stories about immigration from Asia since the nineteenth century.

Explore Asia Through ‘Tea Heaven’
Melina Mallos

The Chinese Museum has developed an excursion and digital incursion that reveals the history of tea and the cultural practices that have become deeply embedded in Chinese culture.

Challenging Student Perspectives When Teaching Asian History
Ian Keese

While students who have migrated from Asia can be confronted by the Western historical perspectives they are taught here, it also provides an opportunity for local students to reconsider their own history and culture.

The Future Is Asian: Linking Historical and Contemporary Narratives
Hamish Curry

Our geography, relationships and communities are all deeply intertwined with Asia. Increasingly our education content, context and pedagogies should be too.

Flatlining? National Enrolment Trends in Senior Secondary History
Rebecca Cairns and Kerri Anne Garrard

An analysis of national enrolment trends raises some important questions about the perceived value of studying History, and points to other issues that shape these trends.