Cultural connections across time and place : Wardell's late 19th century Genazzano FCJ College Kew

The Catholic Church was profoundly affected by the 1872 Victorian Education Act, which made education secular, compulsory and free, and led to the withdrawal of state aid to religious schools. In order for the Church to run its own schools, it had to look overseas for help and invited religious teaching orders, such as the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJs) to set up schools in Victoria, Australia. In many instances purpose built buildings were designed by architects. William Wardell was well established in private practice in Sydney when he designed the new Convent and School, Kew, Victoria, for the FCJ Sisters, in the late 1880s. Building commenced just before the crash of Marvellous Melbourne. Less than half of the total concept of Wardell’s original plan was built. It opened for business in April 1891. Today this building forms the heart of the contemporary Genazzano FCJ College Kew. Many histories intersect in this commission. The vision for Catholic education in Victoria in the late 19th century is critical. The FCJs charism and their experience of teaching in Europe, in France, England, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland, provides a model for their work in Australia. At this time the importance of architecture to society is made manifest in education and its demands on building: if learning is valued then buildings should reflect this, for public buildings can shape morality. Wardell was trained as a Gothic Revival architect and his building participates in a broader medieval and Gothic tradition. Wardell’s original plan for this late Victorian Gothic style asymmetrical three-storeyed building, was designed to integrate a convent, school, chapel, and dormitories. This paper considers architectural history from diverse perspectives, educational, social, religious, economic and political, recognising the complexity of this project and the people who played a part in its conception and realisation.

East and West, past and present : rekindle old principles for new management practices

This paper explores the sayings and stories of the ancient Chinese philosophers Guanzi, Hanfeizi, Xunzi and Yanzi. Their way of ruling the state and managing the people are analysed and discussed in line with thoughts from the mainstream and modern Western management gurus, such as Warren Bennis, Peter Drucker, Mary Parker Follett, Douglas McGregor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Elton Mayo, and Jeffrey Pfeffer. Striking similarities call for addressing key issues in human resource management. East and west thinkers across 3000 years are identified. The principles-based ruling and management were found difficult to be taken seriously in ancient times as it is today. However, these principles must be rekindled to protect organisations and the world from mischievous behaviour that has caused much human suffering.

Creating a dialogue across time in Athens : the new Acropolis museum and the Parthenon

A visit to the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, in late June 2010 set in train a number of questions and inspired a research project to begin to unravel something of the complex relationship between ancient and modern architecture on the Athenian Acropolis. Research was guided by the question: how does the contemporary museum, designed by Swiss born architect Bernard Tschumi in collaboration with local Greek architect Michalis Photiadis relate to the ancient Acropolis and the fifth century BC Parthenon, whose sculptures it was to house? A critical literature review was augmented by design analysis and field experience. This paper documents the resulting critical thematic investigations of the Parthenon, the Acropolis and the New Museum through siting, materiality and light, alignment, visual connections, through exploitation of the unique Attic light, orchestrated movement and considered juxtapositions. Research has revealed that Tschumi’s deliberate strategy of creating a dialogue between his building and the ancient monuments holds the key to his design intent, to creatively exploring contemporary architecture at the edge of such a physically and culturally dominant ancient plateau.

Aquaculture : a newly emergent food production sector-and perspectives of its impacts on biodiversity and conservation

The fisheries sector in the course of the last three decades have been transformed from a developed country to a developing country dominance. Aquaculture, the farming of waters, though a millennia old tradition during this period has become a significant contributor to food fish production, currently accounting for nearly 50 % of global food fish consumption; in effect transforming our dependence from a hunted to a farmed supply as for all our staple food types. Aquaculture and indeed the fisheries sector as a whole is predominated in the developing countries, and accordingly the development strategies adopted by the sector are influenced by this. Aquaculture also being a newly emerged food production sector has being subjected to an increased level of public scrutiny, and one of the most contentious aspects has been its impacts on biodiversity. In this synthesis an attempt is made to assess the impacts of aquaculture on biodiversity. Instances of major impacts on biodiversity conservation arising from aquaculture, such as land use, effluent discharge, effects on wild populations, alien species among others are highlighted and critically examined. The influence of paradigm changes in development strategies and modern day market forces have begun to impact on aquaculture developments. Consequently, improvements in practices and adoption of more environmentally friendly approaches that have a decreasing negative influence on biodiversity conservation are highlighted. An attempt is also made to demonstrate direct and or indirect benefits of aquaculture, such as through being a substitute to meet human needs for food, particularly over-exploited and vulnerable fish stocks, and for other purposes (e.g. medicinal ingredients), on biodiversity conservation, often a neglected entity.

Scar that binds : American culture and the Vietnam War

In The Scar That Binds, Keith Beattie examines the central metaphors of the Vietnam War and their manifestations in American culture and life. Blending history and cultural criticism in a lucid style, this provocative book discusses an ideology of unity that has emerged through widespread rhetorical and cultural references to the war. A critique of this ideology reveals three dominant themes structured in a range of texts: the "wound," "the voice" of the Vietnam veteran, and "home." The analysis of each theme draws on a range of sources, including film, memoir, poetry, written and oral history, journalism, and political speeches.

ICT to enhance the triangle of life : the soil, the seed, and the life-giver farmer

This paper reports on the outcomes of an ICT enabled social sustainability project “Green Lanka1” trialled in the Wilgamuwa village, which is situated in the Dambulla district of Sri Lanka. The main goals of the project were focused towards the provision of information about market prices, transportation options, agricultural decision support and modern agriculture practices of the farmer communities to improve their livelihood with the effective use of technologies. The project used Web and Mobile (SMS) enabled systems. The Green Lanka project was sponsored by the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka under the Institutional Capacity Building Programme (ICBP) grant scheme which was sponsored by the World Bank. Six hundred families in Wilgamuwa village participated in the project activities. The project was designed, executed and studied through an Action Research approach. The lessons learned through the project activities provide an important understanding of the complex interaction between different stakeholders in the process of implementation of ICT enabled solutions within digitally divided societies. The paper analyses the processes used to reduce the resistance to change and improved involvement of farmer communities in ICT enabled projects. It also analyses the interaction between stakeholders involved in design and implementation of the project activities to improve the chances of project success.

Greeting the state: entanglements of custom and modernity on Papua New Guinea’s Rai Coast

In May 2010, a delegation of Papua New Guinean politicians travelled to a remote village on the country’s north coast to receive a petition against proposed mine activity. The encounter between the politicians and the villagers who had invited them involved two very different articulations of power and authority, and two competing cartographies of centrality and marginality. The encounter speaks to the need to approach the concepts of custom and modernity not only as powerful discourses which are taken up and performed in local places, but also as analytical descriptors of actually existing patterns of practice and meaning which are structurally and ontological distinct. At the same time, however, analysis of the encounter between villagers and politicians makes clear that this structural difference cannot be written straightforwardly onto the social bodies of opposing collectivities. Rather, customary and modern forms of social relations exist in dynamic and ambivalent entanglements, pulled into contingent and differently weighted configurations by actors in local places.

At the crossroads : the relationship between heritage and intellectual property in traditional knowledge protection in Southeast Asia

Matters related to traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) are 'at the crossroads' in various respects. From a legal perspective, TK is discussed in several international forums and is at the intersection of several already established or still emerging fields of law. Of particular interest here is the relationship between heritage and intellectual property. It is discussed in international diplomatic negotiations on intellectual property (IP) protection for TK/TCEs in the context of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and in the context of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Geographically, TK is also located 'at the crossroads'. It is linked to cultural spaces associated with certain peoples and certain territories and these are often not identical with the borders of nation states. Such borders are a colonial artefact that often fails to reflect the ethno-geographical reality of a region. The divergent national and ethnic boundaries create overlapping claims in situations that may be further complicated by both ancient and modern transmigrations and/or shared heritage. The Southeast Asian region, which is the geographical focus of this article, has been at the crossroads of trade and religious and cultural influences for centuries and it provides, therefore, excellent examples for such overlapping cultural spaces and resulting conflicting or competing claims. The article examines the legal and geographical intersections that have contributed to the current situation and the relationship between cultural and intellectual property in regional claims as well as examples of disputes that have arisen and the reasons for them.

Grief and Dharma: Suffering, empathy and moral imaginative intuition

The article explores recent thinking on the 'hard emotions', in particular, grief, sorrow and mourning, and link the challenging inner and social condition to the calling of Dharma (righteous law, normatively worthy action). Drawing from some comparative work (academic and personal) in the study of grief, mourning and empathy, we shall discuss the treatment of this tragic pathos in classical Indic literature and modern-day psychotherapy. We shall demonstrate, despite being secularised, these emotions continue to serve as the sites of imagination at a much more personal and inter-personal level that are not antithetical to a Dharmic (sacred) quest despite their haunting presence even when 'the four walls collapse around one in the intensity of duḥkha (suffering, sorrow).

East and West, past and present: rekindle old principles for new management practices

This paper explores the sayings and stories of the ancient Chinese philosophers Guanzi, Hanfeizi, Xunzi and Yanzi. Their way of ruling the state and managing the people are analysed and discussed in line with thoughts from the mainstream and modern Western management gurus, such as Warren Bennis, Peter Drucker, Mary Parker Follett, Douglas McGregor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Elton Mayo, and Jeffrey Pfeffer. Striking similarities call for addressing key issues in human resource management. East and west thinkers across 3000 years are identified. The principles-based ruling and management were found difficult to be taken seriously in ancient times as it is today. However, these principles must be rekindled to protect organisations and the world from mischievous behaviour that has caused much human suffering.