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https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-value-of-meanjin-weve-done-some-calculations-and-its-not-about-money-265476>
"This month, the board of Melbourne University Press (MUP) announced it would
abruptly discontinue 85-year-old Australian literary journal
Meanjin. The
reasons? “Purely financial.”
Our research considers the value of local books and writing, using measures
other than money. Drawing on recent arts and cultural value scholarship, we’ve
taken a closer look at publicly available data on
Meanjin.
We drew on three broad dimensions of value articulated in the most recent
Creative Australia National Arts Participation Survey. They are skills, jobs
and economic prosperity; building social cohesion and equity; and wellbeing (in
particular, truth-telling and participation).
We estimate the journal has provided more than 10,000 individuals with literary
workforce skills, helping to train generations of leading Australian writers
and editors. We tracked how a 1972 Peter Carey short story has been republished
over 50 years, enabling it to be taught in schools and universities. And as
Tony Birch powerfully argues,
Meanjin has nurtured First Nations writers and
contributed to truth-telling.
In creating our modest accounting snapshot of the broad cultural value of
Meanjin, we drew on several sources. They include publicly available research
reports, annual reports, indexes and bibliographies, the
Meanjin website,
reader responses, reader and contributor testimonies, and scholarly
literature."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
