Browsing the modern kitchen - a feast of gender, place and culture (part 1)

Assembling 10 essays from around the globe which engage variously with the space in which food preparation occurs—the kitchen—revealed stunning diversity but also commonalities. In this first of two sets of theme papers on this vital but often unexamined domestic space, the discourse of modernity unites the look and use of twentieth-century kitchens in Australia, Britain and Finland. Imbued with notions of scientific management, the modern kitchen had some common designs which prescribed women's place within it—first as the main occupant and then as the family overseer. The construction of this semi-private space also involved particular domestic technologies which, as the new century dawns, now literally connect the kitchen to the world beyond via the internet fridge. This Introduction begins the two-part feast of gender, place and culture—with an overview of Australia and sketch of subsequent essays—Supski on mid-century migrant Australia, Saarikangas on Finland, Bennett on rural Britain and Watkins on the fridge.

Opportunities and challenges for global education in social education curriculum

This paper will explore understandings about global education as expressed in national and local curriculum statements. Despite curriculum statements in Studies of Society and Environment area including ‘global’ in their rationale, slippage occurs between policy documents and the translation to standards statements. The curriculum area - Studies of Society and Environment is - changing as new titles describe the field and a more integrated approach is being developed in some states – Tasmania and Victoria, this presents challenges for global education.

My work in global education is a result of many years as a Geography teacher, nine years at the Asia Education Foundation, a leader of teacher study tours to Asia and pre-service teacher education students to Canada and Northern Territory. I am a passionate believer in the power of travel to unsettle, to educate, and to be reminded of all I have, and to be thankful.

Teacher perceptions of the role and value of excursions in years 7-10 geography education in Victoria, Australia

Excursions are extremely important to the education of students in the geography curriculum. However, personal observations demonstrated a lack of readiness to conduct excursions in secondary schools. This apprehension of the teachers in this school to implement excursions in geography education was the basis for this study. The study addresses the importance of excursions in education and the roles and values that teachers place on excursions in years 7-10 geography curriculum. Quantitative research was conducted in the form of a questionnaire on a wide range of Study of Society and Environment (SOSE) teachers in secondary schools. The research population consisted of 60 teachers from both rural and urban schools across Victoria. The findings of this study showed that teachers conduct on average one to two excursions per class per year, teachers understand the importance of excursions in geography education and they find planning difficult, but work collaboratively with other teachers to overcome these issues. Other barriers include transportation, student behaviour and cost. With a firm grounding in the conceptual theories and state-level policies of geography education, the conduct of excursions was found to be both difficult and rewarding by teachers in Victoria.

Associations between the physical and social environment and depressive symptomology among Australian adolescents

Depression is a significant public health issue among Australian adolescents. A number of family, school and community level factors have been identified as important determinants of adolescent's health and well-being, including depression. This study examines associations between measures of the social and physical environment and adolescent mental health, specifically depressive symptomotology using data from the Healthy Neighbourhoods study, a large observational study carried out in 231 Australian schools stratified by socioeconomic quartiles and urban/non-urban geography, which focuses on adolescent health and well-being. Participants were 8256 year 6 and 8
students (48% male), aged 11-16 years (M = 11.6, SD = 0.8 years) from schools across Victoria,Queensland and Western Australia who completed a comprehensive on-line survey. Data collected included the Short Mood and Feeling Questionnaire (SMFQL a tool for assessing depressive symptomotology in adolescents. Results showed that the mean total depression score (possible range 0-26 with total scores;:: 8 used as the cutoff for depression symptomotology) was 6.4 (SD = 5.9), with scores for females (M = 6.8, SD = 6.3) higher than those for males (M = 5.9, SD = 5.5), and scores for year 8 students (M = 6.7,SD = 6.1) higher than those for year 6 students (M = 6.2, SD = 5.8) (p < .001). Greater access to sporting and play equipment, local parks, and more functional neighbourhoods for walking and jogging reduced the odds for depressive symptomotology (p < .05L while increased levels of abandoned homes, and higher levels of fighting within the neighbourhood, and fewer scout/guide clubs, local teams to play sport, and adults in the neighbourhood to talk with, as well as reduced neighbourhood safety increased the odds for depressive symptomotology (p < .05). These findings support the important role of physical and social environments in influencing adolescent health and well-being. Modifications to particular aspects of these environments at the community level may assist in providing adolescents some protection from depression.

Social inclusion in local places

With the decline of official multiculturalism in Australia the focus of the government has turned to promoting programs and services that will provide greater social inclusion.  This paper illustrates that although institutions within society such as the media, federal government agencies, and local governments aim to value cultural diversity, social practices unintentionally regulate inclusion by privileging whiteness and scrutinising ethnic minorities on local places.  An analysis of metropolitan and local newspaper reports and government document provides an insight into these practices that construct 'ethnic' citizens in particular ways.

Feminist geography 30 years on : they came, they saw but did they conquer?

Feminist geography emerged in Australia in the 1980s, spurred on by the local Women’s Liberation Movement and inspired by the academic activism emanating from England, Canada and the United States. Producing critical evaluations of male-dominated geography departments, curriculum and journals, feminist geographers proceeded to stake claims in each of these spheres while also substantially revising the content of geographical research. There were significant interventions into urban, social, cultural and economic geography, in environmental discourses as well as into the gendered research process. Having arrived, identified and addressed these issues, the discipline was critiqued and transformed over the 1980s and 1990s. Crucial to the strength of this critique were key individuals, the Gender and Geography Group within the Institute of Australian Geographers and the role played by journals such as Geographical Research and the Australian Geographer in providing spaces for feminist work. However, as the new century dawned, the agenda changed and the anger and urgency dissipated as the broader and university contexts altered. It was a period of consolidation, as feminist insights and approaches were focused on key subject areas – such as the home, identity and sexuality – and became more mainstream. But is this work and the presence of women in the academy an indication of success or of co-option? This paper will trace these various shifts – from the arrival to the mainstreaming of feminist geography - and analyse what might be read as a retreat from feminist politics and practice within the discipline in Australia. I will conclude by re-stating the case to advance a new feminist agenda in the face of continuing gender inequality within the academy, in Australia and across the globe.

Breaking Boundaries : recasting the “local” newspaper as “geo-social” news in a digital landscape

This paper reconceptualises the role of the small “local” newspaper in a new media environment and argues that definitions and concepts currently used to describe and define such publications are becoming increasingly problematic as newspapers shift into both print and online formats. The paper highlights the continued importance of geography for such newspapers at a time when there is wide academic debate on the relevance of territory and boundaries and the impact of time–space compression in a new media world. It argues, however, that a focus on a newspaper’s geographic connection must also acknowledge the increasing boundlessness and openness of the social space in which a newspaper operates. Ultimately this paper suggests the concept of “geo-social” news may be a more appropriate framework for scholars to consider such publications. I draw on the work of geography scholars, and discussions around “space” and “place” to construct the notion of “geo-social” news, highlighting some exemplars of small commercial newsroom practices in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada and discussions with newspaper editors in Australia to demonstrate the relevance of the “geo-social” concept.

Geo-social journalism: reorienting the study of small commercial newspapers in a digital environment

This paper begins by problematizing the use of “community” to define and theorize small commercial media outlets that have geography as their primary characteristic—particularly hyper local and small traditional newspapers connected to larger media organizations in digital space. We then extend the concept of “geo-social news” to outline “geo-social journalism” as a specific form of news work currently grouped under the “community media” umbrella. Geo-social is a concept for exploring how small commercial newspapers change as media technologies evolve. It offers a framework for understanding how these news outlets and audiences connect via the notion of “sense of place”. It can also be used as a lens for theorizing their role in social flows and movements and as nodes in the global media network. The practice of “geo-social journalism”, meanwhile, has two dimensions. Firstly, journalists must engage with the land (environment/agriculture/industry), populations, histories and cultures of the places they report news. Secondly, it involves connections and understandings of the shifting constellations of global and national systems, issues and relationships of the digital era. Finally, this paper argues that by its very nature, “geo-social journalism” eschews theoretical universalizing and instead demands fine-grained analyses of the specific dynamic of each “geo-social” publication, its setting and the practices which shape it and it in turn shapes.

A global sense of place: geography and sustainability education in a primary context

In this paper, I draw on Massey's conceptualisation of space and place and literature on children's geographies to argue for the importance of "a global sense of place" (Massey, 1991, p. 29) in geography (and sustainability) education. Reporting on interviews with six Victorian primary teaSustainability educationhers' and their conceptions and perceptions of geography, I contend that place in their imagining is commonly represented as bounded, contained and static. This is in contrast to Massey's understanding of place as immersed in global networks/processes, a product of interrelations and continuously changing. I conclude this paper by presenting an example of a primary unit that provides opportunities for students to develop an outward sense of place; one which foregrounds the interconnections and interdependence of places and processes.

Perspectives on the geography of intolerance: racist attitudes and experience of racism in Melbourne, Australia

Given the challenge presented by worsening racial and religious relations in many western countries around the world, a closer look at the interplay between racist attitudes among potential perpetrators and experiences of racism among likely targets, focusing on out-group status, can better inform the dynamics of culturally diverse societies. Melbourne, Australia is ideal for such an analysis given its highly diverse population. Building on recent scholarship detailing a new approach to examining the attitude-experience relationship, we add an important spatial dimension by investigating how patterns of association vary spatially within specific localities over and above citywide effects. Findings indicate significant associations between racist attitudes and experience of discrimination at the citywide and, in distinct ways, at the local (Local Government Area) level. Such relationships are shaped by socio-demographic and ethnic diversity profiles, embodying attribution and degree of out-group status, in complex and nuanced ways.