City Visions: Melbourne Intensive (HIST20087)

How are histories and identities expressed in the forms and cultures of cities? Adopting Melbourne as its exemplar, this subject offers an exciting look at the role of people, places, institutions and processes in the historical development of the modern city. It does so by placing Melbourne in a global urban context, while also exploring local communities and spaces where a diversity of people have lived, worked and played. It explores the meanings of ‘places’, both real and imagined: from the inner city to the suburbs, and in built as well as open spaces. We will explore Melbourne’s diverse neighbourhoods (such as Chinatown, Italian, Jewish, Middle Eastern and Vietnamese), and the city’s famous cultural precincts, from the MCG and Federation Square to laneways with their renowned cafes, buskers and graffiti. We will walk the city streets, considering architecture, public art, the city of the senses, and the hustle and bustle of everyday life, to investigate how the past is remembered, preserved or erased in the present.

We will also examine the ways in which identity and belonging, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and emotions and sensuality are negotiated in the city. This cross-disciplinary urban history subject will appeal to students interested in undertaking a detailed study of cities and identity and will build skills in historical, cultural and environmental analysis. Taught intensively, with guest involvement from experts in areas such as urban archaeology, Indigenous knowledge, and museum curation, much of our learning involves site visits outside the campus.