(Post)colonial ambivalences : Christina Stead and Janet Frame

This thesis is an evaluative comparison of two significant writers, the Australian Christina Stead, and New Zealander Janet Frame. In a detailed analysis of the novels, the writerly ambivalences of each author are explored. Their writings are revealed to be creative of new possibilities for female (post)colonial agency.

Wry-necked memory : the matter of Ireland in cutting green hay and memory Ireland, and the poems of the pattern.

This paper examines the matter of Ireland in Buckley’s two memoirs, Cutting Green Hay (1983) and Memory Ireland (1985), and the poems of The Pattern (1979), in order to revisit critically the ways in which he constructs himself as a diasporic Irish-Australian, a participant in the most remote Gaeltacht. It raises questions of victimhood, of similar and different experience of being at the mercy of the land, and of his re-engineering of the place of the political in poetry. It argues that Buckley’s agonized positioning as Ireland’s ‘guest/foreigner/son’ was a project that was doomed by its utopianism, and that, obsessed as he became with Ireland, the angst within had little to do with ‘the Ireland within’ or without. The paper suggests that the poet’s slow and unacknowledged abandonment in his Irish period of a key tenet of modernism, its distrust of propaganda and the political, is in itself a new formation which had some continuity with the radicalism of his thinking during the formative years of the revolutionary catholic apostolate he led both at the University of Melbourne and nationally. It also points to the deployment of an ancient medieval Irish trope, that of the ocean (rather than a landmass) linking a dispersed community, as one of the ways the poetry effects a resolution of the issues of being ‘Irish’ in a remote country.

An interview with Archie Weller

Interviews writer Archie Weller about Australian literature. Assessment of the value of his own work; View on criticism of Aboriginal writing; Weller's efforts to depict the plight of Nyoongahs in the white power system; Stature of black Australian writers; Comments on literary style; Shift in focus and emphasis in writing.

I'm the slice of pie that's ostracised.... : Foucault's technologies, and personal agency, in the voice of women who are homeless, Adelaide, South Australia

In contrast to the international research (particularly in the United Kingdom and North America), much of the Australian literature regarding homelessness to date omits the perspective of people who are homeless. In contributing to the fledgling Australian literature in the field, the following article adopts a secondary approach to the data analysis of original research. When analysed, the voices of homeless women from an agency in Adelaide, South Australia exhibit elements of both Foucault’s technologies of domination and the self. While the results show that the women do have a powerful sense of the broader external issues exerted on them (reflecting both technologies of domination and the self), the analysis also reveals ambiguities in their responses. Apparent in the voice of homeless women is a sense of personal agency which appears to be absent in Foucault’s technologies. By considering the viewpoints of homeless women, various policy implications can also be drawn. Indeed, this is one of the motivations of the article, namely to inject into policy debate and development the voices of the people most adversely affected by it. The policy implications of the women’s voices centre around the desire to be included rather than remain on the margins, the need for supportive relationships, the necessity to take small steps to independent living, and the need for more affordable, independent housing.

What can we say about 112,000 taps on a Ndjebbana touch screen?

This paper reports on the use of touch screens to display simple talking books in a minority Indigenous Australian language. Three touch screens are located in an informal context in a remote Indigenous Australian community. The popularity of the computers can be explained by the form of the touch screen and by the intertextual and hybrid nature of the talking books. The results suggest the Kunibidji choose to transform their own culture by including new digital technologies which represent their societal practice

The role of the computer in learning ndjébbana

While Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is being superseded by an integrated approach to language learning and technology, it still has great potential to assist indigenous peoples in becoming print-literate in their own languages. This can also help to combat the disempowerment experienced by indigenous people as their world is penetrated by others with radically different backgrounds. This paper reports on research on an application of CALL implemented among the Kunibídji, a remote, indigenous Australian community. It focuses on the use of talking books in Ndjébbana, a language with only 200 speakers; the books were displayed on touch-screens at various locations in the community. Investigations into the roles of the computer to support language learning and cultural understanding are also reported. The computer was found to be a useful tool in promoting Kunibídji collaboration and cultural transformation.

Why should I present my thesis on computer assisted ndjébbana on dvd?

This paper justifies the presentation of a Phd thesis about Computer Assisted NdjTbbana on a Digital Video Disc (DVD). NdjTbbana is a language spoken by 200 Kunibfdji who are the traditional indigenous Australian landowners of Maningrida in Arnhem Land, Australia. The tools of this study are simple digital talking books that were created in NdjTbbana and then presented on touch screens computers. The data was the interaction around the touch screens that was recorded on digital video. Using DVD technology, the NdjTbbana talking books and the digital video can be integrated into a scholarly text for academics and NdjTbbana narrated report for the Kunibfdji, which can be combined to present a thesis. From a theoretical perspective, a thesis on a DVD can be located in the centre of critical literacy, a critical theory of technology and critical research methodologies. There are also logistical, semiotic and ideological reasons for presenting a thesis on about computer assisted NdjTbbana on DVD. Presenting Computer Assisted NdjTbbana on DVD will link the tools and data of the research with academic discourse to enhance the examination process and will also support the empowerment of the Kunibfdji as they are more informed about the research process.

Factors to consider when planning to submit a digital thesis

Emerging technologies offer new possibilities of text production. Consequently there are important implications for submitting a digitalised thesis. This paper reflects upon some of the issues associated with the digitalisation of the thesis entitled "The literacy practices of Kunib¡dji children: Text, technology and transformation". This PhD thesis was submitted in a multimedia format on a DVD and reported on the literacy practices of a group of Indigenous Australian children who spoke a minority Indigenous Australian language. Factors to consider when digitalising a thesis include the social possibilities of emerging technologies. These are explored with reference to the purpose of research in changing times. The opportunities to integrate a number of texts in the submitted thesis are demonstrated. The use of multimodal texts to improve the validity of the research is discussed using examples of digital video and interactive texts in a minority Indigenous Australian language context. This paper concludes that the digitisation of a thesis should be guided by the possibilities for conceptualising and reporting new knowledge while upholding an ethic of respect for the participants.

Editor's introduction

Editor's introduction to the 2010 special issue of the Journal for the Association for the Study of Australian Literature on Vincent Buckley, reproduced along with the articles previously published in the special issue and new work.

Prevalence and community variation in harmful levels of family conflict witnessed by children: implications for prevention

 Abstract
Children’s reports of high family conflict consistently predict poor outcomes. The study identified criteria for high family conflict based on prospective prediction of increased risk for childhood depression. These criteria were subsequently used to establish the prevalence of high family conflict in Australian communities and to identify community correlates suitable for targeting prevention programs. Study 1 utilised a longitudinal design. Grade 6 and 8 students completed a family conflict scale (from the widely used Communities That Care survey) in 2003 and depression symptomotology were evaluated at a 1-year follow-up (International Youth Development Study, N = 1,798). Receiver-operating characteristic analysis yielded a cut-off point on a family conflict score with depression symptomatology as a criterion variable. A cut-off score of 2.5 or more (on a scale of 1 to 4) correctly identified 69 % with depression symptomology, with a specificity of 77.2 % and sensitivity at 44.3 %. Study 2 used data from an Australian national survey of Grade 6 and 8 children (Healthy Neighbourhoods Study, N = 8,256). Prevalence estimates were calculated, and multivariate logistic regression with multi-level modelling was used to establish factors associated with community variation in family conflict levels. Thirty-three percent of Australian children in 2006 were exposed to levels of family conflict that are likely to increase their future risk for depression. Significant community correlates for elevated family conflict included Indigenous Australian identification, socioeconomic disadvantage, urban and state location, maternal absence and paternal unemployment. The analysis provides indicators for targeting family-level mental health promotion programs.

Dreams of belonging : Tim Winton's Cloudstreet

This essay is on Tim Wnton's novel Cloudstreet. It was commissioned by Copyright Agency Australia. It is written for a specific audience, teachers of English Literature and senior secondary, junior University students. It is a literary critical essay.