Marginalising the marginal in holocaust films : fictional representations of jewish policeman

This paper explores the issue of how Jewish victims who occupied so-called 'privileged' positions during the Holocaust are represented in fictional films. Such figures, particularly Jewish policemen in the ghettos, may be seen to inhabit the 'marginal' in two ways, both in terms of the unprecedented ethical dilemmas they faced, and the relative lack of attention such figures have received. Taking Primo Levi's paradigmatic essay on the 'grey zone' as a point of departure, this paper analyses how Jewish policemen are represented in mainstream, 'Hollywood' fictional films, namely Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, in order to reveal that the narrative concerns of such works preclude any serious engagement with themes of moral ambiguity and 'compromise'. Attention will also be given to a more recent trend in the genre of Holocaust film that directly confronts these issues, nonetheless such films may themselves be viewed as marginalised due to their subject matter.

Relationships between identity and self-representations during adolescence

By drawing from literature on identity development as well as on self-discrepancy, the present study aimed to investigate variations in the magnitude of self-belief discrepancies among adolescents with different levels of identity development. The respondents consisted of 336 male and female adolescents, from 5 private secondary schools, ranging in age from 14 to 18 years (M = 15.98, SD = 0.89). Four levels of identity status (Achieved, Moratorium, Foreclosed, and Diffused identity status) were used as the method of identity classification in this study. Four types of self-discrepancies (Actual/Ideal (own), Actual/Ideal (other), Actual/Ought (own), and Actual/Ought (other) self-discrepancy) were also obtained. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that respondents with different identity statuses significantly varied on the magnitude of self-discrepancy experienced. The Foreclosed and Achieved statuses were found to have lower levels of self-belief discrepancy than the Moratorium and Diffused statuses. However, most of the significant differences among the statuses were for the Actual/Ideal (own) and Actual/Ideal (other) self-discrepancies. These results indicate that identity development is related to the magnitude of self-belief discrepancy. However, further research with more developed instruments is needed to explore this relationship more fully.

Elections and representations in local government: A Victorian case study

This article examines the application of different views of representation in the electoral systems at local government level: interest, corporate and mirror representation. The electoral framework underpins the process of representation, influencing both who are eligible to become voters and how their votes are collected and counted. The paper examines the  interrelationship between representation and the electoral framework in local government in Victoria. We use a historical analysis, and identify a long period of interest representation; a short, relatively recent period of corporate representation; and an attempt to introduce some elements of mirror representation. We conclude by arguing that local electoral reform needs to take into account the multiple meanings of representation.

Altered images : the relations between design representations and design practice

As information systems move out of the office into the wider world and are merged with mobile appliances, buildings and even clothing, the representations traditionally used in any one discipline may not be adequate for understanding these new domains. Design representations are ‘ways of seeing and not seeing’. Despite the central role representations play in design, the information systems design community has little understanding of the relation, ideal or actual, between design practice and design representation. This paper reports on an extensive design case study that aims at increasing understanding of the nature and affordances of representations in the design process and argues for the need for information systems as a discipline to open up discussion of the design representations that may be required to effectively design systems that mix traditional IS with disciplines such as industrial design, architecture and fashion design.

High stakes principalship-sleepless nights, heart attacks and sudden death accountabilities: reading media representations of the United States principal shortage

The possible shortage of applicants for principal positions is news in both Australia and abroad. We subject a corpus of predominantly United states (US) news articles to deconstructive narrative analysis and find that the dominant media representation of principals' work is one of long hours Iow salary high stress and sudden death from high stakes accountabilities. However, reported US policy interventions focus predominantly on professional development for aspirants. We note that this will be insufficient to reverse the lack of applications and suggest that the dominant media picture of completely unattractive principals work, meant to leverage a policy solution, will perhaps paradoxically perpetuate the problem. The dominant media picture is also curiously at odds with research that reports high job satisfaction among principals. We suggest that there is a binary of victim and saviour principal in both media and policy which prevents some strategic re-thinking about how the principalship might be different.

"Who says yes? Collective and individual framing of Pacific children`s consent to, and participation in, research in New Zealand"

The complex debate surrounding child consent has been addressed from a predominantly western perspective that often fails to address the important issue of collective rights. Indigenous groups argue that legal and ethical considerations of child consent and research participation are framed within concepts of individual rights and ownership. Such individualistic frameworks are problematic for Pacific communities where the rights of children in extended families are collectively framed, knowledge is collectively owned, and ‘life stage’1 is privileged over age. We discuss the need to frame Pacific children’s rights to consent to, and participate in, research within a collective Pacific worldview.

Altered images : the relations between design representations and design practice

As information systems move out of the office into the wider world and are merged with mobile appliances, buildings and even clothing, the representations traditionally used in any one discipline may not be adequate for understanding these new domains. Design representations are ‘ways of seeing and not seeing’. Despite the central role representations play in design, the information systems design community has little understanding of the relation, ideal or actual, between design practice and design representation. This paper reports on an extensive design case study that aims at increasing understanding of the nature and affordances of representations in the design process and argues for the need for information systems as a discipline to open up discussion of the design representations that may be required to effectively design systems that mix traditional IS with disciplines such as industrial design, architecture and fashion design.

Real or imagined women? Staff representations of international women postgraduate students

In Australia's globalising universities many support staff and teaching staff now work with international women postgraduate students. But are they aware of the issues facing these women, and is their understanding of them adequate? Indeed, how do they represent them? In this paper we draw on a small-scale pilot study involving key university personnel. We argue that the ways in which such staff represent this group of students is problematic. Focusing primarily on academic issues and on the literature on learning styles, we analyse these staff members' representations of international women postgraduate students from a postcolonial perspective. We explore the extent to which such representations, and the learning styles literature that reflects and informs them, are what Edward Said calls 'Orientalist'. In so doing, we point to both the constitution of the international woman student as postcolonial female subject and show how this situates her in relation to the prevalent learning styles discourse. Further we argue that such representations of the students differ in crucial ways from the students' self-representations, suggesting that in certain subtle ways such staff members are engaging with 'imagined' rather than 'real' women.

Self-representations of international women postgraduate students in the global university 'Contact Zone'

This article explores some aspects of the role of race and gender in shaping women postgraduate students' experience of intercultural study. It focuses on various social and cultural aspects of their sojourn. These were suggested by data from two small pilot research projects investigating the experiences of two cohorts of international women postgraduate students, the one studying in an Australian university and the other, a Canadian. The authors focus particularly on the intersections between the students' representation of themselves as women and the way they see themselves represented by their host cultures. In other words, they are interested in the students' understandings of themselves as 'other', and how this impacts on their representations of 'self'. The authors suggest that these representations reflect a process of negotiation of identity that occurs in what they call the globalising university 'contact zone'. The concept of contact zones derives from post-colonial theory. A further goal of this article, then, is to examine how such data appear when viewed from a post-colonial perspective.

High stakes principalship - sleepless nights, heart attacks and sudden death accountabilities: reading media representations of the US principal shortage

The possible shortage of applicants for principal positions is news in both Australia and abroad. We subject a corpus of predominantly US news article to deconstructive narrative analysis and find that the dominant media representation of principals' work is one of long hours, low salary, high stress and sudden death from high stakes accountabilities. However reported US policy interventions focus predominantly on professional development for aspirants. We note that this will be insufficient to reverse the lack of applications, and suggest that the dominant media picture of completely unattractive principals' work, meant to leverage a policy solution will perhaps paradoxically perpetuate the problem. This picture is also curiously at odds with research that reports high job satisfaction among principals. We suggest that there is a dominant binary of victim and saviour principal in both media and policy which prevents some strategic re-thinking about how the principalship might be different.