Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site
Forgot your password?
Subscribe

Keywords: History

  • INTERNATIONAL

    In an unjust world, can war ever be just?

    • Daniel Nellor
    • 27 August 2024
    8 Comments

    Amidst the conflict in Gaza, can ancient moral frameworks guide modern warfare? Nigel Biggar's recent analysis invokes 'Just War Theory', sparking debate on the ethics of Israel's response to Hamas. As casualties rise, questions of proportionality and 'just cause' take on a new significance, challenging leaders and citizens alike to navigate the fraught intersection of security, morality, and human dignity.

    READ MORE
  • ECONOMICS

    The best way to tax?

    • David James
    • 23 August 2024
    1 Comment

    The term 'reform' carries an ambiguous weight. It can signify progress but just as often masks harmful change. Paul Tilley’s Mixed Fortunes explores the messy evolution of Australia's tax system, revealing how reforms, far from delivering clarity or fairness, reflect deeper ideological struggles over power and economy.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    The two American freedoms

    • Sarah Klenbort
    • 21 August 2024
    2 Comments

    For a nation ‘conceived in liberty’, much of how this U.S. election will play out will hinge on different understandings of the word ‘freedom’, a term that has two distinct and separate meanings depending on whether the person you’re asking votes red or blue.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    A history of violence

    • Barry Gittins
    • 20 August 2024
    3 Comments

    Emma's story offers an unflinching glimpse into the brutality of colonial Australia. While it’s worth celebrating the undeniable social progress made since Emma braved the voyage to Australia, we must resist the temptation to see our history of violence as consigned to the past.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Wasting time with poetry

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 15 August 2024
    4 Comments

    In a world driven by profit and speed, poetry stands as a quiet rebellion. It honours and explores what is distinctive about human beings – communication through words. And if we dismiss as a waste of time the slower rhythms involved in the writing and reading of poetry, we are likely to discover how time spent unreflectively wastes us.

    READ MORE
  • EDUCATION

    Poorer students priced out of $50,000 arts degrees

    • Erica Cervini
    • 14 August 2024

    University fee hikes have disproportionately affected humanities students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Despite promises of affordability, many arts degrees now cost more than $50,000, a significant barrier to access for many talented students.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The reinvention of Blanche DuBois

    • Eddie Hampson
    • 08 August 2024
    2 Comments

    Blanche DuBois is a character defined by her fragility, and her descent into madness is a harrowing testament to the pressures of a society that offers little mercy to women. But when Blanche is portrayed as a figure of power and defiance, she lacks the vulnerability of her predecessors and the logic of her descent into ‘madness’ isn’t as clean-cut.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Courting justice for Palestine

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 August 2024
    3 Comments

    The International Court of Justice (ICJ) recently ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories had violated international law by encouraging settlements on occupied land. While the judgment imposes legal obligations, it does not consider how they might be met.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Olympic ceremonies as liturgies

    • Juliette Hughes
    • 07 August 2024

    You have to admit, the French have form for mocking religion. But with their peculiar take on the Lord's Supper with all its Dionysian excess, the colourfully irreverent opening ceremony left many asking: has Paris 2024 turned the Olympics into a ritual of performative ethics? 

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The Desert Knows Her Name

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 02 August 2024

    Conforming and belonging to a genre, in this case, ‘post-colonial, outback noir eco-fiction’, does not mean that a novel is not worthy. With rich symbolism and lyrical prose, Hills challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about Australian history, land ownership, and the inescapable consequences of past actions.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The past is prologue: Lewis Lapham’s enduring editorial vision

    • Warwick McFadyen
    • 30 July 2024
    2 Comments

    Lewis Lapham's work was a rigorous autopsy of American culture, exposing the chasm between our pretensions and our realities. With a historian’s depth and a satirist’s wit, he illuminated the follies that sustain our collective delusions. 

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Vatican document focuses on process, not problems

    • Bill Uren
    • 30 July 2024
    7 Comments

    The Vatican's new Instrumentum Laboris outlines the path forward for the Synod on Synodality, but with a heavy emphasis on process over substance. While it acknowledges the need for greater women's involvement, it firmly reinforces the authority of the Pope and bishops, raising questions about the true potential for change.

    READ MORE
Join the conversation. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter  Subscribe