Buddhism, cultural studies, a profession of faith

 The thesis examines the reciprocity between Buddhist teachings and ethical understandings in cultural theory and continental philosophy. It establishes channels of hospitable exchange between sacred and scholarly commitments, and demonstrates that faith is a necessary affective response of trust that supports the aspirations of ‘believers’ and ‘non-believers’ alike.

Cultural pedagogies in the museum: walking, listening and feeling

Pedagogy is often glossed as the ‘art and science of teaching’ but this focus typically ties it to the instructional practices of formalised schooling. Like the emerging work on ‘public pedagogies’, the notion of cultural pedagogies signals the importance of the pedagogic in realms other than institutionalised education, but goes beyond the notion of public pedagogies in two ways: it includes spaces which are not so public, and it includes an emphasis on material and non-human actors. This collection foregrounds this broader understanding of pedagogy by framing enquiry through a series of questions and across a range of settings. How, for example, are the processes of ‘teaching’ and ‘learning’ realised within and across the pedagogic processes specific to various social sites? What ensembles of people, things and practices are brought together in specific institutional and everyday settings to accomplish these processes? This collection brings together researchers whose work across the interdisciplinary nexus of cultural studies, sociology, media studies, education and museology offers significant insights into these ‘cultural pedagogies’ – the practices and relations through which cumulative changes in how we act, feel and think occur. Cultural Pedagogies and Human Conduct opens up debate across disciplines, theoretical perspectives and empirical foci to explore both what is pedagogical about culture and what is cultural about pedagogy.

Taking off with theory

The brief for this lecture involved covering a range of theoretical literary perspectives in response to the new Victorian Certificate of Education Literature study design and advice to teachers, which requires students to consider how interpretations of texts contribute to understanding.

How world's best public relations practice was not, but might have been achieved, in respect of a "biosolids" (stabilised sewage sludge) project

This is a case study which criticises the way a water authority has been trying to introduce “biosolids” (stabilised sewage sludge) projects. Two proposed projects have been abandoned after outcry by communities neighbouring earmarked sites. At the time of writing a third project was going ahead. This local scale clash reflects contests which are cropping up globally as water authorities are restricted in their use of land or sea dumping and ordered to introduce environmentally sustainable practices. The case study ends with a discussion of a strand of cultural theory which might have given the water authority a better understanding of the public issues involved. The article concludes that understanding cultural theory might assist organisations achieve world best practice in public relations when they face some of the pressing environmental and safety concerns of the 21st century.

Consuming children : education, entertainment, advertising

"Schools are dull, adults are dim, kids rule, pleasure can be purchased - these are canons of children's consumer cultures. In the places where kids, commodities and images meet, education, entertainment and advertising merge. Kids consume the corporate abundance with an appetite. But what happens now that schools are on the market? Is this a form of corporate gluttony? Are designer schools educationally "grotesque"? How are students packaged? How can curriculum compete with other attractions constantly advertised to students? Are students themselves both purchasers and commodities for sale?"

This volume argues that people are entering another stage in the construction of the young as the demarcations between education, entertainment and advertising collapse and as the lines between the generations both blur and harden. Drawing from the voices of students and from contemporary cultural theory this book provokes the reader to ponder the role of the school in the "age of desire.

'Energetic space' : literary experience and learning

This essay is part of an interdisciplinary research project into literary aesthetics and its relationship with pedagogy. The paper brings cognitive and evolutionary scientific perspectives to bear on literary and cultural theory to address the aesthetic effect (defined as the transporting and transformative power of the literary text) and its potential personal or civic benefits. The paper offers non-transcendentalist explanations for the aesthetic experience, viewing it less as a privileged category of feeling than as an experience available to all symbolic beings. The paper also proposes an original thesis about the virtual and transformative space of reading as one that ultimately epitomises intellectual freedom. The inquiry is lent urgency by the current cultural and political climate in which not only literature but also literary studies, despite its long association with education and its prominent place in the Culture Wars, is in institutional decline.

Adopting reflexive capability in international briefing

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to investigate the architectural firm's role in the briefing process on international projects and to identify the strategies of successful firms to overcome barriers.

Design/methodology/approach – A model is developed based on a critique of briefing models and international design management theory. The development of a reflexive capability model borrows cultural theory concepts of capital and reflexivity. The model is based on maximizing reflexive capability through the management of social, cultural and intellectual capital. Two case studies of architectural firms identify barriers during the briefing process and strategies to overcome these barriers. Data collection involved 16 interviews with senior management and design team staff.

Findings – There are various barriers and strategies used to achieve success in the briefing process. However, the management of a firm's capital is key to successful briefing on international projects and is a characteristic of reflexive practice. Reflexivity is based in a positive interpretation of change, and a continual responsiveness to change by participants in a system. The study provides useful information on management of the design and briefing stages of international projects.

Research limitations/implications – The study is limited by the number of case studies used and the difficulty of generalisability of findings.

Practical implications – The research is that it provides useful information about how to approach constant change during briefing for the architects and clients who work on international projects.

Originality/value – The model is original and has value as it assists in explaining why some firms are more successful than others. The case studies provide new knowledge on international projects and the briefing process. The value of the paper is for the academic community, professionals in the built environment and clients involved in international projects.

Making water public

The recent 11 years of conservative government rule in Australia was marked by what some commentators refer to as a 'hardening of hearts' and a notable decline in the public realm. At the same time, climate change and drought made an increasing impact on Australian environments and society. This paper responds to the overwhelming tendency, which it aligns with a retreat from the concept of public-ness, to instrumentalise efforts to remediate environmental decline. Focusing in particular on water - or the lack of it - in Australia today, the paper draws on innovations in cultural theory and research practice to retum the question of public-ness to centre stage. This involves a reorientation of what it might mean to 'make water public'  that is not reliant on the sole agency of humans.

At the limits : postcolonial and hyperreal translations of Australian poetry

This dissertation employs the methodologies of postcolonial theory and hyperreal theory (following Baudrillard), in order to investigate articulations of identity, nation and representation in contemporary Australian poetry. Informed by a comparative analysis of contemporary Latin American poetry and cultural theory (in translation), as a means of re-examining the Australian context, this dissertation develops a new transnational model of Australian poetics. The central thesis of this dissertation is that contemporary Australian poetry engages with the postcolonial at its limits. That is, at those sites of postcoloniality that are already mapped by theory, but also at those that occur beyond postcolonial theory. The hyperreal is understood as one such limit, traceable within the poetry but silenced in conventional postcolonial theory. As another limit to the postcolonial, this dissertation reads Latin American poetry and theory, in whose texts postcolonial theory is actively resisted, but where postcolonial and hyperreal poetics nevertheless intersect. The original critical context constructed by this dissertation enables a new set of readings of Australian identity through its poetry. Within this new interpretative context, the readings of contemporary Australian poetry articulate a psycho-social postcoloniality; offer a template for future transactions between national poetry and global politics; and develop a model of the postcolonial hyperreal.

Identity as radical alterity : critiques of Eurocentrism, coloniality and subjectivity in contemporary Australian and Latin American poetry.

This article presents a comparative analysis of Australian and Latin American contemporary poetry which is informed by theories of Eurocentrism derived from contemporary Latin American critical thought.

Export quality : representing Fijian bodies and the economy of war

Fijian bodies have become a valuable commodity in the economy of war. Remittances from workers overseas are Fiji’s largest income – exceeding that of tourism and sugar export. This essay examines historical and contemporary representations of the black male body that perpetuate the exploitation of Fijians by inscribing the Fijian male body as warrior, criminal and protector. Taking a multidisciplinary approach informed by sociology, cultural theory, Pacific studies, visual culture, feminist and post-colonial theory, my practice is the vehicle through which I address issues of neocolonial commodification of Fijian bodies. Through an analysis of my own staged photographs and vernacular images taken by Fijians working for private security military companies and British and US armies, I hope to challenge audiences to consider their own perceptions of Fijian agency and subjectivity. By theorising the politicisation of the black body and interrogating colonial representations of blackness, I argue that we can begin to create links between the historical and contemporary exploitation of Fijians and that at the essence of both is an underlying racial hierarchy and economic requirement for cheap and, arguably, expendable labour.

Opportunities or obstacles? understanding the challenges faced by migrant women entrepreneurs

Purpose - Applying theories of entrepreneurship, the paper aims to identify the factors - with theoretical explanations - that act as barriers to migrant women entrepreneurs (MWEs), particularly women from developing countries starting businesses in developed economies. The paper further explores which barriers also have the potential to act as enablers.

Design/methodology/approach - The relationship between immigration, ethnicity, gender and entrepreneurship has received little theoretical attention. Linking these discourses, the paper theoretically develops a framework of the possible barriers or enablers faced by MWEs.

Findings - The paper reinforces earlier research that MWEs are not a homogenous group; the problems they face are multifaceted, and MWEs from developing countries are the most disadvantaged of entrepreneurs. It identifies multiple factors - human capital, culture, family, institutional factors, gender and social capital- as possible barriers for MWEs. Findings further indicate, that among those barriers, culture, family, social capital and gender have the potential to play a dual role for MWEs, by acting either as a barrier or an enabler. Findings also highlight the overarching and predominant influence of culture – as explained by cultural theory -acting as a barrier for MWEs from developing countries.

Research limitations/implications - Given the increasing potential of MWEs, the paper provides implications for not only addressing the barriers but also viewing the barriers as ways to promote entrepreneurship among such minority groups. It further stresses a needs-based approach to customizing policies to benefit the diverse group of MWEs. Limitations: This is a theoretical paper. Empirical research is needed to test the framework and its different dimensions. Given the diversity of MWEs and the factors that shape their entrepreneurial endeavours, it is difficult to develop a single framework to encompass the complexity of the situation. Nevertheless, the proposed framework provides useful insights into the barriers or enablers that MWEs face, along with theoretical explanations and, thus, acts as a springboard for future research.

Originality/value - By providing a theory-based framework of the barriers or enablers faced by MWEs, along with policy implications, the paper contributes to a better understanding of the phenomenon of migrant women entrepreneurship.

‘Yes, no, maybe, can you repeat the question?’ : Is thinking like a lawyer different to thinking like a teacher?

Presentation at APLEC 2013. 
Kristoffer Greaves is researching how lawyers who teach lawyers’ skills in PLT engage in scholarly activities regarding their teaching work. This qualitative research involves cross-disciplinary exchanges between law, legal education, education theory and practice, sociology of law, and cultural theory. Data collected for the research includes 30+ hours semi-structured interviews with 35 PLT practitioners working with different PLT providers around Australia.
One question asked during the interviews - Is thinking like a lawyer different to thinking like a teacher? - elicited reflective and diverse responses and insights about how PLT practitioners reconcile ‘thinking like a lawyer’ with their teaching and mentoring work.
This presentation discusses the relevance and significance of these insights in the context of scholarship of teaching in PLT, and practical legal training’s ‘big picture’ purpose to improve protection of clients, protection of the administration of justice, and the assurance of the quality of legal services.