Sport in Australia: Celebration and Mystification. Talk by Emeritus Professor David Rowe,

Sport is commonly regarded as integral to Australian identity and a region like South-West Sydney as its heartland. Free television viewing of sport events of “national importance and cultural significance” is even protected by law. But how can sport’s celebrated local/national/global myths and various discomforting sport-related social realities be reconciled? David Rowe is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, with honorary appointments at London, Bath, and Beijing Foreign Studies Universities. A Fellow of both the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, his work has been published in nine languages. David’s books include Sport, Culture and the Media: The Unruly Trinity; Global Media Sport: Flows, Forms and Futures, and (co-authored) Playing on the Edge: Sport, Society and Culture in Asia and Oceania. He frequently contributes expert commentary for Australian and international print, broadcast and online media.