Hyphenated Australia : putting intercultural identity on the conceptual map

Interculturality and intercultural identity is a local effect of the global movement and mixing of people, and those of intercultural identities constitute the fastest growing sector of the Australian population. In an age of globalisation and diversification, what does identity mean for those situated in-between governing notions of racial/ethnic formations, and how is intercultural identity experienced? For those informed by (at least) two cultures, what does multiculturalism, ethnicity and 'Australianness' mean, and where are these individuals positioned in relation to these structures? These questions have critical implications for the Australian nation. Within Australian discourses, interculturality and intercultural identity, in particular, has historically been excluded, rendered invisible. This dissertation is, therefore, one of facilitating visibility. Using the hyphens as a conceptual tool, I argue that in this age of accelerating globalisation the hyphens both makes visible and is made visible by interculturality. The hyphens is that grey and fluid site of intersection between structures of identity and is characterised by liminality - contestation, uncertainty, fundamentally ambivalence. Experiences of liminality, however, dissolve in any given time, opening up new terrain for creativity. Some of these emerging and creative forms of identity, as instigated by interculturality, are explored. Based on interviews with 20 daughters (and their mothers) from intercultural unions, this dissertation places intercultural identity on the Australian conceptual map and analyses the unique position occupied by those with an intercultural identity in their relationship with governing discursive formations of race/ethnicity, embodiment, nation and culture. In essence, the dissertation is concerned with examining the ways in which discursive identity structures intersect with subjective experience, and with the ways in which those with an intercultural identity negotiate those structures and their social relations. This examination raises the fundamental question: is the modernist notion of the material realities of individual lives reconcilable with the poststructural notion of identity as always located in discourse. This modernist/postmodernist tension permeates the dissertation.

Fragments of a map ; an exegesis concerning the novel, Fragments of a map

The novel explores the journey towards completion for two women and, through its concerns and structure, plays with the notion of research in the creative arts. The exegesis comments upon the concerns of the novel, and the writing and research processes.

Determining research significance in archaeological collections from historic sites

This thesis presents a model for assessing the research significance of Australian historical archaeological collections. It identifies the criteria, and provides step-by-step guidelines, for conducting such an assessment. The model is an important tool for managing and justifying the long term preservation of increasing numbers of archaeological collections.

Developing a collections management policy for the Ethnology Division of the National Museum, Monuments and Art Gallery of Botswana

The culture and political environments of Botswana influence the collections management policy of its' National Museum, Monuments and Art Gallery. The emphasis of this research is to make the museum relevent to the needs of the local people by developing more suitable ideas. The developed policy is intended to reflect these unique needs.

The idiosyncratic movement potential of the dancer's subject body in the work "Deep map"

An investigation into choreographic processes employed within contemporary modern dance. This involved the exploration of working methods used in the making of "Deep map" nos.1, 2 & 3, presented in Melbourne from 1997-2000. The focus of that method was the placement of the dancer as 'subject' whilst maintaining the role of the choreographer as 'auteur'.

Keeping treasures in testing times : special collections in the academic environment

“… university libraries, while differing in the specifics of their goals, generally embrace the obligation to collect, preserve, and make available primary source materials for both current scholarship and future research” (Hewitt 1998).

This paper explores some of the challenges faced by the Fryer Library, the special collections branch of the University of Queensland Library responsible for manuscripts and pictorial materials, as well as theses and rare books. The challenges are not dissimilar to those being met by other cultural agencies or institutions as well as other academic libraries. The challenges covered include collection development, access and preservation, making appropriate responses to the research imperative, as well as promotion of services and collections, and servicing the community at large. The paper outlines the research library context and concludes with experiences of cross-sectoral collaborations and future opportunities.

Molecular phylogenetic relationships between Albugo candida collections on the Brassicaceae in Australia

Recent phylogenetic analyses of Albugo candida using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (cox2) gene, the nuclear ribosomal RNA large subunit (LSU) gene and the nuclear ribosomal RNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene region have revealed significant genetic variation and led to the description of new species in the A. candida complex. This study examined the genetic diversity within Australian collections of A. candida from various Brassicaceae species in a range of geographic locations. Phylogenetic analysis of 31 Australian A. candida collections from 11 hosts using the rDNA ITS region, rDNA LSU region and cox2 mtDNA showed that the majority of Australian A. candida collections were the common form of A. candida. One collection from a common weed host, hairy bitter cress (Cardamine hirsuta), was found to belong to a previously reported but undescribed species, while three collections, also from C. hirsuta, were found to belong to a new undescribed species.

Recognition and response to human movement contained in motion capture data using the Self Organising Map

Neural Networks have been used successfully for recognition of human gestures in many applications including analysis of motion capture data. This paper investigates the potential for using the same methods for both recognition and synthesising responses in relation to movement contained in motion capture sequences.

An empirical study of neighbourhood decay in Kohonen's self organizing map

In this paper, empirical results are presented which suggest that size and rate of decay of region size plays a much more significant role in the learning, and especially the development, of topographic feature maps. Using these results as a basis, a scheme for decaying region size during SOM training is proposed. The proposed technique provides near optimal training time. This scheme avoids the need for sophisticated learning gain decay schemes, and precludes the need for a priori knowledge of likely training times. This scheme also has some potential uses for continuous learning.

A two stage vector quantization approach via self-organizing map

In this paper, a two-stage algorithm for vector quantization is proposed based on a self-organizing map (SOM) neural network. First, a conventional self-organizing map is modified to deal with dead codebooks in the learning process and is then used to obtain the codebook distribution structure for a given set of input data. Next, subblocks are classified based on the previous structure distribution with a prior criteria. Then, the conventional LBG algorithm is applied to these sub-blocks for data classification with initial values obtained via the SOM. Finally, extensive simulations illustrate that the proposed two-stage algorithm is very effective.

Beyond the topological map : developing alternate mappings in self organisation

The self organising map is a well established unsupervised
learning technique which is able to form sophisticated representations of an input data set. However, conventional Self Organising Map (SOM) algorithms are limited to the production of topological maps — that is, maps where distance between points on the map have a direct relationship to the Euclidean distance between the training vectors corresponding to those points.

It would be desirable to be able to create maps which form clusters on primitive attributes other than Euclidean distance; for example, clusters based upon orientation or shape. Such maps could provide a novel approach to pattern recognition tasks by providing a new method to associate groups of data.

In this paper, it is shown that the type of map produced by SOM algorithms is a direct consequence of the lateral connection strategy employed. Given this knowledge, a technique is required to establish the feasability of using an alternative lateral connection strategy. Such a technique is presented. Using this technique, it is possible to rule out lateral connection strategies that will not produce output states useful to the organisation process. This technique is demonstrated using conventional Laplacian interconnection as well as a number of novel interconnection strategies.