Table of Contents

The Australian Country Girl: History, Image, Experience

About the Author

Catherine Driscoll is Associate Professor of Gender and Cultural studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is the author of Teen Film: A Critical Introduction (Berg Publishers); Modernist Cultural Studies (University Press of Florida) and Girls: Feminine Adolescence in Popular Culture and Cultural Theory (Columbia University Press).

Reviews

'From the romantic nostalgia extended to the bush girlhoods of yesteryear to the challenges facing young rural women today, the significance of the Australian Country Girl within national culture illuminates the gendered and spatial dimensions of Australian experiences. This rich study by Catherine Driscoll draws on historical and ethnographic perspectives to explore the varied and complex lives of country girls, and makes an original and important contribution to our understandings of Australian national identity.' Kate Darian-Smith, University of Melbourne, Australia 'The Australian Country Girl weaves a captivating analytic trail that encourages us to think again about what constitutes the rural and the significance of place, time and gender for researching and theorizing young femininities. Deploying an "interdisciplinary empiricism" that exploits the potential of reflexive place-based ethnography, cultural studies and political historical archives, Driscoll creates a rich and dynamic assemblage of how "country" and "girl" travel in and across policy, practice, film, popular culture and in the everyday lives of girls themselves.' Emma Renold, Cardiff University, UK 'Drawing on an extraordinarily diverse range of primary and secondary sources including film, television dramas, radio, fiction, policy documents, statistics and data drawn from the author's 'working ethnography' (p.11) in eight fieldwork locations, each section of this book weaves an intricate analysis ... The text is theoretically sophisticated, nuanced and critical. Foucault, Latour, Bourdieu Delauze and Guattari are all used and to great effect.' The Australian Country Review 'Catherine Driscoll ... provide[s] an in-depth, honest, and reflexive discussion that strives to push through current cliches and capture a more authentic view on the Australian country girl.' Children, Youth & Environments 'This rich study makes an important contribution to Australian cultural history...' Australian Historical Studies