Vibrant, oppositional culture : the media and Australian political culture, 1880-1910

The notion that Australia has an entrenched “utilitarian political culture” has predominated in representations of political life and political culture in this country. Ostensibly, political life has been characterised above all by materialism and pragmatism, largely devoid of meaningful debate over ideas. There has, however, been a growing recognition that Australian political culture has been richer, more complex and less settled than commonly believed.

This paper examines the experience in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Australia, focussing on the role of the media in tandem with a burgeoning reading public as integral elements of a vibrant oppositional culture. Here, a passion for knowledge and self-improvement combined with a strong sense that cultivation of the mind was intrinsic to goals of moral, political and social development existed. The print media was centrally important in catering to and stimulating the interests, outlooks and aspirations of a diverse community of readers. Radical papers and journals jostled for attention alongside the mainstream press, supported by a spreading carpet of Mechanics Institutes and Schools of Arts, bookshops stocking a vast array of titles, and a comparatively large and increasingly professionalised literary-artistic intelligentsia.

Many different publics were being engaged and indeed constituted, from the very pragmatic to the strongly idealistic; from anarchists through to conservatives; from the strongly nationalistic through to those deeply loyal to God and Empire. Moreover, potentially quite complex patterns of understanding and attachment were being stimulated during this time. Taking clearer account of the media’s contribution to intellectual and literary pursuits during this period increases our understanding of the diverse and often contradictory traditions that have been part of Australian political culture.

The development of professional learning and a research culture in a primary school in Melbourne, Australia

This paper outlines the development a/professional/earning and a research culture at Benleigh West Primary School, which is located in a middle class suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Whilst leadership is widely dispersed at BWPS, as it is in other schools, from students to teachers to the Assistant Principal and Principal, the primary focus in this paper is on the Principal and the ways she has influenced the professional and research culture at the school. Evidence of a change in school climate is presented as are the steps taken to create and foster learning collaborative communities among the staff at BWPS.

Dies of culture and religion : India and Australia, from settlement to post/modern times

In historical sketches of India-Australia or Australia-India relations, the important dimensions of the cultural and religious connections from the shared colonial period and Gandhi's nationalist voice echoing in all corners of the Empire, through to the diasporic migration, settlement and temple culture, is largely overlooked. This essay intends the redress that absence in current research and contribute toward a critical appraisal of that rather 'esoteric' part of history, arguably still in its infancy. The story begins close to the early white settlement period to the aftermath of the events of 9/11 (2001 in New York) and Bali (2002). The focus will be on Hindus with some reference to Sikhs, Muslims, Sri Lankan Tamils, and migrants from the subcontinent, as the conduits for the particular Indian-Australian diasporic connection and 'spiritual diplomacy' being explored.

Popular culture, the 'victim' trope and queer youth analytics

This article offers a joint reading of two cultural texts that reflect the contest over victim-oriented characterizations of queer youth in contemporary culture. The first text is a representation of queer youth taken from the popular UK television series Shameless (2004). The second text is an online discussion about representations of gay and lesbian characters on television that was recently posted on the Queer Youth Network website. Through my reading of these two texts, I explore the rise of explicit mainstream representations of gay and lesbian characters and the emergence of an identifiable queer youth audience as key characteristics of the contemporary 'after-queer' moment. Through a reflection on the queer youth analytical techniques observable on the Queer Youth Network site, I conclude by outlining some key implications for future educational research in the field of youth, sexuality and popular culture.

Colonial feminism and Australian literary culture in Ethel and Lilian Turner's the Parthenon (1889–92)

The Parthenon is a unique example of a colonial Australian magazine published for girl readers by two aspirant writers, Ethel and Lilian Turner. In addition to its domestic content, typical of women's magazines, it also sought to contribute to nascent Australian literary culture. This article locates the Parthenon within the history of colonial women's publishing and literary culture, and situates its content within the context of the Woman Movement of the period. It reads the Parthenon's telling picture of young women's perceptions of colonial literary culture and of the need to balance literary aspirations with domestic responsibilities through the lens of the “expediency feminism” advocated by the Dawn, a women's magazine published by Louisa Lawson from 1888. The article argues that the Parthenon's superficially conservative opinion of women's supreme calling being in the home rather than the newspaper office or university library was in alignment with the arguments made by the Woman Movement to advocate for women's greater participation in the public sphere. The comparison of these contemporaneous monthly publications written and produced by women enables an understanding of the ways in which late nineteenth-century attempts to encourage women's careers and independence were grounded in domesticity.

Weaving a web: subaltern consumers, rising consumer culture, and television

Cultivation analysis suggests that television influences local cultures through its complex repertoire of images and narratives, which constitute a representation. Through a discursive analysis of television content in India we contend that rising material aspirations and consumer culture are significantly influenced by this medium. Dialectics of turmoil and tranquility mark this development for the working class population. On the one hand, there is domestication of unrest among subaltern groups, as they withdraw from collective political struggles to narrower and more tranquil forms of emulation and economism. On the other hand, these attempts at emulation have resulted in the poorer sections of society devoting their limited resources to aping a lifestyle well beyond their reach and further compromising their quality of life. The other pole of the dialectic is the increase in turmoil that results from tearing the traditional social fabric and support systems. This turmoil progressively manifests itself in increasing materialism and greater monetization of relationships for these subaltern groups.

Detection of Candida spp. in the vagina of a cohort of nulliparous pregnant women by culture and molecular methods: is there an association between maternal vaginal and infant oral colonisation?

BACKGROUND: Most studies describing vaginal Candida spp. in pregnancy focus on symptomatic vaginitis, rather than asymptomatic colonisation, and solely utilise microbiological culture. The extent to which asymptomatic vaginal carriage may represent a reservoir for infant oral colonisation has been highly debated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study formed part of the Candida and Staphylococcus Transmission Longitudinal Evaluation (CASTLE) study, in Melbourne, Australia, from 2009 to 2011 and used culture and molecular methods to examine vaginal swabs collected late in the third trimester of pregnancy for Candida spp. Oral swabs from infants were also examined using culture methods. RESULTS: Overall, 80 of 356 (22%) women were positive for Candida spp; the majority being Candida albicans (83%). Candida glabrata and other Candida spp. were also identified, but in much lower numbers. Molecular analysis identified numerous positive samples not detected by culture, including 13 cases of C. albicans. In addition, some positive samples only recorded to genus level by culture were accurately identified as either C. albicans or C. glabrata following molecular analyses. Eighteen infants recorded positive Candida spp. cultures, predominantly C. albicans. However, there were only four (25%) mother/infant dyads where C. albicans was detected. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides valuable data on asymptomatic colonisation rates of Candida spp. within an asymptomatic population of women late in pregnancy. The utilisation of molecular methods improved the rate of detection and provided a more accurate means for identification of non-albicans Candida spp. The low mother/infant colonisation rate suggests that non-maternal sources are likely involved in determining infant oral colonisation status.

Material culture and contested heritage in tourism

SummaryContestation is a central element of heritage tourism. This chapter examines issues of contestation in relation to material cultural heritage with special attention given to the built environment, and archaeological and architectural sites. The relationship between tourism and material heritage is characterised by contestation in multiple ways and different scales and includes concerns over values, over space, over materials, over meanings, and over ownership. Using examples drawn from emerging economies as well as more developed destinations the chapter emphasizes the need to pursue these issues through a number of analytical lenses that draw upon different conceptual understandings of heritage and tourism and pursue a range of methodological strategies capable of unearthing the complexities of the contested relationship between tourism and material culture.

The Kuhse-Singer euthanasia survey: why it fails to undermine the slippery slope argument - comparing apples and apples

A survey published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 1997 showed that the incidence of non-voluntary euthanasia in Australia was higher than in the Netherlands. Euthanasia is illegal in Australia, while it is openly practiced in the Netherlands. It has been suggested that the results of the survey undermine the slippery slope argument against legalising euthanasia. This is wrong. Although at the time of the survey, euthanasia was formally prohibited by the law in Australia, the medical and legal culture was such that doctors could practice euthanasia with impunity — in certain circumstances euthanasia by doctors was effectively condoned. This is in fact supported by the findings of the survey. The survey suggests that there were approximately 6,700 cases of euthanasia in Australia in the year from July 1994 to June 1995 — not one of which was prosecuted, let alone resulted in a conviction. Ultimately the survey merely shows that in a climate where voluntary euthanasia is tolerated, wide scale abuses (in the form of nonvoluntary euthanasia) occur. Paradoxically the results of the survey give further support to the slippery slope argument.

Prosecuting corporations and officers for industrial manslaughter-recent Australian developments

There have been concerns for some time about whether breaches of duty that cause a worker's death are appropriately dealt with under occupational health and safety legislation, or whether criminal prosecution is warranted in those cases involving recklessness or gross negligence. Defaulting employers are rarely prosecuted under existing criminal laws and there are serious doctrinal barriers to finding a corporation guilty of mens rea offences.
The Australian Capital Territory leads the way in Australia with the recent introduction of new criminal offences of industrial manslaughter for corporations and their senior officers. These laws rely on concepts of corporate liability based on organisational responsibility and corporate culture in the model Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) , thus avoiding the limitations of the identification doctrine. Other active Australian jurisdictions, whilst initially open to the notion of industrial manslaughter laws, have preferred to make changes to existing OHS laws to deal with the problem of workplace fatalities.
Whilst it has its limitations, and applies only in Australia's smallest jurisdiction, the Australian Capital Territory legislation reflects a commitment to treating workplace deaths with the seriousness they deserve, and making it easier to prosecute corporations whose operations are conducted recklessly or with gross negligence.

A few good men: psychoanalysis, Abu ghraib and (the) American right

This essay proffers a psychoanalytic reading of the events of Abu Ghraib as deeply symptomatic of changes in American foreign policy and political culture. The paper examines the Lacanian understanding of group formation developed by Slavoj Zizek in his work on politics and culture (in Part I), and then applies this understanding to the Abu Ghraib scandal (Part II). In Part III, implications of the analysis are elaborated, in terms of Zizek's contention that the contemporary "permissive society" engenders in subjects the desire for new forms of mastery or "moral clarity".

Finding a 'safe' place on the risk continuum: a case study of pregnancy and birthing in Lao PDR (Lao People's Democratic Republic)

This paper addresses two questions. Firstly: are the risk regimes faced, and perceived, by pregnant women in rural Lao PDR substantially different from those experienced by pregnant women in western societies? Secondly, if the Lao experiences and perceptions are different, can improvements in maternal health in Lao PDR be achieved without Laotians inheriting the risk regimes of late modernity experienced by many women in western societies? Secondary analysis is undertaken of data collected in 2005 for the evaluation of a pilot maternity waiting home in Bolikhan, Lao PDR. The results suggest significantly different risk perceptions and experiences between Lao and western communities, based on contrasting views of embodiment, identity construction and cosmologies. In the Lao rural communities studied, there is little evidence yet of 'risk society' despite the introduction of western technologies and practices to improve maternal mortality and morbidity. It is argued that 'risk society' can be avoided.

Evaluating health promotion in schools: a case study of design, implementation and results from the Hong Kong Healthy Schools Award Scheme

Health promoting schools (HPS) and Healthy Schools Award Schemes from a number of countries have demonstrated positive changes in children’s health behaviours and the culture and organisation of the school. The Hong Kong Healthy Schools Award Scheme (HKHSA) aims to promote staff development, parental education, involvement of the whole school community, and linkage with different stakeholders to improve the health and well-being of the pupils, parents and staff, and the broader community, supported by a system to monitor the achievement. This concept is very much in line with the research literature on school effectiveness and improvement. The indicators examined to evaluate the success of the HKHSA reflect outcomes related to both health and education and are not limited to changes in population health status. The early results demonstrated significant improvements in various aspects of student health and also improvement in school culture and organisation. The evaluation framework described in this paper and data collected to assess how schools perform in the HKHSA scheme, provides insight into how HPSs could lead to better outcomes for both education and health.

Intra-organisational attitudes to marketing and the Implementation of the marketing concept in nonprofit organisations

This paper explores the market orientation and marketing culture of all staff within a nonprofit organisation to ascertain the extent to which members of the organisation support or create barriers to the implementation of the marketing concept. Of particular interest in this research is the role of nonprofit organisations, which are often thought of as having a production, rather than marketing focus. Consequently, there may be cultural and behavioural conflicts between, for example, marketing personnel and production personnel. This paper provides a brief overview of the existing literature in the field of market orientation and marketing culture. After detailing the general research design, a summary of the results of 11 initial focus groups, consisting of all staff in one nonprofit organisation, is presented. The findings indicate that while all areas within this organisation are committed to marketing, there are various interpretations of marketing and how it should be implemented.

Who is the 'lovable larikan'? : an historical inquiry using biography and autobiography

Every profession has its myth that defines its self-identity and work culture. For nursing, it's Florence Nightingale; for theatre, Homer and Shakespeare; for medicine, Hippocrates. Australian journalism too, has its myth - that of the hard-working, hard-drinking, aggressive and defiant 'Lovable Larrikin'. But unlike other professions, Australian journalism's 'myth' cannot be pinned down to one historical figure. It is therefore difficult to investigate the 'real' story behind the myth. Using an open-coding analysis of biographical and autobiographical material, this paper aims to detect larrikin-like characteristics among early Australian journalists (Colonial era to, and including, the interwar period), to identify significant people and events that developed larrikinism as a specific Australian journalism identity.