Spinning the Dream: Assimilation in Australia 1950-1970

by Anna Haebich

In Spinning the Dream , multi-award-winning historian Anna Haebich re-evaluates the experience of Assimilation in Australia, providing a meticulously researched and masterfully written assessment of its implications for Australia's Indigenous and ethnic minorities and for immigration and refugee policy.

Genres: History, Australia, Nonfiction

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great look at how assimilation rhetoric was constructed in Australia and why it was an ethnocentric and racist policy. A great book for those today who don’t understand why ‘assimilation’ is problematic and how forced homogenisation is never the answer. An important book at both documenting an important part of Australian history but also for teaching people the importance of cultural pluralism rather than attempting to force minorities into a homogenous (majority) national identity.

Also was a good lesson on why Aboriginal activism shifted from liberalist equal rights to more radical land rights and sovereignty, and why these demands are legitimate and important.

[Annaleise · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting book about the affects of Australia's governments policies towards Indigenous people and assimilation in general