My island diaspora home

reflections on Australian choices in Asia: nation, empire, or culture?

In my Saturday post, “How to mend our broken Asian heart”, I wrote that:

So, if at times you begin to despair at the rhetoric of conflict that has overtaken Asia-Australia and Western-Eurasia relationships over the last decades, remember these lessons of history. Individuals evade fixed identities. Culture always outlasts politics. Give your attention to those themes, and we may all reclaim the tangled shared history of our common diaspora home, and repair Australia’s broken Asian heart.

The reflection emerged from my discussion with historian, Sophie Loy-Wilson, of why Australia fell out with China over recent years. If you have not watched the full video of the interview yet, it is here.

What do I mean by the “tangled shared history of our common diaspora home”?

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Coming up on Saturday. Is the West facing a ‘Suez Moment’, as suggested by The Economist magazine.