Ghosts in the Machine provides a feminist analysis of cultural policy in Australia and Canada in the context of these countries' post-colonial histories, "modernization," and recent moves toward deregulation and privatization in the cultural sector. Australian and Canadian artists, arts administrators, community activists and researchers bring their own experience to bear on the relationship of gender to cultural planning, new media technologies, arts markets and women's careers, anti-racism, and official nationalism.

Contributors include Jennifer Barrett, Alison Beale, Monika Kin Gagnon, Annette Van Den Bosch, Elizabeth Gertsakis, Barbara Godard, Patricia Gillard, Andrea Hull, Brenda Longfellow, Andra McCartney and Deborah Stevenson.