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Title
Indigenous Representation at the Eurovision Song Contest: A Quintessentially Australian Identity
Author(s)
Publication Date
2019
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008
Early Online Version
Abstract
The inclusion of Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2015 is both novel and geographically controversial. Even more striking is the predominance of Indigenous performers, Jessica Mauboy and Isaiah Firebrace, among Australia's first representatives. The choice of performers by Australia's multicultural broadcaster, SBS, can be perceived as an attempt to present Australia as a modern, multicultural, and postcolonial nation, that has achieved the European goal of "unity through diversity", by choosing Indigenous performers along with those from other minority backgrounds, Guy Sebastian and Dami Im. However, a perception of Indigenous marginality from a predominantly non-Indigenous white mainstream Australian viewpoint may not be an accurate perception of how the European audience view an Indigenous identity. Indigenous musical performers articulate identities that confound the non-Indigenous binaries of traditional and contemporary culture, manifesting a cultural identity that is dynamic, both ancient and modern, and uniquely Australian.
Publication Type
Book Chapter
Source of Publication
Eurovision and Australia: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Down Under, p. 57-74
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020
2019-07-26
Place of Publication
Cham, Switzerland
Peer Reviewed
Yes
HERDC Category Description
ISBN
9783030200589
9783030200572
Peer Reviewed
Yes
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