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Trust and the Changing Moral Economy of Australian Medicine. There is strong evidence that patients sue their doctors because of inadequate doctor/patient communication, and this has been directly linked to low levels of trust. But unless doctors have become worse communicators over time, poor communication fails to explain recent rises in litigation rates. This historical study will examine the multiple factors affecting changing doctor/patient relationships. It will offer new insights into the ....Trust and the Changing Moral Economy of Australian Medicine. There is strong evidence that patients sue their doctors because of inadequate doctor/patient communication, and this has been directly linked to low levels of trust. But unless doctors have become worse communicators over time, poor communication fails to explain recent rises in litigation rates. This historical study will examine the multiple factors affecting changing doctor/patient relationships. It will offer new insights into the circumstances that fostered trust in medicine in the past, which will assist in understanding the current dynamics of changes in trust. This will help policy makers seeking to promote and maintain good health by strengthening the values of trust and reciprocity within Australia's healthcare system.Read moreRead less
Social Division and the Pursuit of Harmony Across the Antipodes in the Twentieth Century. Into the twentieth century,reformers envisaged the antipodes as a liberal utopia. The social laboratory in Australia and New Zealand is now viewed as a reactionary social model. This project sets out to place Paul Kelly's influential notion of an Australian Settlement within a series of frames which establish the extent of division and the limits to inclusion alongside the achievements of the antipodean exp ....Social Division and the Pursuit of Harmony Across the Antipodes in the Twentieth Century. Into the twentieth century,reformers envisaged the antipodes as a liberal utopia. The social laboratory in Australia and New Zealand is now viewed as a reactionary social model. This project sets out to place Paul Kelly's influential notion of an Australian Settlement within a series of frames which establish the extent of division and the limits to inclusion alongside the achievements of the antipodean experiment. It considers Arbitration as the core institution of the new liberal utopia, and its transformation by Labor into the 1980s. It will result in a major book, two shorter books and two doctoral theses.Read moreRead less
Respectability and health: private life and the health transition in two capital cities, London and Melbourne, 1850?1980. This study will explore the relationship between the dramatic normative changes that occurred in working-class private life after 1850 and the health transition. Using grass-roots case studies and databases of both London and Melbourne, it will analyse the changing mortality experience of the poor?as infants, young, and older adults?in relation to changes in self-care, self- ....Respectability and health: private life and the health transition in two capital cities, London and Melbourne, 1850?1980. This study will explore the relationship between the dramatic normative changes that occurred in working-class private life after 1850 and the health transition. Using grass-roots case studies and databases of both London and Melbourne, it will analyse the changing mortality experience of the poor?as infants, young, and older adults?in relation to changes in self-care, self-image and family life made possible by the transition in these two mercantilist cities from casualised to regular labour markets. It will then endeavour to relate these findings about life chances among the most disadvantaged to health and social policy for the future.Read moreRead less
Selling their Souls: Between bound and free labour/imperial capital and the late colonial state in Asia and Australia. The role of unfree labour has been central to the debate on colonialism and the spread of global trade in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Much has been written about particular colonies, but little examines colonial labour as part of a global phenomenon. This project does so by comparing companies, workers and the state across a number of European colonies. It a ....Selling their Souls: Between bound and free labour/imperial capital and the late colonial state in Asia and Australia. The role of unfree labour has been central to the debate on colonialism and the spread of global trade in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Much has been written about particular colonies, but little examines colonial labour as part of a global phenomenon. This project does so by comparing companies, workers and the state across a number of European colonies. It asks theoretically innovative questions, syntheses extant research, and requires new archival research. Findings, to be published in international journals and monograph series, will contribute to historical and contemporary debates on the impact of globalisation on labour.Read moreRead less
At the Border: Health, Immigration Restriction and the Imagining of Australia, 1901-2001. This project traces and analyses connections between public health policies and immigration policies between 1901 and 2001 in Australia. It interrogates the changing regulation of Australia's population through border control and health screening of aspiring immigrants and citizens, as well as tourists, refugees and illegal entrants. Infectious disease control may well have been a major instrument through w ....At the Border: Health, Immigration Restriction and the Imagining of Australia, 1901-2001. This project traces and analyses connections between public health policies and immigration policies between 1901 and 2001 in Australia. It interrogates the changing regulation of Australia's population through border control and health screening of aspiring immigrants and citizens, as well as tourists, refugees and illegal entrants. Infectious disease control may well have been a major instrument through which movement over the national borders, and naturalisation into the population, have been governed and policed. The project will illuminate the significance of these interconnecting policies and practices for the historical, legal, and cultural imagining of Australia.
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Foregrounding the suburban backyard: using hybrid spaces to develop new environmental theory for more effective management of human landscapes. Although human influences now pervade all Earth processes, environmental ideals of pristine past landscapes without people continue to dominate. The project addresses the challenge of managing environments for hybridity, change and human presence, rather than timeless purity. I will undertake the first in-depth ethnographic study of the suburban backya ....Foregrounding the suburban backyard: using hybrid spaces to develop new environmental theory for more effective management of human landscapes. Although human influences now pervade all Earth processes, environmental ideals of pristine past landscapes without people continue to dominate. The project addresses the challenge of managing environments for hybridity, change and human presence, rather than timeless purity. I will undertake the first in-depth ethnographic study of the suburban backyard, Australia's most hybrid ecosystem. I analyse how categories of environmental belonging - indigenous/introduced, wild/tame, hybrid/pure - are differentially applied to people, other species and landscapes, in policy and popular culture. This contributes to new theories of long term human-environment interactions and effective management of human landscapes. Outcomes will include books and museum exhibitions.Read moreRead less
Psychoanalysis, Anthropology and the Australian Aborigine: the revaluing of myth in the twentieth-century. This project will uncover the role Western experience of Aboriginal Australian cultures has played in the revaluing of myths in the twentieth century particularly via the influence of psychoanalysis. It will show that European experience of Aboriginal Australia raised questions, and the attempted answers to those questions changed European thinking. Revealing this will add significantly t ....Psychoanalysis, Anthropology and the Australian Aborigine: the revaluing of myth in the twentieth-century. This project will uncover the role Western experience of Aboriginal Australian cultures has played in the revaluing of myths in the twentieth century particularly via the influence of psychoanalysis. It will show that European experience of Aboriginal Australia raised questions, and the attempted answers to those questions changed European thinking. Revealing this will add significantly to Australia's self understanding. It will add significantly to the understanding of the importance myth has gained over the last century. It will be an important Australian contribution to international scholarship of the histories of Anthropology, Science, and Psychoanalysis, and to Religious and Indigenous StudiesRead moreRead less
Child, Nation, Race and Empire: a critical analysis of child rescue narratives in Britain, Australia and Canada 1850-1915. The aftermath of past child welfare practices has generated pain and anger across Australia. Through an analysis of the literature which informed such practices the project will strengthen Australia's social fabric by providing a much-needed historical context for the individuals, voluntary and government organizations seeking to understand how actions cast as benevolent cou ....Child, Nation, Race and Empire: a critical analysis of child rescue narratives in Britain, Australia and Canada 1850-1915. The aftermath of past child welfare practices has generated pain and anger across Australia. Through an analysis of the literature which informed such practices the project will strengthen Australia's social fabric by providing a much-needed historical context for the individuals, voluntary and government organizations seeking to understand how actions cast as benevolent could cause such harm. Such an understanding will also be cautionary for those engaged in the promotion of intercountry aid and adoption programs, which make similarly emotional appeals thus enhancing Australia's capacity to interpret and engage with its regional and global environment.Read moreRead less
A study of the public understanding of the Great Barrier Reef and its sustainable use. As a national icon, the survival of the Great Barrier Reef is of consequence to all Australians. As pressures on the Reef increase, it is imperative that the cultural heritage and social value of the Reef be recognised, understood, and mobilised to facilitate efforts to preserve the Reef for future generations. Reaching and informing broad and varied audiences in a range of communities, this project encourages ....A study of the public understanding of the Great Barrier Reef and its sustainable use. As a national icon, the survival of the Great Barrier Reef is of consequence to all Australians. As pressures on the Reef increase, it is imperative that the cultural heritage and social value of the Reef be recognised, understood, and mobilised to facilitate efforts to preserve the Reef for future generations. Reaching and informing broad and varied audiences in a range of communities, this project encourages a much wider appreciation of the value and importance of the Reef to Australian culture, and thus provides an important capacity-building step in realising the long-term social goal of sustainable use of the Reef's unique biodiversityRead moreRead less
HEIGHT, WEIGHT and LENGTH: Biometric explorations of Australia's socio-economic fabric in the long run, 1860-1970. HEIGHT, WEIGHT and LENGTH is a biometric analysis of Australian living standards. This project is significant because it illuminates the very fabric of Australian social and economic organisation. It traces what happened to living standards over the long run 1860-1970, covering booms, busts and wars. It examines the functioning of the family as an economic unit at the core of dis ....HEIGHT, WEIGHT and LENGTH: Biometric explorations of Australia's socio-economic fabric in the long run, 1860-1970. HEIGHT, WEIGHT and LENGTH is a biometric analysis of Australian living standards. This project is significant because it illuminates the very fabric of Australian social and economic organisation. It traces what happened to living standards over the long run 1860-1970, covering booms, busts and wars. It examines the functioning of the family as an economic unit at the core of distributing welfare-enhancing resources. It identifies who were the winners and the losers. It teaches lessons about vulnerability and strength during economic change that should inform future policy makers. Finally, it pushes the methodology in new directions with implications for its use around the world.Read moreRead less