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SOCIOLOGYImagining Asia in Australia in terms of Absence mode of representation
Australia is a multicultural society and Asian constitutes a large part of the Australian
population. Thus, there is a profound relation between the self-knowledge of Australians and
their knowledge about Asia. For example, the self-identity of Australia underpins Asia as a
separate and underdeveloped culture. The dominant self-imageries of Australia are constitutive
of Asia through 3 different modes of representation, namely, absence, threat and opportunity
(Pan, 2015). The first mode is absence or insignificance of Asia. This indicates that the
Australians attach higher importance to their own culture and country in comparison to the
cultures of Asia. Thus, Walker & Sobocinska (2012) described that the term ‘Asia’ often
represents a non-specific zone of incomprehensive foreignness to the Australians, and this idea
about Asia and Asian cultures results in ignorance of many Asian countries and their cultures
and thereby addressing the cultural differences in a proper manner. This has also led to ignorance
of Asia as a question of future.
Asia has created an image of economic powerhouse with unlimited opportunities over the
past century, which is often termed as Asian century. However, the presence of Asia and its
culture is still patchy among the Australian state of mind. The Abbott Government scrapped the
‘Asian Century’ White Paper but that did not generate much effective outcome in increasing the
significance of the Asian culture among the Australians (Mallan, Cross & Allan, 2013). Pan
(2015) gave an example in this context that very few Asian-Australian authors mention about
Asia in the fiction books in comparison to the Australian culture or present the narrator or the
main character as Asian or Asian-Australia, which indicates absence of Asian culture in the self-
imagery of the Australians. Thus, the children are mostly exposed to the culture of Asia through
the flags and food events (Lockhart, 2012). There is a physical and literacy absence of Asia and

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