Understanding public involvement with Australian heritage : a qualitative study using repertory grid analysis

Attempts to increase public participation in heritage related activities have had mixed success. Tourism to heritage sites remains an overt activity that many engage in, but other heritage related activities, such as nominating objects for formal heritage listing, are much rarer. Through a series of qualitative research activities, we examine the public perceptions of what constitutes "heritage" and "heritage - related" behaviours, in order to examine barriers to greater involvement. The findings are that heritage is important to many people, particularly on a personal level. Although initially uncertain about the validity of their views, our respondents defined heritage broadly, believing it to encompass a wide range of objects, places and experiences. Most respondents were undertaking the type of heritage-related behaviours that heritage managers would encourage, however the respondents did not recognise them as being heritage-related. Barriers to greater involvement include this uncertainty over the definition of heritage and a lack of confidence in their ability to effectively recognise and protect heritage. In addition to feeling uncertain about the heritage significance of their own actions and beliefs, the respondents felt even more uncertain about prescribing things of "national heritage value". This uncertainty stifles discussion and action. The solution appears to lay in celebrations of both individual and national heritage, to foster discussions and understanding of communalities across different cultural groups within the nation.

Whose history? Whose heritage? Positing a sustainable future for Point Nepean, Victoria

Australia's national heritage comprises exceptional natural and cultural places which help give Australia its national identity. This paper reports on work in progress. It critically and reflectively explores the bonds and  limitations between the work of historians, heritage professionals and ‘free thinkers’ – architects, artists and writers – in the task of identifying, protecting and interpreting the possibilities and opportunities presented by our cultural heritage at Point Nepean, Victoria. Underway is the development of an extensive knowledge database, as historians grapple with the problem of understanding the complex history of Point Nepean. Historians and heritage professionals aspire to recreate the past; they search for the patterns of history; they use historical evidence to gain political objectives; they distil insights from the historical record itself. While scholarship and rigorous procedures are generally adhered to, much hangs on interpretation and perspective; how documentation and imagination are interwoven; on how and by whom the story is told. Once a place is listed on National and/or State registers, the conservation process is invoked for transferring information about the past into the future, using current skills, knowledge and  techniques. In Australia conservation is underpinned by the principle that change to a heritage place should not occur at the expense of its special character and qualities, by what is described as its heritage significance. This requires that approval be obtained before any action takes place which has, will have, or is likely to have, a significant impact on the national heritage values of a listed place. Conflict in heritage management arises because there are many different views on how different values are  managed. It is the role of the architectural historian, conservation architect and architect to creatively reveal the inherent values, to interpret them and sustain the place into the future, never losing sight of Point Nepean’s unique ‘sense of place’.

Literary Love Making in Nicholas Sparks Novels: Finding the Balance Between the Writer's Life and Writer's Work in Bestselling Romantic Love

For almost a decade now Nicholas Sparks has been writing love stories. Not only has he been publishing his stories, but they have received high acclaim in each of their installments. Several of his novels have been made into major motion pictures and increased his popularity quite significantly. His status as a successful romantic fiction writer is undeniable, but the question is, why? What is it about Nicholas Sparks that makes his novels so engaging, and personally, what do I need to do as an aspiring novelist to try and acquire the same literary status? Sparks’s novels reach readers at a number of different levels, thus giving them appeal no matter the intellectual intent of the reader. Theoretically, Sparks engages reader response techniques as well as formalist processes such as “habitualization” and “defamiliarization,” while also developing engaging plot lines that represent many of the experiences from his own life. His writing is not only academically redeemable, but it is also creatively stimulating; between the two, Sparks represents the thunder and lightning combination all writers strive for while trying to achieve literary success. This project also offers a creative element in which I attempt to exemplify many of the traits discussed in the analytical sections of this document, by recreating them in a creative, fictitious fashion. Themes such as: motion versus stasis, life versus death, and the ordinary versus the extraordinary all exist within the narrative structure of my short story “Trip to Fall.” Besides these thematic elements, the creative section strives to represent the balance Sparks achieves between the experiences of his own life and the fictitious world he creates. Overall, this project delves into the life of Nicholas Sparks to better understand the inspiration for his writing at the level of form as well as content, while also paying tribute to Sparks’s style through a representation of his work in my own words.

Scriptural Archeology: Excavating the Presence of Women in the Torah

Women's roles in religious history have been traditionally described in terms of their relation and value to men. The normative religious texts provide an androcentric perspective on the gender relationships within the early community, the growth of Judaism in "Jacob's House" and the monotheistic worship of God. Yet these literary representations omit an entire half of the experience of the Jewish community: the perspective and participation of women. As Judith Plaskow argues extensively in Standing Again at Sinai, women are defined not in her own terms or in her own voice, but by her relationship and value to men through the androcentric vocabulary of the Torah. This statement is textually illustrated by the authorial and editorial presentation of women and their place in ancient Israelite society in the Torah. As Judaism grew increasingly androcentric in its leadership, women were increasingly reduced to marginal figures in the community by authorial and editorial revisions. Yet the participation of women of ancient Israel is not lost. Instead, the presence of women is buried beneath the androcentric presentation of the early Judaic community, waiting to be excavated by historical and scriptural examination. The retelling of the past is influenced by the present; memory is not static but takes on different shapes depending on the focus of concentration. However, tradition greatly influences the interpretation of religious history as well. In the book of Genesis, the literature emphasizes the divine appointment of male figures such as Abraham the father of the covenant and Jacob who is renamed and claimed by God as "Israel," placing them at the center of Jewish history. As a result, the other figures in these biblical narratives are described in relation to the patriarchs, those male bearers of the covenant, by their service or their value to him. Women are at the bottom of this hierarchy. Although female figures of exceptional quality are noted in later chronicles, such as Ruth, Deborah and Miriam, it is the very nature of their exception that highlights the androcentric editorial focus of the Torah. I agree with Peggy Day, whose own scriptural examination in Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel, makes the important distinction between the literary representation and the reality of ancient Israelite culture: they are not coextensive nor equivalent. Although the text represents the culture of ancient Israel as male dominated from the time of Abraham, this presentation omits the perspective of half of the population-the women. By beginning at the point of realization that women did exist and were active in their culture, and placing aside the androcentric perspective of the text and its editors, the reality of women's place in ancient Israel may be determined. Through this new perspective, the women of the Torah will emerge as the archetypes of strength, leadership and spiritual insight to provide Jewish women of the present with female, ancestral role models and a foundation for their gender's heritage, a more complete understanding of the partial record of Jewish history recorded in the Torah. Those stories that appear as the exception of women's presence will unveil an exceptional presence. As Tamar Frankiel eloquently states in The Voice of Sarah, "the women we call our 'Mothers'-Sarah, Rivkah (Rebekah), Rachel, and Leah-are not merely mothers, any more than the 'Fathers'-Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-are merely fathers "(Frankiel 5).

Literary love making in Nicholas Sparks novels: Finding the balance between the writer’s life and the writer’s work in bestselling Romantic Literature

For almost a decade now Nicholas Sparks has been writing love stories. Not only has he been publishing his stories, but they have received high acclaim in each of their installments. Several of his novels have been made into major motion pictures and increased his popularity quite significantly. His status as a successful romantic fiction writer is undeniable, but the question is, why? What is it about Nicholas Sparks that makes his novels so engaging, and personally, what do I need to do as an aspiring novelist to try and acquire the same literary status? Sparks’s novels reach readers at a number of different levels, thus giving them appeal no matter the intellectual intent of the reader. Theoretically, Sparks engages reader response techniques as well as formalist processes such as “habitualization” and “defamiliarization,” while also developing engaging plot lines that represent many of the experiences from his own life. His writing is not only academically redeemable, but it is also creatively stimulating; between the two, Sparks represents the thunder and lightning combination all writers strive for while trying to achieve literary success. This project also offers a creative element in which I attempt to exemplify many of the traits discussed in the analytical sections of this document, by recreating them in a creative, fictitious fashion. Themes such as: motion versus stasis, life versus death, and the ordinary versus the extraordinary all exist within the narrative structure of my short story “Trip to Fall.” Besides these thematic elements, the creative section strives to represent the balance Sparks achieves between the experiences of his own life and the fictitious world he creates. Overall, this project delves into the life of Nicholas Sparks to better understand the inspiration for his writing at the level of form as well as content, while also paying tribute to Sparks’s style through a representation of his work in my own words.

Virtual non-profit organisations: literary virtual communities in Russia

This paper is a study of one of the “unknown” segments of the Internet - non-profit ventures in the Russian language.Based on the understanding of the concept of virtual community we consider the family of free publishing literary websites. We discuss their experience to demonstrate their contribution not only to the national culture, but also to the creation of open and democratic society in the former communist world, and to new forms of literary life. Some of the innovative concepts, principles and practices, adopted on those sites may be of interest to the Internet developers and
communities worldwide.