Memory, photography, and the politics of abuse : the ambiguous nature of photography

Critical commentary on Australian artist Bill Henson’s work including the series Untitled 1994-1995 which represented Australia at the Venice Biennale is frequently framed within the discourse of the ‘white cube’. Its contextualisation in predominantly art historical and formalist perspectives tends to operate as a mechanism that denies affective and embodied dimensions of meaning making. Much the same could be said of the work of Marian Drew who uses road kill in her photographic still life works. However, the ‘distancing’ in these works is also achieved through historical allusion, which at the same time reactivates the fl ow of emotional empathy and desire. In this paper, I ask the question: “What distinguishes the work of these two artists with media images of torture?”

My attempt to address this question will involve a narrative re-reading of selected works of Henson and Drew incorporating notions of affect, identification, memory and desire as processes which operate non-discursively, but which are inseparable from memory and lived experiences. This will permit a double exposure of the work of these artists. Within a psychoanalytical context, my re-reading will be used to extend an understanding of the now familiar press and Internet images of the torture of Iraqi prisoners.

As a metaphor for desire and ideology, photography operates within manifest and latent registers. I will argue that certain forms of photographic practice may be understood in terms of a politics of abuse — instantiating an uneven differentiation of power between actants, the winning (forcefully or otherwise) of consent or complicity, the silencing of refusal of resistance and/or the incriminating of the ‘victim’ — whilst at the same time upholding the claim of verisimilitude and aesthetic or ethical intent. Critical engagement with such practices is crucial to an understanding of the relationship between institutional discourses, trauma and abuse in contemporary society.

Community school teacher education and the construction of pedagogical discourse in Papua New Guinea

Pedagogical discourse in Papua New Guinea (PNG) community schooling is mediated by a western styles education. The daily administration and organisation of school activity, graded teaching and learning, subject selection, content boundaries, teaching and assessment methods are all patterned after western schooling. This educational settlement is part of a legacy of German, British and Australian government and non-government colonialism that officially came to an end in 1975. Given the colonial heritage of schooling in PNG, this study is interested in exploring particular aspects of the degree of mutuality between local discourses and the discourses of a western styled pedagogy in post-colonial times, for the purpose of better informing community school teacher education practices. This research takes place at and in the vicinity of Madang Teachers College, a pre-service community school teachers college on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. The research was carried out in the context of the researcher’s employment as a contract lecturer in the English language Department between 1991-1993. As an in-situ study it was influenced by the roles of different participants and the circumstances in which data was gathered and constituted, data which was compatible with participants commitments to community school teacher education and community school teaching and learning. In the exploration of specific pedagogic practices different qualitative research approaches and perspectives were brought to bear in ways best suited to the circumstances of the practice. In this way analytical foci were more dictated by circumstances rather by design. The analytical approach is both a hermeneutic one where participants’ activities are ‘read like texts’, where what is said or written is interpreted against the background of other informing contexts and texts, to better understand how understandings and meanings are produced and circulated; and also a phenomenological one where participants’ perspectives are sought to better understand how pedagogical discursive formations are assimilated with the ‘self’. The effect of shifting between these approaches throughout the study is to build up a sense of co-authorship between researcher and participants in relation to particular aspects of the research. The research explores particular sites where pedagogic discourse is produced, re-produced, distributed, articulated, consumed and contested, and in doing so seeks to better understand what counts as pedagogical discourse. These are sites that are largely unexplored in these terms, in the academic literature on teacher education and community schooling in PNG. As such, they represent gaps in what is documented and understood about the nature of post-colonial pedagogy and teacher training. The first site is a grade two community school class involved in the teaching and early learning of English as the ‘official’ language of instruction. Here local discourses of solidarity and agreement are seen to be mobilised to make meaningful, what are for the teacher and children moments in their construction as post-colonial subjects. What in instructional terms may be seen as an English language lesson becomes, in the light of the research perspectives used, an exercise in the structuring of new social identities, relations and knowings, problematising autonomous views of teaching and learning. The second site explores this issue of autonomous (decontextualised) teaching and learning through an investigation of student teachers’ epistemological contextualisations of knowledge, teaching and learning. What is examined is the way such orientations are constructed in terms of ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ epistemological and pedagogical alignments, and, in terms of differently conceived notions of community, in a problematisation of the notion of community schooling. The third and fourth sites examine reflective accounts of student teachers’ pedagogic practices, understandings and subjectivities as they confront the moral and political economies and cultural politics of schooling in School Experiences and Practicum contexts, and show how dominant behaviourist and ‘rational/autonomous’ conceptions of what counts as teaching and learning are problematised in the way some students teachers draw upon wider social discourses to construct a dialogue with learners. The final site is a return to the community school where the discourse of school reports through which teachers, children and parents are constructed as particular subjects of schooling, are explored. Here teachers report children’s progress over a four year period and parents write back in conforming, confronting and contesting ways, in the midst of the ongoing enculturation of their children. In this milieu, schooling is shown to be a provider of differentiated social qualifications rather than a socially just and relevant education. Each of the above-mentioned studies form part of a research and pedagogic interest in understanding the ‘disciplining’ effects of schooling upon teacher education, the particular consequences of those effects, what is embraces, resisted and hidden. Each of the above sites is informed by various ‘intertexts’. The use of intertexts is designed to provide a multiplicity of views, actions and voices while enhancing the process of cross-cultural reading through contextualising the studies in ways that reveal knowledges and practices which are often excluded in more conventional accounts of teaching and learning. This research represents a journey, but not an aimless one. It is one which reads the ideological messages of coherence, impartiality and moral soundness of western pedagogical discourse against the school experiences of student-teachers, teachers, children and parents, in post-colonial Papua New Guinea, and finds them lacking.

Critique of "cultural fit" in relation to the recruitment of Indian information technologists for the Y2K project in Australia

In this study of intercultural communication, I investigate the multi-faceted meaning of the expression " cultural fit " in the sense that it is used by recruiters when shortlisting Indian information technologists to fill skills shortages for the Y2K project in Australia. The data is in the form of ten videotaped interviews in Bangalore and the recruiter commentary on those tapes in Melbourne. A crucial decision to be made by recruiters in any shortlisting process is " How will the candidate fit into the workplace?" This question becomes more problematical when applied to overseas-trained professionals. I take a critical approach, drawing principally on the research traditions of linguistics where studies of intercultural communication and workplace interaction intersect, employing chiefly the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis and Interactional Sociolinguistics and the more abstract notions of Bourdieu. A bridge between these different discourse approaches is provided by Sarangi & Roberts < 1999 < who show the connection between the larger institutional order and interactional routines, through an elaboration of frontstage talk and backstage talk following Goffman < 1959 < . An analysis of the interviews < frontstage talk < reveals "cultural fit" to involve a knowledge of institutional talk, in particular, directness. The recruiter commentary < backstage talk < draws attention to issues of intelligibility, body language, technical expertise and workplace values. the study shows that Indian Information Technologists have "partial fit" in that they possess technical fit but do not demonstrate, or lack the opportunity to demonstrate in the interview, Australian workplace values such as small talk, humour and informality. The recruiter judgments were fleeting and apart from checking for intelligibility, were made on the basis of candidates' body language thus highlighting its importance and its relative absence from the discourse approaches mentioned above. This study shows clearly that there is room for more communicative flexibility on the part of all the stakeholders.

International power transitions, critical realism, and the rise of China

This thesis employs the philosophy of critical realism to develop an innovative theory and methodology for the study of international power transitions. The theory is then applied in a future-oriented case analysis to enrich explanation and understanding of a major real world policy challenge - the rise of China.

Terrify and control: the politics of risk society

The article presents information on the idea of risk management. The origins of the contemporary constructions of risk are found in the seventeenth century, with the development of maritime insurance. In the context of maritime trading, risk came to be seen in terms of the balance between acquisitive opportunities and potential dangers and calculations of future loss of a ship or cargo. Today perceptions of risk affect our actions and strategies in areas of our life as diverse as health, parenting, crime prevention, recreation and travel. Public policy tends to be focused around risk avoidance and risk management, particularly in areas of child protection and aged care. While most of the discussions of risk have focused on risks as bads in society, risk has also been identified as a good. Risk is deemed a good when it challenges people to think differently and creatively. From a neo-liberal perspective risk opens up opportunities for unleashing of entrepreneurial capacity. In the context of the modernist commitment to the idea that people have the potential to control their own destiny, identification of threats and dangers can energize people to be adventurous. The discourse of risk has framed all the reports of the outbreaks of new strains of infection and includes instructions on how to recognize the risk assessments of its spread and instructions on how to avoid its spread.

Patient or consumer? The colonization of the psychiatric clinic

Information is given a privileged place in the psychiatric clinic, as illustrated by the prevalence and volume of data to be collected and forms to be completed by psychiatric nurses. Information though is different to knowledge. The present paper argues that information is part of a managerial discourse that implies commodification whereas knowledge is part of a clinical discourse that allows room for the suffering of the patient. Information belongs to the discourse of managerialism, one that positions the patient as customer/consumer and in doing so renders them unsuffering. The patient's suffering is silenced by their construction as a consumer. The discourse of managerialism seeks a complete data set of information. By way of contrast, another discourse, that of psychoanalysis offers the institution the idea that there are always holes, gaps, and uncertainty. The idea of uncertainty, gaps, things remaining unknown and a limit sits uncomfortably with the dominant discourse of managerialism; one that demands no limits, complete data sets, and many satisfied customers. This market model of managerialism denies the potential of the therapeutic relationship; that something curative might be produced via the transference. In addition, the managerialist discourse potentially positions the patient as both illegitimate and unsuffering.

Responding to terrorism through networks at sites of critical infrastructure : a case study of Australian airport security networks

The importance of effective multilateral security networks is widely recognised in Australia and internationally as being essential to facilitate the large-scale sharing of information required to respond to the threat of terrorism. Australian national security agencies are currently constructing networks in order to bring the diverse national and international security agencies together to achieve this. This paper examines this process of security network formation in the area of critical infrastructure protection, with particular emphasis on airport security. We address the key issues and factors shaping network formation and the dynamics involved in network practice. These include the need for the networks to extend membership beyond the strictly defined elements of national security; the integration of public and private ‘nodes’ in counter-terrorism ‘networks’; and the broader ‘responsibilisation’ of the private sector and the challenges with ‘enabling’ them in counter-terrorism networks. We argue that the need to integrate public and private agencies in counter-terrorism networks is necessary but faces considerable organisational, cultural, and legal barriers.

Re-thinking multiculturalism: performing the Cronulla beach riot

Since 11 September 2001, Australia’s race relations have been an issue of significant cultural concern, particularly relations between Anglo-Celtic and Middle-Eastern Australians. Riots on Cronulla Beach, Sydney, in December 2005 heightened this concern. This paper looks at the events at Cronulla and the debates they catalysed about race relations in Australia, and examines how these discourses have been shaped by arguments from both the Right and the Left. Informed by the discourse of critical multiculturalism, we examine several performance-based arts activities that made the riots their subject matter and argue that these arts practices reflect a larger cultural concern about the currency of traditional forms of multiculturalism, and promote instead an emphasis on understanding racial conflict as a critical negotiation over shared territories and values.

The experiences of families of critically ill patients in Greece: A social constructionist grounded theory study

Background: The experiences of patients’ families in intensive care units (ICUs) are of international concern. In Greece however, adequate attention has not been paid to this issue.

Objective: To explore the experiences of critical care patients’ families in Greece.

Setting: The intensive care units of 3 general district hospitals in the area of Athens, Greece.

Methodology: The social constructionist version of grounded theory was used. In-depth interviews with 25 relatives of critically ill patients were carried out, and participant and non-participant observation was used to cross-validate the data obtained.

Results: Seven major categories were identified, with 32 components across all categories. The experiences of families revolved around the two core categories of “Intense Emotions” and “Vigilant Attendance”. The study conceptualised two new categories in this field, “Religiosity” and “Loss of Intimacy” and enhanced the category “Vigilant Attendance”. Three further categories were identified, namely “Caring”, “Dignity” and “Information”. The various interrelationships between the categories were also examined.

Conclusions: The study has examined the experience of Greek patients’ families from a qualitative perspective and suggests that major changes need to be made in terms of management and support.

Discrimination of educational outcomes between differing levels of critical care programmes by selected

Objective: This study was designed to prioritise educational outcomes for three levels of postgraduate speciality critical care nursing programmes.

Background: Postgraduate speciality education has proliferated within Australia over the past 20 years. However, there is little agreement regarding the expected characteristics, or relevant priorities, of these characteristics of graduates successfully completing these programmes of study.

Method: This study used a mixed-method approach comprising two phases. Initially a survey was mailed to volunteers between March and June 2005 to obtain priorities in educational outcomes for graduates of critical care programmes. This was followed by a stakeholder focus group in May 2006 to refine expected outcomes.

Results: Survey respondents rated educational outcomes that described professional and legal aspects of practice to ensure safe patient care as highest priority for programme graduates. Although most educational outcome statements were considered important for graduates from all levels of courses, increasing levels of practice was described for increasingly higher levels of programmes from Graduate Certificate to Masters Degree.

Conclusion: This study provides an emerging description of the priorities of critical care nursing programmes, with priority given to professional and legal aspects of practice. Further delineation of priorities is necessary to inform ongoing educational development.

Visualisation of critical infrastructure failure

The paper explores the complexity of critical infrastructure and critical infrastructure failure (CIF), real life examples are used to discuss the complexity involved. The paper then discusses what Visualisation is and how Visualisation can be applied to a security situation, in particular critical infrastructure. The paper concludes by discussing the future direction of the research.

Studies in supervisory practice : the effectiveness of the practicum in teacher education in the Northern Territory

In this thesis we descend into the swampy lowlands to meet with student-teachers and their supervisors and observe them working together at different sites across the Top End of Australia. In the process we discover the multiple relationships that comprise the practicum text and the discomforting untidiness and unwieldiness, as well as the awkwardness of complexity, which surrounds research into supervisory practice. The thesis demonstrates the need to attend to the subjectivities of the participants and highlights the conflicting attitudes, beliefs, interests, and desires which are only partially realised or understood. It moves us beyond language to the sentient world of anger, love, disgust, hope, fear, despair, joy, anguish, and pain and we become immersed in a murky, incoherent, interior world of hints, shadows, and unfamiliar sounds, a world of lost innocence and conflict in which knowledge is truly embodied. Encompassing a view of supervision as moral praxis, particular attention was given to the care and protection of the self and a romanticist conception of the self was seen to predominate. The thesis demonstrates the part played by positioning and agency in the process of subjectification, the importance of emotional and relational bonding in the emergence of collegiality, the tactics of power employed by supervisors, the struggle for personal autonomy, the presence of anxiety induced by failure to pro vide feedback, the inculcation of guilt, and the complex interplay of age-related and gender effects. Attention is also given to the degree to which supervisors adopt reflective and constructivist approaches to their work. The stories reveal that supervision is much more than advising student-teachers on curriculum content, resource availability and lesson presentation. It is a process of interiority in which supervisors may need to provide emotional support in the face of displacement and disorientation, and assume the role of an abiding presence, someone capable of imaginative introjection, someone who ‘knows’. Particular attention is paid to the language of supervision which was marked by indirection, diffidence, imprecision, irony, and understatement. At the same time, the agonistic nature of language associated with the politics of the personal is made apparent. Whilst in the opinion of Liaison Lecturers, context-of-site did not appear to matter as far as acquiring teaching competence was concerned, the failure to attend to context-of-site affected how student-teachers engaged with difference and diversity. In spite of attempts to contest the myths of Aboriginal education and interrupt the discourse of impoverishment, colonialist attitudes and resistance to liberatory education persisted. The thesis ends with suggestions for alternatives to the traditional practicum and discusses the introduction of Field-Based Teacher Education into Northern Territory schools.

The other side of social exclusion : interrogating the role of the privileged in reproducing inequality

As the chapters in this book demonstrate, social exclusion is a key concept used to understand various forms of inequality in contemporary capitalist societies. I argue in this chapter that while the concept of social exclusion has been important in illustrating the structural dimensions of unequal social relations and examining the costs of those relations for excluded groups, it has done little to address those of us who benefit most from existing social divisions and inequalities. Nor do most of the writings on social exclusion examine how these inequalities are reproduced by and through the daily practices and life-style pursuits of privileged groups.

In this chapter I will interrogate the concept of privilege as the other side of social exclusion and will argue that the lack of critical interrogation of the position of the privileged side of social divisions allows the privileged to reinforce their dominance. I aim to make privilege more visible and consider the extent to which those who are privileged can overcome their own self interest in the maintenance of dominance to enable them to challenge it.

Being philosophical regarding the evidence of 'what works'.

In this paper I am arguing that the debate regarding ‘what works’ in education practice should become more philosophical. By becoming more philosophical professional educators will be enabled to further recognise how unscientific and undemocratic the research which claims to represent ‘what works’ currently is by understanding more clearly the nature of its ‘evidence-base’ and its relation to education. This paper is structured into three parts. The first will address the philosophical aspect which is intrinsic to the discourse of education itself. The second section will offer a differentiation between empiricism and science which is important if we are to recognise the limitations of empirical ‘evidence’ regarding ‘what works’. The third and final section will draw upon Biesta’s notion of the ‘democratic deficit’ to make the case that if the evidence regarding ‘what works’ is only empirical rather than scientific then it is not the sort of evidence appropriate to the discourse of education.

The role of the medical emergency team in end-of-life care : a multicenter, prospective, observational study

Objective: To investigate the role of medical emergency teams in end-of-life care planning.

Design: One month prospective audit of medical emergency team calls.

Setting: Seven university-affiliated hospitals in Australia, Canada, and Sweden.

Patients: Five hundred eighteen patients who received a medical emergency team call over 1 month.

Interventions: None.

Measurements and Main Results: There were 652 medical emergency team calls in 518 patients, with multiple calls in 99 (19.1%) patients. There were 161 (31.1%) patients with limitations of medical therapy during the study period. The limitation of medical therapy was instituted in 105 (20.3%) and 56 (10.8%) patients before and after the medical emergency team call, respectively. In 78 patients who died with a limitation of medical therapy in place, the last medical emergency team review was on the day of death in 29.5% of patients, and within 2 days in another 28.2%. Compared with patients who did not have a limitation of medical therapy, those with a limitation of medical therapy were older (80 vs. 66 yrs; p < .001), less likely to be male (44.1% vs. 55.7%; p .014), more likely to be medical admissions (70.8% vs. 51.3%; p < .001), and less likely to be admitted from home (74.5% vs. 92.2%, p < .001). In addition, those with a limitation of medical therapy were less likely to be discharged home (22.4% vs. 63.6%; p < .001) and more likely to die in hospital (48.4% vs. 12.3%; p < .001). There was a trend for increased likelihood of calls associated with limitations of medical therapy to occur out of hours (51.0% vs. 43.8%, p .089).

Conclusions: Issues around end-of-life care and limitations of medical therapy arose in approximately one-third of calls, suggesting a mismatch between patient needs for end-of-life care and resources at participating hospitals. These calls frequently occur in elderly medical patients and out of hours. Many such patients do not return home, and half die in hospital. There is a need for improved advanced care planning in our hospitals, and to confirm our findings in other organizations.