Shirleene Robinson is a lecturer and she specializes broadly in Australian history. In one of her publications, “Inventing Australia for Americans: The Rise of Outback Steakhouse Restaurant Chain in the USA”, Robinson describes the recent success of the Australian culture in the U.S correlating it with the ascension of the Australian-themed restaurants away from home or internationally. She also surveys the motives behind the establishment of the restaurant focusing on its impact on the culture, personality, and relationship of the Australians with the citizens of the United States of America. The following article summarizes Robinson’s paper, comments on given aspects (weaknesses and strengths), and relates the author’s arguments with other researchers in Australian history.
Recently, the author described the exploration of Australian culture in the American environment. According to Robinson, although the aspect of exploration of themed environments is a new and remarkable development, it is also becoming worldwide (545). Besides Australian-themed environments, there are Irish and Texas-themed environments, which promote a given culture. Primarily, the message “that many themed environments convey is linked to the past because as the world becomes more confusing, an idealized nostalgic space is comforting to many customers” (Robison 546). Therefore, the themed environments attract people who live away from home. For instance, commercial outlets like the Outback Steakhouse Restaurant chain in the United States of America have the cultural orientation of ‘Australian legend’, which is a national identity (Anderson 5). However, according to Robinson, an Australian legend is just speculation thus the reason why “many Australians consider being nonrepresentative of the contemporary society” (559). The walls decor, food names, and advertisements all carry the culture of ancient Australian society. She cites psychological satisfaction, fun, and cultural transmission as some of the advantages of the themed environment. On the other hand, there are both negative and positive comments from users. According to some Australians, the use of ‘Australian legend’ in themed environments not only creates boredom but also is devoid of contemporaneous features of the society while others are happy because of the availability of a comfortable serenity when they are away from home (Robinson 555). The themed restaurants offer Australians an opportunity to enjoy their culture in a foreign country like the USA.
Robinson’s article precisely gives readers other means of cultural transmission, especially when an individual is in a foreign country. Furthermore, she cites some of the landmark features in Australian history and culture. Through extensive research, she provides tangible elements in the Australian culture. For example, the description of the American legend by Russel Ward as a “practical man, rough and ready in his manners and quick to decry his appearance of affection in others” (Alomes 547) proves the author’s application of research skills. Besides using many references, she also quotes advertisement clips that depict Australian culture. In addition, Robinson carefully articulates on the advantages of cultural identity as a method of promoting business activities, especially in the United States of America when she concludes,” the international success of this chain does demonstrate the process of cultural transmission and the broad and seemingly inescapable appeal of the Australian legend” (559). Therefore, Robinson wisely uses the business strategic plan of the Outback steakhouse restaurant chain in the USA to shed light on the Australian cultural identification. Although she terms the ‘Australian legend’ as ideal and not real, she enlightens society on the popularity of Outback Steakhouse Restaurant in the USA.
Although Robison has extensively expounded on American legend and Crocodile Dundee as the major artifacts in the Australian culture, her paper mainly focuses on research and findings of other scholars. She derives nearly all her ideas from other researchers by quoting or describing their research findings of the origin and perception of the Australian culture. Therefore, her ideas and aims do not rely on field research, but they originate from other written articles. She only compiled the work of other researchers. On the other hand, the use of other articles in her paper gives relevance to her research paper. Furthermore, at the end of her article, she ties her emotions to the origin of the establishment of the Outback steakhouse restaurant chain in the US when she says, “the Outback steakhouse is not an authentic Australian restaurant by any means” (Robinson 559), which means she does not support the use of Australian theme in a foreign country. The culture in the themed environments is untrue or not worthy of belief. Secondly, she calls the Australian decorations in the restaurant ‘dubious’, which proves there is an inappropriate promotion of the culture. Americans use the Australian theme “as a point of departure from the myriad of other steakhouses in the United States” (Robinson 559). Therefore, from the quote, the author asserts that the themed environment is not to promote culture but to make sure the business succeeds in a stiffly competitive market. Therefore, some of her statements add emotional quality to the paper, which ineffectively communicates her message to the audience. In addition, there is ineffective expression or fulfillment of goals if an author attached his/her emotions to the paper. Ideally, scholarly articles recommend future research on some of the views or speculations an aspect, which is missing in Robinson’s article.
The application and comparison of her research with other references in her article validate her work. She uses more than five different external sources while writing her article. About other articles/books featuring the culture of Australia like Americanization and Australian, imagined communities, and A Nation at last. The changing character of Australian nationalism 1880-1988 Robinson answers why there is a sharp increase in themed environments. She uses some of the aforementioned articles or books among others, to corroborate the artifacts in Australian culture and later popularity in other nations like the United States of America and the United Kingdom among others.
In summary, Robinson has presented persuasive research on the origin of the Outback steak restaurant, which carries the Australian theme, yet it is American. She argues that the recent application and spur in themed environments are some of the strategies, which not only promote businesses, but also a culture of a given community or nation. Her article enlightens and educates the world on the cultural practices of the Australian people. Although she validates her work using other references, the paper heavily relies on the research of other scholars in the field other than her findings. Her emotional attachment to the paper leads to the ineffective communication of the intended message because she disagrees with the aspect of using themed environments as a business strategy.
References
Alomes, Stephen. A nation at last? The changing character of Australian nationalism 1880-1988. North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1988.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined communities. London: Verso press, 1983.
Robinson, Shirleene. “Inventing Australia for Americans: The Rise of Outback Steakhouse Restaurant Chain in the USA.” The journal of popular culture 14.3 (2011): 545-559. Print