Spun from four horizons : re-writing the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge provides an imaginative space that is revisited by Australian writers in particular ways. In this space novelists, poets, and cultural historians negotiate questions of emotional and psychological transformation as well as reflect on social and environmental change in the city of Sydney. The writerly tensions that mark these accounts often alter, or query, representations of the Bridge as a symbol of material progress and demonstrate a complex creative engagement with the Bridge. This discussion of ‘the Bridge’ focuses on the work of four authors, Eleanor Dark, P.R. Stephensen, Peter Carey and Vicki Hastrich and includes a range of other fictional and non-fictional accounts of ‘Bridge-writing.’ The ideas proffered are framed by a theorising of space, especially referencing the work of Michel de Certeau, whose writing on the spatial ambiguity of a bridge is important to the examination of the diverse ways in which Australian writers have engaged with the imaginative potential and almost mythic resonance of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

(Re)writing the other/self : autoethnography in the transcultural arena of representation

Abstract: In Imperial Eyes Mary Louise Pratt (1992: 7, emphasis original) defines autoethnography as "instances in which colonized subjects undertake to represent themselves in ways that engage with the colonizer's own terms ... in response to or in dialogue with . . . metropolitan representations." Although Pratt's conceptualization of autoethnography has much to offer post-colonial studies, it has received little attention in the field. In this thesis, I interrogate Pratt's notion of autoethnography as a theoretical tool for understanding the self-representations of subordinate peoples within transcultural terrains of signification. I argue that autoethnography is a concept that allows us to move beyond some theoretical dualisms, and to recognize the (necessary) coexistence of subordinate peoples' simultaneous accommodation of and resistance to dominant representations of themselves. I suggest that even when autoethnographic expressions seem to rely on or to reproduce dominant knowledges, their very existence as speech acts implicitly resists dominant discourses which objectify members of oppressed populations and re-create them as Native Informants. I use Pratt's concept to analyze two books by Islamic feminist sociologist Fatima Memissi. Memissi's Dreams ofTrespass and Scheherazade Goes West illustrate the simultaneity of accommodation and disruption evident in autoethnographic communication. Across the two books, Memissi shows herself renegotiating the discourses which discipline her (and her speech). She switches back and forth between the positions of reader and author, demonstrates the reciprocity of the disciplinary gaze (she looks back at her dominants, reading their own reading of her representation of her social group), and provides a model of autoethnographic dialogue.

Whither Australian Hill-Station creation : re-writing Adelaide Hills narratives about the architectural imperatives that crafted their establishment

This paper explores the historiography of the Adelaide Hills and offers a new perspective as to the reasons behind hill-station residence constructions that crafted this distinct cultural and designed landscape. Australian hill-station communities, and their major architectural edifices, were extensively established in two periods: the 1870s-1890s and the 1920s-1930s. Sites in the Darling Ranges, Adelaide Hills, Macedon and Dandenong Ranges, Blue Mountains and the Tamborine Mountains were favoured summer retreats for both the new and established wealthy families, who erected grand residences that have come to be celebrated in recent heritage assessments, and architectural and social histories of these environments. The majority of these studies and discourses have echoed an agenda that celebrates the architectural significance and personal associations of these structures, and thereupon have made a range of assumptions about the societal rationale for their establishment, construction and associated landscape plantings.

Taking examples from the Adelaide Hills, this paper argues that both architectural and social historians have ‘mistakenly’ concluded that the rationale behind these hill-station residences was based primarily on the provision of a ‘pleasant’ summer that echo the British Raj hill-stations. Further, it is argued that this conclusion constitutes a myth, or fabulation, about South Australian (SA) design, heritage and social histories, as many of these owners consciously sought out and selected hill-station allotments on the basis of their horticultural properties and possibilities, and that house-siting and construction were actually subservient to these imperatives.

An Exercise in Legal Honesty: Re-writing the Court of Justice and the Bundesverfassungsgericht. IHS Political Science Series No. 136, February 2014

At a time of crisis – a true state of emergency – both the Court of Justice of the European Union and the German Federal Constitutional Court have failed the rule of law in Europe. Worse still, in their evaluation of the ersatz crisis law, which has been developed in response to financial and sovereign debt crises, both courts have undermined constitutionality throughout Europe. Each jurisdiction has been implicated within the techocratisation of democratic process. Each Court has contributed to an incremental process of the undermining of the political subjectivity of European Citizens. The results are depressing for lawyers who are still attached to notions of constitutionality. Yet, we must also ask whether the Courts could have acted otherwise. Given the original flaws in the construction of Economic and Monetary Union, as well as the politically pre-emptive constraints imposed by global financial markets, each Court might thus be argued to have been forced to suspend immediate legality in a longer term effort to secure the character of the legal jurisdiction as a whole. Crisis can and does defeat the law. Nevertheless, what continues to disturb is the failure of law in Europe to open up any perspective for a return to normal constitutionality post crisis, as well as its apparent inability to give proper and honest consideration to the hardship now being experienced by millions of Europeans within crisis. This contribution accordingly seeks to reimagine each Judgment in a language of legal honesty. Above all, this contribution seeks to suggest a new form of post-national constitutional language; a language which takes as its primary function, proper protection of democratic process against the ever encroaching powers of a post-national executive power. This contribution forms a part of an on-going effort to identify a new basis for the legitimacy of European Law, conducted jointly and severally with Christian Joerges, University of Bremen and Hertie School of Government, Berlin. Differences do remain in our theoretical positions; hence this individual essay. Nevertheless, the congruence between pluralist and conflict of law approaches to the topic are also readily apparent. See, for example, Everson & Joerges (2013).

Richard Yates: re-writing postwar American culture

This thesis explores the fiction of American author Richard Yates to propose that his work provides an insistent questioning and alternative vision of postwar American culture. Such an approach is informed by a revisionist account of four distinct yet interconnected areas of postwar culture: the role of the non-heroic soldier stepping in and out of World War II; suburbanisation and fashioning of anti-suburban performance; demarcation of gender roles and unraveling of sexual conservatism in the 1950s; consideration of what constituted the normative within postwar discourse and representations of mental illness in Yates’ work. These four spheres of interest form the backbone to this study in its combined aim of reclaiming Yates’ fiction in line with a more progressive historical framework while shaping a new critical appreciation of his fiction. Such analysis will be primed by an opening discussion that illustrates how Yates’ fiction has frequently been ensconced in a limited interpretative lens: an approach, that I argue, has kept Yates on the periphery of the canon and ultimately resulted in the neglect of an author who provided a rich, progressive and historically significant dialogue of postwar American life. This PhD arrives at a point when Yatesian scholarship is finally gaining momentum after the cumulative impact of a comprehensive biography, a faithful film adaptation of his seminal text Revolutionary Road (1961), plus the recent re-issue of his catalogue of work. An assessment as to why he remained on the margins of success for the duration of his career is therefore of pressing interest in light of this recent critical and commercial recognition.

Children re-read and re-write their neighborhoods : critical literacies and identity work

This chapter considers the complex literate repertoires of 21st century children in multicultural primary classrooms in Adelaide South Australia. It draws on the curricular and pedagogical work of two experienced primary school teachers who explore culture, race and class, by positioning children as textual producers across a variety of media. In particular we discuss two child-authored texts – A is for Arndale – a local alphabet book co-authored by children aged between eight and ten, and – Cooking Afghani Style - a magazine style film produced by a multi-aged class of children (aged eight to thirteen) recently arrived in Australia. In the process of making these texts, primary children engaged in reading as a cultural practice – re-reading and re-writing their neighbourhoods and identities (both individual and collective). This involved frequent excursions to local key sites, both familiar and unfamiliar to the children. They investigated how diverse children experienced and lived their lives in particular places within changing communities.

Uma ação reflexiva sobre o processo de (re)escrita de textos: a prática pedagógica da professora Maria

T he reflexive action on the process of texts (re)writing, central topic of this study, is still a challenge within the elementary school. What made this issue a special theme of study was the fact that the chosen focus is based on a lived experiences with (re) writing activities where the uniqueness of the professional practice would be transformed into a place of knowledge production, offering theoretical and a practical support to a teacher, in order to understand the interactive nature of language as a space for recovery of the individual (as a historical, social, and cultural being). The empirical field research, structured in the light of assumptions of qualitative research into the action research format, was a public school in Bahia, in a third grade classroom. The instruments of data collection were open questionnaire, semistructured interviews, observations with video recording, documentary analysis of texts produced by students, and reflective sessions. The objectives that supported the research study were: 1) Investigate, in the pedagogical action of teacher Maria, activities on the writing process, 2) Interact with the teacher, in the form of action inquiry to: a) reflect on the procedures for theoretical and methodological development of reflective practice on the process of the (re) writing of the text, b) intervene in the construction of didactic situations that enable the learning and the development of reflexive actions in the (re) writing of texts. To accomplish these goals, it was established as a commitment a dialogic communication with the protagonist, providing reflection sessions so she could examine her teaching practices. The most relevant theoretical arguments to the establishment of this research came from the theoretical and methodological approaches of Bakhtin s theory of enunciation-discourse (2003, 2004) and Vygotsky s socio-interactionist theory (1989, 1998), as it is believed that both theories, through a paradigm shift, in which the constitution of the individual and the participation of others in the actions of analysis and reflection on the language, would give opportunities for internalization and construction of knowledge. The systematic and critical pondering led the participating teacher into reviewing her teaching praxis, compelling her to promote a more insightful understanding of the writing process of her students. That experirence brought into evidence three categories of actions: 1) actions that reflect the technical rationalism, 2) actions that reflect an emancipatory metamorphosis, and 3) actions that reflect empowerment and awareness. The results confirm that the action / reflection on the process of the (re) writing of a text has a dimension of increasing levels of awareness and self criticism, reproducing other meanings for teaching praxis

Mitologia dantesca: a referência aos mitos greco-romanos na divina comédia pelo viés da (re)criação poética de Dante Alighieri

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The Empty City (playreading)

This 45 minute non-verbal intermedial performance for children was adapted from the picture book I authored of the same name. The process involved writing and re-writing text and music with the result being a new draft of both script and soundtrack. Part of the judging process for the award the script was nominated for involved a playreading, which offered a particular challenge to the researcher in terms of composition and playwriting. How can a script and soundtrack for a non-verbal, intermedial work adapt and innovate the within the formal and practical constraints of the traditional ‘playreading’? This project’s emphasis on nestling intermediality within ostensibly traditional theatrical constraints and processes draws on concepts of musicalisation, identified by Varopolou. (in Lehmann 2006:91) Certain ‘musical moments’ in the piece echoed Ross Brown’s (2010) acoustemological concepts of sonification of everyday life, and the process involved dynamic curation of ‘music under’ for emotional effect, avoiding cinematic clichés and reaching for connections between music and emotion characterized by scholars such as Juslin and Sloboda (2001) The resulting performance was a hybrid of playreading and slideshow, supported by an original soundtrack of ‘music under’ (pre-recorded, but ‘DJ’ed’ live) as well as text-driven moments where music and sound were foregrounded. Research contribution This iteration of The Empty City shows that the tradition of the playreading can be a playful space where even the multiple layers of an intermedial performance text can be represented. The Empty City was a finalist in the 2012-13 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. A ticketed public playreading of the script was held in the Queensland Theatre Company’s Bille Brown Studio on the 28th of July 2012 alongside the other finalists.

Gentlemen Songsters

This project was initially envisaged as a compare and contrast proposition between two performances in music venues, a year apart, at the Melbourne Ukulele Festivals 2013 and 2014. The covert intermedial incorporation of scripted, theatrical elements into an ostensibly musical performance was the initial focus. However, the opportunity arose to continue the creative practice towards a performance outcome at the Queensland Cabaret Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse in June of 2014. This expanded project was titled ‘Gentlemen Songsters’ and enabled a refinement and honing of the event beyond what was initially planned. In addition to the composition, recording and curation of original songs, this process involved two cycles of performance, videography, transcription, re-writing and re-performance. Led by this creative practice, the research investigated the potential for sonata and song cycle as influences on performance structure, in the creation and performance of Composed Theatre. This manifested as a theatricalisation of compositional processes. Performed by ‘Tyrone and Lesley’, performance personae of David Megarrity (lyricist/composer/performer/ukulele) and Samuel Vincent (composer, musician, performer), Gentlemen Songsters played at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of its inaugural Queensland Cabaret Festival on June 13 2014

CUDA-for-clusters: a system for efficient execution of CUDA kernels on multi-core clusters

Rapid advancements in multi-core processor architectures coupled with low-cost, low-latency, high-bandwidth interconnects have made clusters of multi-core machines a common computing resource. Unfortunately, writing good parallel programs that efficiently utilize all the resources in such a cluster is still a major challenge. Various programming languages have been proposed as a solution to this problem, but are yet to be adopted widely to run performance-critical code mainly due to the relatively immature software framework and the effort involved in re-writing existing code in the new language. In this paper, we motivate and describe our initial study in exploring CUDA as a programming language for a cluster of multi-cores. We develop CUDA-For-Clusters (CFC), a framework that transparently orchestrates execution of CUDA kernels on a cluster of multi-core machines. The well-structured nature of a CUDA kernel, the growing popularity, support and stability of the CUDA software stack collectively make CUDA a good candidate to be considered as a programming language for a cluster. CFC uses a mixture of source-to-source compiler transformations, a work distribution runtime and a light-weight software distributed shared memory to manage parallel executions. Initial results on running several standard CUDA benchmark programs achieve impressive speedups of up to 7.5X on a cluster with 8 nodes, thereby opening up an interesting direction of research for further investigation.

‘Close as a kiss’: Gyn/Affection in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad

Margaret Atwood’s novella The Penelopiad (2005) seemingly celebrates Penelope’s agency in opposition to Homer’s myth in The Odyssey. However, the twelve murdered maids steal the book to suggest the possibility of what Janice Raymond calls gyn/affection, a female bonding based on the logic of emotion that, in Atwood’s revision, verges on Kristevan abjection, the sinister and the fantastic, and serves a cathartic effect not only in the maids but also in the reader. This essay aims to question the generally accepted empowerment of Atwood’s Penelope and celebrates the murdered maids as the locus of emotion, where marginal aspects of gender and class merge to weave a powerful metaphorical tapestry of popular and traditionally feminized literary genres that, in plunging into and embracing the semiotic realm, ultimately solidify into an eclectic but compact alternative tradition of women’s writing and myth-making.