Doing Social Sustainability: the utopian imagination of youth on the margins. Sustainability is an issue of global urgency, and is recognised as a national research priority in Australia. However, the 'social' is often underestimated or subsumed within economic or environmental discourses. The project will add significantly to Australian and international knowledge about sustainability, marginalized youth, and social inclusion policies. It will develop new conceptual tools, foster public debate, ....Doing Social Sustainability: the utopian imagination of youth on the margins. Sustainability is an issue of global urgency, and is recognised as a national research priority in Australia. However, the 'social' is often underestimated or subsumed within economic or environmental discourses. The project will add significantly to Australian and international knowledge about sustainability, marginalized youth, and social inclusion policies. It will develop new conceptual tools, foster public debate, and offer young people new possibilities for vocational outcomes that complement their desired futures.Read moreRead less
An ethnographic study of obesity risk in a disadvantaged community. This project will investigate how families who are seen as ‘at risk’ of developing obesity respond to Australia's largest obesity intervention, and if messages about healthy eating and increased physical activity are acted upon. Information gathered will provide an important context for what works (and doesn’t work) in obesity intervention.
Food/body encounters: New approaches and alternative solutions to obesity prevention and policy. There is growing recognition of the need for new ways to tackle the obesity problem, and for forms of intervention that move beyond the limitations of individual behavioural changes. This project provides a paradigm for re-orientating how we have come to know obesity by investigating the cultural and institutional processes that shape everyday food and activity practices. Understanding and intervenin ....Food/body encounters: New approaches and alternative solutions to obesity prevention and policy. There is growing recognition of the need for new ways to tackle the obesity problem, and for forms of intervention that move beyond the limitations of individual behavioural changes. This project provides a paradigm for re-orientating how we have come to know obesity by investigating the cultural and institutional processes that shape everyday food and activity practices. Understanding and intervening in these dynamics of social practice are central to the challenges of reversing trends in the prevalence of obesity.Read moreRead less
Enhanced Humans, Robotics and the Future of Work. The aim of the project is to generate new and powerful understandings of the social consequences of robotics and artificial intelligence. The project aims to develop an understanding of technologically-mediated mobility processes and test their capacity to address such issues as social futures and the sorts of digital skills that Australians will require for future jobs. It plans to use social theory to explore technological scenarios and hypothe ....Enhanced Humans, Robotics and the Future of Work. The aim of the project is to generate new and powerful understandings of the social consequences of robotics and artificial intelligence. The project aims to develop an understanding of technologically-mediated mobility processes and test their capacity to address such issues as social futures and the sorts of digital skills that Australians will require for future jobs. It plans to use social theory to explore technological scenarios and hypotheses concerning possible societal futures in Australia and beyond. Project outcomes may inform social science and contribute to worldwide efforts to solve global policy problems from work and unemployment to lifestyle change.Read moreRead less
Promoting the making self in the creative micro-economy. The project aims to analyse a new workplace phenomenon: not simply the negotiation of work-life or public-private boundaries, but their deliberate collapse. Focussing on handmade creative micro-enterprise, it aims to identify the 'self-making' skills for success in the competitive 'long tail' craft marketplace. By examining the soft skills required to engage in online retail, the research aims to identify ways of improving the ability of c ....Promoting the making self in the creative micro-economy. The project aims to analyse a new workplace phenomenon: not simply the negotiation of work-life or public-private boundaries, but their deliberate collapse. Focussing on handmade creative micro-enterprise, it aims to identify the 'self-making' skills for success in the competitive 'long tail' craft marketplace. By examining the soft skills required to engage in online retail, the research aims to identify ways of improving the ability of creative Australians to run a micro-enterprise. It endeavours to advance the knowledge base of interdisciplinary scholarship on creative industries, cultural work, and on the impact of social media upon work/life relationships and personal privacy and identity construction.Read moreRead less
Museum of New and Old Art (MONA) and the social and cultural coordinates of urban regeneration through arts tourism. This project will analyse the extraordinary success of MONA (Museum of New and Old Art) as an art gallery and use this information to identify, stimulate and sustain innovative collaborations between MONA, the cities of Hobart and Glenorchy, and the state of Tasmania, aimed at maximising visitor numbers to the state from art related tourism.
Autobiography of a People: Aboriginal Writing in Queensland, 1890s-1930s. As the recent "history wars" confirm, Australians today care deeply about the colonial past, because its legacies are "all around us and within" (as Oodgeroo noted). This project advances knowledge and conceptual understanding in the key areas of colonial race relations, Indigenous self-representation, and Indigenous literacy. Aboriginal autobiography is an especially effective tool for stimulating the empathetic imaginati ....Autobiography of a People: Aboriginal Writing in Queensland, 1890s-1930s. As the recent "history wars" confirm, Australians today care deeply about the colonial past, because its legacies are "all around us and within" (as Oodgeroo noted). This project advances knowledge and conceptual understanding in the key areas of colonial race relations, Indigenous self-representation, and Indigenous literacy. Aboriginal autobiography is an especially effective tool for stimulating the empathetic imagination, and bridging social, temporal and geographical distances between people. This research will strengthen the nation's social fabric by promoting inter-racial understanding, and by adding historical depth to present thinking about contemporary Aboriginal attitudes to literacy.Read moreRead less
Narrative Ecologies of Warragamba Dam. We are living in a period of significant environmental and land use challenges, many of them accompanied by conflicting understandings and values. This interdisciplinary environmental humanities project focuses on the proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall to explore the role of narrative in analysing and responding to socio-environmental controversies: narratives of connection to place, of livelihood and economic prosperity, of deep cultural relations ....Narrative Ecologies of Warragamba Dam. We are living in a period of significant environmental and land use challenges, many of them accompanied by conflicting understandings and values. This interdisciplinary environmental humanities project focuses on the proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall to explore the role of narrative in analysing and responding to socio-environmental controversies: narratives of connection to place, of livelihood and economic prosperity, of deep cultural relationships to Country. Ultimately, this project aims to develop new resources for enhancing community understanding and involvement in these complex issues, utilising narrative to enable responses that are creative, inclusive, and just.Read moreRead less
A cultural history of West Australian popular music, 1945 to 2010. The Valentines, The Triffids, The John Butler Trio all had their origins in the western Australian musical scene. This is the first cultural history of West Australia's popular music industry. It documents the life and times of its musical artists, bands, managers, recording studios, relevant radio programs since 1945.
Goolarabooloo Culture of the Western Kimberley. With the prospect of new industries, starting with a major gas plant, the Indigenous population of Broome finds itself under pressure and internally divided. The group to be studied here, Goolarabooloo, is opposed to mining on their Dreaming. Their struggle has had the effect of reviving forms of culture, that take contemporary shape, but are always strongly linked to the traditional culture. With national and international attention focussed on Go ....Goolarabooloo Culture of the Western Kimberley. With the prospect of new industries, starting with a major gas plant, the Indigenous population of Broome finds itself under pressure and internally divided. The group to be studied here, Goolarabooloo, is opposed to mining on their Dreaming. Their struggle has had the effect of reviving forms of culture, that take contemporary shape, but are always strongly linked to the traditional culture. With national and international attention focussed on Goolarabooloo, this study will analyse the transformation of this confederacy of language groups in the context of industrialisation and tourism. The output will be a first in ethnographic documentation of this culture, first recorded by Daisy Bates in 1901.Read moreRead less