Shaping children’s mobilities: expectations of gendered parenting in the English rural idyll

This paper explores the impact of local parenting practices and children's everyday use of public space within two villages in the rural South West of England, an issue that has been underexplored in recent research. Drawing upon the concept of hybridity, it explores the interplay between the social, natural and material in shaping local cultures of rural parenting. The paper begins by drawing upon recent research on parenting in the global North, the gendering of rural space and hybridity to show how these bodies of work can be interlinked to better understand rural parenting practices and norms. Through empirical research that focused on the relationships between gendered parenting strategies, idealised notions of rural motherhood and materiality, the paper explores the diverse ways in which a group of working and middle-class mothers construct and define ideas about their children's lives and mobilities. Whilst dominant discourses of rurality focus upon the idyll, and gendered identities of rural women still remain within the domestic sphere, so we examine how these deeply embedded notions of ‘normality’ can be powerful social tools in rural villages, mobilised through discourses of materiality and anxiety. In our conclusions, we argue that the hybrid integration of the material and social provides a useful framework for understanding the everyday geographies of rural parenting.

Rural women and local economic development in south-west Victoria

In the 1990s, the appearance of women in leadership roles in local economic development organisations in small south-west Victorian towns heralded a change in gender relations in rural Australia. This paper contributes to an understanding of this process by investigating the actions and motives of women in leadership roles in small rural towns in south-west Victoria. The paper begins by establishing a framework of analysis based upon a notion of ‘paradigms in progress’. The argument is that in an increasingly interconnected world broader economic, social and political concerns encroach upon local cultures. In this process, older social paradigms or popularly accepted models for how the world works are either transformed, discarded or replaced on different levels. The different levels to which this paper refers are the macromodels of patriarchy, the mesomodels of economic development and the micromodels of leadership. It is the way that these levels intersect and how they are being changed that informs the explanation of women and leadership in south-west Victoria. The paper applies this framework to an analysis of interviews with 15 women in small towns in south-west Victoria. The paper concludes that women in the south-west have been able both to feminise the politics of local economic development as well as reposition the feminine in local social discourses.

Futures for teachers? Unravelling global agencies development agendas in education and training and lifelong learning

This 20-page paper was presented in June 2001 at an invitational conference hosted by the Education Policy Research Group at Keele University. The theme of the conference was “travelling policy/local spaces: globalisation, identities and education policy in Europe“. Linked from the events page at http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/ed/events/conf papers.htm, this document is one of 22 papers from the conference that are presented in full text. The paper is organised in three sections, firstly examining the local impact of the application of a global development agenda on educational practices in Victoria, Australia, then analysing policy texts issued by the OECD, Unesco, and the Word Bank, and finally interpreting the data in the light of interagency politics and the authors‘ reading of the global-local dynamics of the educational restructuring in Victoria.

Bloods, Crips and Southern Cross Soldiers: we are all gangbangers now!

This paper presents findings from the author's PhD thesis exploring violent youth subcultures in Australia. It addresses whether growing uncertainties around issues of cultural identity and belonging in an era of risk has produced more defensive models of DIY youth culture at a local scale. Theoretically, the author examines whether globalisation has unsettled normative youth subject positions associated with the nation-state, problematising conventional logics of youth cultural formation (i.e. which view questions of race and racism through a white/black, mainstream/subculture binary). As Beck (1992;1999) argues, the de-bounding influence of globalisation has led to an ambivalent set of relations where forms of youth identity have become freed from the nation-state and class based forms of community and must be self-organised. In particular, he argues that this has produced cosmopolitan subjects and social movements as well as ‘counter-modern’ subjects and cultures. This paper applies Beck’s theories alongside theories focused on global/local influences on youth culture to an ethnographic study of two violent youth subcultures in Australia, these being the white ‘patriotic’ youth formation which emerged in the Cronulla riots and youth gang formations in Melbourne’s western suburbs. In doing so the author examines the extent to which violent youth subcultures in Australia can be regarded as strategic responses intended to restore forms of collective cultural belonging at a local scale vis a vis ‘the global’ and its destabilizing influences.

Valores culturais e organizacionais em transformação: estudo sobre o Programa de Intercâmbio Social da Aiesec

Many young people have chosen go on exchange experiences, expecting to live in a context full of diversity, to know elements in the country they are visiting and also to develop themselves personally and professionally. Organizational and cultural values can be acquired or developed through these professional exchange experiences. This paper aimed to understand the vision of young people who went on the social exchange of AIESEC related to cultural and organizational values in the experience. AIESEC is a global and nonprofit organization formed by university students, with the objective of peace and the fulfillment of the humankind needs. Thus, professional exchanges are the main tool for achieving this goal. The study analyzes the experiences of 15 exchange students as well as the point of view of five managers of the organization in order to gain a broad perspective in relation to exchange experiences to understand how young people understand the concept of culture. The interview results suggest that in labor relations, autonomy and egalitarianism are values that go together, while the harmony could be observed by the fact that the projects deal with the issue of sustainability. Furthermore, responsibility, tolerance and collective were the human values that the exchange students developed the most, indicating that experience enables openness to live the diversity and to the intercultural dialogue in order to value local cultures of the visited countries

La escala local, desde la periferia. Análisis de la industria de maquinaria agrícola en Las Parejas (provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina) relacionada con su contexto dentro de la economía argentina

El trabajo analiza las posibilidades que tienen las estrategias de desarrollo local, inspiradas en realidades como la europea, de ser aplicadas del mismo modo en países de la periferia como la Argentina. En esta descripción se diferencian el contexto global-nacional y local. Se realiza el análisis a partir de los discursos geográficos y también sociológicos y económicos que, a partir de la experiencia italiana, francesa, etc., relativizan la escala nacional como eje del análisis y se enfocan en el surgimiento de lo local como escala de referencia. Se utiliza el ejemplo de las empresas de maquinaria agrícola de la ciudad argentina de Las Parejas, provincia de Santa Fe, para graficar cómo una ciudad intermedia puede generar proyectos asociativos que ayudan a los actores a enfrentar el contexto, pero que éste sigue siendo una variable determinante de la performance empresaria y de la vida de los tejidos productivos locales.

La escala local, desde la periferia. Análisis de la industria de maquinaria agrícola en Las Parejas (provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina) relacionada con su contexto dentro de la economía argentina

El trabajo analiza las posibilidades que tienen las estrategias de desarrollo local, inspiradas en realidades como la europea, de ser aplicadas del mismo modo en países de la periferia como la Argentina. En esta descripción se diferencian el contexto global-nacional y local. Se realiza el análisis a partir de los discursos geográficos y también sociológicos y económicos que, a partir de la experiencia italiana, francesa, etc., relativizan la escala nacional como eje del análisis y se enfocan en el surgimiento de lo local como escala de referencia. Se utiliza el ejemplo de las empresas de maquinaria agrícola de la ciudad argentina de Las Parejas, provincia de Santa Fe, para graficar cómo una ciudad intermedia puede generar proyectos asociativos que ayudan a los actores a enfrentar el contexto, pero que éste sigue siendo una variable determinante de la performance empresaria y de la vida de los tejidos productivos locales.

La escala local, desde la periferia. Análisis de la industria de maquinaria agrícola en Las Parejas (provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina) relacionada con su contexto dentro de la economía argentina

El trabajo analiza las posibilidades que tienen las estrategias de desarrollo local, inspiradas en realidades como la europea, de ser aplicadas del mismo modo en países de la periferia como la Argentina. En esta descripción se diferencian el contexto global-nacional y local. Se realiza el análisis a partir de los discursos geográficos y también sociológicos y económicos que, a partir de la experiencia italiana, francesa, etc., relativizan la escala nacional como eje del análisis y se enfocan en el surgimiento de lo local como escala de referencia. Se utiliza el ejemplo de las empresas de maquinaria agrícola de la ciudad argentina de Las Parejas, provincia de Santa Fe, para graficar cómo una ciudad intermedia puede generar proyectos asociativos que ayudan a los actores a enfrentar el contexto, pero que éste sigue siendo una variable determinante de la performance empresaria y de la vida de los tejidos productivos locales.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN O IMAGINÁRIO DA REALEZA BRITÂNICA NAS NARRATIVAS TELEJORNALÍSTICAS CONTEMPORÂNEAS

Esta pesquisa busca evidenciar e analisar a construção das representações simbólicas, imaginárias e midiáticas da monarquia britânica contemporânea nas narrativas do telejornalismo brasileiro, presentes na exibição de seus eventos rituais e cerimoniais, tornando-os acontecimentos midiáticos relevantes na programação das emissoras de maior audiência do país e tema recorrente na pauta dos meios de comunicação pesquisados. Analisa a dimensão mítica e simbólica da construção de suas representações, as quais, ao serem reproduzidas e exibidas pela televisão, ganham maior alcance comunicacional e midiático junto às diferentes culturas locais, no amplo espectro global. Para tanto, combina uma pesquisa bibliográfica e histórica com uma pesquisa empírica voltada à análise de narrativas telejornalísticas, presentes nas emissoras Globo e Record entre 2010 e 2013. Definiu-se nas imagens e narrativas telejornalísticas o corpus dessa pesquisa, por seu alcance e distribuição, além de referência, audiência e preferência popular entre os diversos veículos de comunicação no Brasil e no mundo.

MIDIA IMPRESSA NA TRÍPLICE FRONTEIRA : estudo do jornal local A Gazeta do Iguaçu

Este estudo analisa a mídia impressa local produzida no lado brasileiro da Tríplice Fronteira, região limítrofe entre Brasil, Paraguai e Argentina e toma como exemplar o jornal brasileiro A Gazeta do Iguaçu, editado na cidade de Foz do Iguaçu, PR, que compõe a área trinacional. Os principais objetivos são analisar as características desta mídia local, a incidência de notícias sobre a fronteira, o relacionamento daquele veículo com as comunidades e com os grupos humanos que vivem na região, bem como o grau de influência e o nível de comprometimento do jornal com a política de Foz do Iguaçu. A base teóricometodológica constituiu-se de bibliografia sobre a questão global- local, dos estudos sobre multiculturalismo e diversidade cultural (estudos culturais), e dos questionamentos acerca de comunicação local e regional. As técnicas utilizadas foram, além da revisão bibliográfica, a análise de conteúdo do jornal A Gazeta do Iguaçu e entrevistas semi-estruturadas. Dentre as conclusões encontradas, verificou-se que a cobertura da fronteira é uma pauta prioritária, mas que ao mesmo tempo, perde espaço para o jornalismo de opinião, através das diversas colunas de opinião e sociais, que ocupam a maior parte do noticiário cotidiano local.(AU)

Global form and motion processing in healthy ageing

Peer reviewed

A tale of two cities: Education responds to globalisation in Hong Kong and Singapore in the aftermath of the Asian Economic Crisis

It has been suggested that although the most theorisation about globalisation has emerged from “western” contexts, the material implications of globalisation have been felt most strongly in non-western regions. With this in mind, we are undertaking a situated analysis of how two states, Singapore and Hong Kong, are interacting with the broader processes of globalisation through their educational policies. We apply Foucault's conceptual tool of governmentality to understand (i) the conduct of governing in the contemporary nation-state, and (ii) how the “right” rationalities are being inculcated by government to create “desiring subjects” who will play their part in ensuring national prosperity. We use the Asian Economic Crisis as a point of departure to show how global-local tensions are being managed by Singapore and Hong Kong. We conclude that both these global cities have adroitly managed the Asian economic crisis to steer their citizens away from pursuits of greater political freedom and towards concerns of material well being. They have done so through a selective interpretation of globalisation, by simultaneously resisting and embracing the contradictory strands of globalisation. Education has emerged as a critical space for this selective absorption of globalising trends.

Constructing the shitting citizen : the promise of scatological art as environmental and social activism

Art activism uses visual and performance art to promote social and environmental agendas. In this paper, I explore attempts to raise awareness of sanitation issues at the global, local and personal level using scatological art. I focus on the successes of the open-air public art exhibition set up in the Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) central business district to celebrate World Toilet Day in 2008. The art in this exhibition featured included one hundred toilets decorated to raise awareness of global sanitation issues and the distribution of promotional materials featuring scatological images including postcards and stickers. Given the subject matter and intent, the toilet art and promotional materials presented at the One Hundred Toilet exhibition can be seen as an example of scatological art employed for the purposes of social and environmental activism. Through the One Hundred Toilet exhibition, I consider the political aims and activist potential of using scatological art to progress social and environmental agendas and consider how this kind of ‘shit on show’ approach can contribute to the construction of the shitting citizen; one who is simultaneously responsible for and responsive to managing the waste that they produce and recognising and responding to broader sanitation issues.