Beckett and Bion: The (Im)patient voice in psychotherapy and literature

This book focuses on Samuel Beckett’s psychoanalytic psychotherapy with W. R. Bion as a central aspect both of Beckett’s and Bion’s radical transformations of literature and psychoanalysis. The recent publication of Beckett’s correspondence during the period of his psychotherapy with Bion provides a starting place for an imaginative reconstruction of this psychotherapy, culminating with Bion’s famous invitation to his patient to dinner and a lecture by C.G. Jung. Following from the course of this psychotherapy, Miller and Souter trace the development of Beckett’s radical use of clinical psychoanalytic method in his writing, suggesting the development within his characters of a literary-analytic working through of transference to an idealized auditor known by various names, apparently based on Bion. Miller and Souter link this pursuit to Beckett’s breakthrough from prose to drama, as the psychology of projective identification is transformed to physical enactment. They also locate Bion’s memory and re-working of his clinical contact with Beckett, who figures as the 'patient zero' of Bion’s pioneering postmodern psychoanalytic clinical theories.

This voice: the poetry of knowing and not knowing

This essay is concerned with how poetry—reading it, writing it, and adapting it—relies on a dialectic between knowing and not knowing, a flickering movement between understanding and ignorance that is central to the production of poetry and its effects. To illustrate this, I discuss my poem, ‘This Voice’, and its subsequent adaptation into what I call a ‘poetry soundtrack’, a form of digital audio poetry employing poetry, music, and sound design. The essay illustrates the centrality of the knowing/not-knowing dialectic to poetry by considering the following with regard to my works: the thematics of nescience; the liminal and virtual space of interpretation and play (the latter as theorised by D.W. Winnicott); ‘nocturnal poetics’; and sampling (both sonic and lexical).

Voice, post-structural representation and the subjectivity of ‘included’ students

Aligned with the broader movement from structuralism to the post-structuralisms [Lather, P. 2013. “Methodology-21: What Do We Do in the Afterward?” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 634–645; St. Pierre, E. A. 2009. “Afterword: Decentering Voice in Qualitative Inquiry.” In Voice in Qualitative Inquiry: Challenging Conventional, Interpretive, and Critical Conceptions in Qualitative Research, edited by A. Y. Jackson and L. A. Mazzei, 221–236. London: Routledge; St. Pierre, E. A. 2013. “The Posts Continue: Becoming.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 646–657], research in disability studies for the past two decades has found ‘the potholes’ [Miller, L., J. B. Whalley, and I. Stronach. 2012. “From Structuralism to Poststructuralism.” In Research Methods in the Social Sciences, edited by B. Somekh and C. Lewin. London: SAGE] of disability rights scholarship. In this paper, I offer a critical research framework in the field of disability studies in education that is theoretical, political and personal. Concentrating on the positioning of disability, I draw on the methodological tools of post-structural representation, subjectivity and constructivist grounded theory to study how discursive practices within (and around) secondary schools shape ‘included’ disabled subjects. In the paper I develop this framework and then demonstrate its application in ongoing research that critically counters the conventions that marginalize particular students in schools.

A low overhead scaled equalized harmonic-based voice authentication system

With the increasing trends of mobile interactions, voice authentication applications are in a higher demand, giving rise to new rounds of research activities. Authentication is an important security mechanism that requires the intended communication parties to present valid credentials to the communication network. In a stronger sense, all the involved parties are required to be authenticated to one another (mutual authentication). In the voice authentication technique described in this paper, the voice characteristics of an intended individual wishing to take part in a communication channel will be classified and processed. This involves a low overhead voice authentication scheme, which features equalization and scaling of the voice frequency harmonics. The performance of this system is discussed in a Labview 8.5 visual development environment, following a complete security analysis. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trust in management: the role of employee voice arrangements and perceived managerial opposition to unions

This study examines the relationship between employee voice arrangements and employees’ trust in management using data from the 2007 Australian Worker Representation and Participation Survey of 1,022 employees. Drawing on social exchange theory and employee relations literature, we test hypotheses concerning the relationships between direct and union voice arrangements, perceived managerial opposition to unions and employees’ trust in management. Consistent with our predictions, after controlling for a range of personal, job and workplace characteristics, regression analyses indicated that direct voice arrangements were positively related to employees’ trust in management. Union voice arrangements and perceived managerial opposition to unions were negatively related to trust in management. The article concludes by highlighting the study’s implications for management practice and avenues for further research.

Employee voice and job satisfaction in Australia: the centrality of direct voice

This study examines the relationship between employee voice and job satisfaction using data from the 2007 Australian Workplace Representation Survey (AWRPS) of 1,022 employees. Drawing on human resource management and industrial relations literature, we test hypotheses concerning the relationship between direct and union voice arrangements and job satisfaction. This relationship represents a gap in the literature, which is important from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Controlling for a range of personal, job, and workplace characteristics, regression analyses suggest that although evidence of voice complementarity exists, direct voice appears to be the central voice arrangement underpinning employees’ job satisfaction. The article concludes by highlighting the study’s implications for management practice and identifi es avenues for further research.

Industrial relations climate, employee voice and managerial attitudes to unions: an Australian study

This article examines how employee voice arrangements and managerial attitudes to unions shape employees’ perceptions of the industrial relations climate, using data from the 2007 Australian Worker Representation and Participation Survey (AWRPS) of 1,022 employees. Controlling for a range of personal, job and workplace characteristics, regression analyses demonstrate that employees’ perceptions of the industrial relations climate are more likely to be favourable if they have access to direct-only voice arrangements. Where management is perceived by employees to oppose unions (in unionized workplaces), the industrial relations climate is more likely to be reported as poor. These findings have theoretical implications, and significant practical implications for employers, employees, unions and the government.

The contours of employee voice in SMEs: the importance of context

This article develops a context-sensitive approach to analyse how and why voice operates in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an area that remains under-theorised and under-researched. By building on a priori frameworks with proven ability to unpack complexity and take account of the wider context of SMEs, this article explores how resources (human and social capital) and constraints (product market, labour market and strategic orientation) interact to shape voice practices. The article finds significant differences between 'reported' compared with 'actual' practices in situ, and identifies different types of firms ('strategic market regulation', 'strategic market-led' and 'non-strategic market-led') along with the factors that influence the form and practice of voice. Overall, the article argues that researchers should further pursue research that appreciates the layered nature of ontology and the role played by firm context to explain complex organisational phenomena, if we are to advance our understanding of voice practices in SMEs and beyond.

Gender and public relations: critical perspectives on voice, image and identity

Although there is a small body of feminist scholarship that problematizes gender in public relations, gender is a relatively undefined area of thinking in the field and there have been few serious studies of the socially constructed roles defining women and men in public relations. This book is positioned within the critical public relations stream. Through the prism of 'gender and public relations', it examines not only the manipulatory, but also the emancipatory, subversive and transformatory potential of public relations for the construction of meaning. Its focus is on the dynamic interrelationships arising from public relations activities in society and the gendered, lived experiences of people working in the occupation of public relations. There are many previously unexplored areas within and through public relations which the book examines. These include: • the production of social meaning and power relations. • advocacy and activist campaigns for social and political change. • the negotiation of identity, diversity and cultural practice. • celebrity, bodies, fashion and harassment in the workplace. • notions of managing reputation and communicating policy. In extending the field of inquiry, this edited collection highlights how gender is accomplished and transformed, and, thus how power is exercised and inequality (re)produced or challenged in public relations. The book will expand thinking about power relations and privilege for both women and men and how these are affected by the interplay of social, cultural and institutional practices. Winner of the Outstanding Book PRide Award, awarded by the National Communication Association (NCA).

Using voice to make musical and social connections

Community music is a rich and ongoing activity-taking place in formal and informal settings around Australia. This small-scale phenomenological qualitative case study is part of my wider study Spirituality and Wellbeing: Music in the Community that began in 2013. This paper demonstrates that community music making in a regional district in Victoria (Australia) makes it possible for choirs to use their voice to make musical and social connections to self and community that enhances both personal and community wellbeing. In May 2014, I visited three choirs for a week in the city of Warnnambool. Drawing on observation, questionnaires and focus group semi-structured interviews, I analysed the data using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings include why people join choirs in regional towns, what they enjoyed that contributed to their wellbeing and why they want to sing about issues that make connections to social justice and sustainability. Though generalisations cannot be made to other towns or choirs, the findings show the need, importance and benefits of connecting to each other and the wider community. Using voice can serve as an effective platform to promote issues in the community such as social justice and the environment. It is hoped that the findings may provide a vehicle for further dialogue where choirs in other settings may experience similar connections to their community.

Community music making and philanthropy: with One Voice choirs

Across the globe there are numerous philanthropic organizations that support community music engagement. Philanthropy is the desire to promote the welfare of others and is generally supported by the generous donation of money to good causes. One such group situated in Melbourne is Creativity Australia who oversees the With One Voice choirs. This program offers weekly community choirs that are led by a professional conductor. Each meeting is followed by supper. The choirs are supported by public sponsorship and currently around 68% of the choir members are subsidised. In this multiple case study we interviewed stakeholders, conductors and members of several of the choirs. This research is part of a larger joint research project, begun in 2008, Well-being and ageing: community, diversity and the arts in Victoria. Data were gathered from documentary sources and by individual and focus group semi-structured interviews (2014-2015) and were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. This paper explores the intersections of community music making and philanthropy

Student voice in 'skills for sustainability': a missing component from the demand side of Australian vocational education and training

The implementation of the Green Skills Agreement ratified by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2010 provides the national policy context for this analysis of skills for sustainability. Data from three different but complementary studies provide powerful insight into the attitudes and perceptions of young people who are studying, or are recent graduates of, Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs. We argue that the voices of the young people who participate as students are largely absent from analysis and policy-making, despite policy rhetoric about a demand driven Australian tertiary education sector responsive to consumer (student) interest and need. The combination of these three studies contributes to an improved understanding of what these young adults think and are learning with regard to skills for sustainability in their VET courses and in their workplaces. Most notably, these VET students reported that increasingly changes around skills for sustainability are being implemented into both their work roles and their courses of study.

Sonic technologies of postmodernity and the grain of the voice in Robert Lepage’s Lipsynch

This paper unpacks the relationships between the human voice and sound technologies by re-reading and re-evaluating Roland Barthes seminal essay, ‘The Grain of the Voice’ an oft cited but frequently misunderstood text, in the light of Robert Lepage’s Lipsynch (Canada, 2012). This production explicitly uses analogue and digital sound technologies to reveal the complexities and contradictions operating within the sonic economy of the performance with particular reference to the way it uses digital dubbing, miming, voice-overs and lip-reading to unsettle assumptions about the connections between the language, speech and the human voice. The paper will also unsettle any simple understanding of the voice as the locus of identity, and uncover the manner in which sonic digital technologies enable us to better apprehend ‘the body in the voice as it sings, the hand as it writes, the limb as it performs’ (Barthes, 185) while remaining sceptical about the existence of a primordial, unconstructed body.