Edition 39 of Griffith REVIEW - a leading Australian forum for ideas and analysis, now in its eighth year - will be titled 'Tasmania: The Tipping Point?' It will be published in late January 2013.
This issue will be jointly edited by Associate Professor Natasha Cica, Director of the Inglis Clark Centre for Civil Society at UTAS, and Dr Julianne Schultz AM, founding editor of Griffith REVIEW.
'I'm delighted that the University of Tasmania has partnered with Griffith REVIEW for this Tasmanian-themed issue,' said Associate Professor Cica. 'UTAS staff and members of the wider Tasmanian community are particularly welcome to contribute to this edition, to advance new thinking about Tasmania. I can't think of a better time for us to have this exciting opportunity.'
For too long, as the smallest and least wealthy of Australia's states, Tasmania has been on the edge of national conversations about prosperity, identity and equity, widely regarded as the 'poor cousin'.
In Tasmania: The Tipping Point? Griffith REVIEW will move the state centre stage, serving up strategic slices of Tasmania's past, present and future. Thinkers and doers from Tasmania and beyond including members of its extensive diaspora will examine whether Tasmania has reached a 'tipping point'.
Once the Apple Isle, Tasmania has recently become the focus of concerted efforts to improve its lagging educational outcomes, enliven an economy highly dependent on the public purse, and better connect Tasmanians with twenty-first century agendas. The success of these ambitions and interventions will be considered.
Tasmania's geographical isolation, distinctive natural environment and smallness of social scale are increasingly seen as blessings, presenting marketable opportunities. Since the blockbusting arrival of David Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart's northern suburbs, more people champion Tasmania's potential as a testbed for clever cultural, economic, environmental and social initiatives. At the same time, they often struggle with embedded local resistance to change.
Tasmania: The Tipping Point? challenges how Tasmania is seen by outsiders - and illuminates how Tasmanians see themselves, down home and in the wider world.