Guillermo Gómez-Peña : a "new age shaman” in a bohemian theme park

The Marquis de Sade was declared, “the fist commandment of art is ‘never to bore,’” and perhaps no other artist of his generation has embodied this sentiment more than Guillermo Gómez- Peña, the Mexican-born performance artist and cultural theorist living in San Francisco. Since the early 1980s Gómez-Peña, along with his performance troupe La Pocha Nostra, have been engaged in “reverse anthropology” staging “postcolonial” performances that foreground race and intervene in our cultural fears and desires by focusing on our obsession with the exotic. He deftly navigates the “post-multicultural” world – accelerated by globalization and nation branding – by using elaborate performative and interactive elements that expose (to the audience) their deeply embedded cultural stereotypes and desires for the other.

Leadership for creating a thinking school at Buranda State School

This article explores the role of principal leadership in creating a thinking school. It contributes to the school leadership literature by exploring the intersection of two important areas of study in education - school leadership and education for thinking - which is a particularly apt area of study, because effective school leadership is crucial if students are to learn to be critical and creative thinkers, yet this connection has not be widely investigated. We describe how one principal, Hinton, turned around an underperforming school by using critical and creative philosophical thinking as the focus for students, staff and parents. Then, drawing on the school leadership literature, the article describes seven attributes of school leadership beginning with four articulated by Leithwood and colleagues (2006) (building vision and setting direction; redesigning the organisation; understanding and developing people; managing the teaching and learning program), and adding three others (influence; self-development; and responding to context). This framework is then used in a case study format in a collaboration between practitioner and researchers to first explore evidence from empirical studies and personal reflection about Hinton's leadership of Buranda State School, and second to illuminate how these general features of school leadership apply to creating a thinking school. Based on the case study and using the general characteristics of school leadership, a framework for leading a thinking school is described. Because the framework is based on a turnaround school, this framework has wide applicability: to schools that are doing well as an indication of how to implement a contemporary approach to curriculum and pedagogy; and to schools that are underperforming and want a rigorous, high expectation and contemporary way to improve student learning.

Microstructures and strengthening mechanisms of Cu/Ni/W nanolayered composites

Cu/Ni/W nanolayered composites with individual layer thickness ranging from 5nm to 300nm were prepared by a magnetron sputtering system. Microstructures and strength of the nanolayered composites were investigated by using the nanoindentation method combined with theoretical analysis. Microstructure characterization revealed that the Cu/Ni/W composite consists of a typical Cu/Ni coherent interface and Cu/W and Ni/W incoherent interfaces. Cu/Ni/W composites have an ultrahigh strength and a large strengthening ability compared with bi-constituent Cu–X(X¼Ni, W, Au, Ag, Cr, Nb, etc.) nanolayered composites. Summarizing the present results and those reported in the literature, we systematically analyze the origin of the ultrahigh strength and its length scale dependence by taking into account the constituent layer properties, layer scales and heterogeneous layer/layer interface characteristics, including lattice and modulus mismatch as well as interface structure.

The new normativity : the innovation imperative

At a quite fundamental level, the very way in which Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) may envisage its future usually captured in the semantic shift from PSB to Public Service Media (PSM) is at stake when considering the recent history of public value discourse and the public value test. The core Reithian PSB idea assumed that public value would be created through the application of core principles of universality of availability and appeal, provision for minorities, education of the public, distance from vested interests, quality programming standards, program maker independence, and fostering of national culture and the public sphere. On the other hand, the philosophical import of the public value test is that potentially any excursion into the provision of new media services needs to be justified ex ante. In this era of New Public Management, greater transparency and accountability, and the proposition that resources for public value deliverables be contestable and not sequestered in public sector institutions, what might be the new Archimedean point around which a contemporised normativity for PSM be built? This paper will argue for the innovation imperative as an organising principle for contemporary PSM. This may appear counterintuitive, as it is precisely PSB’s predilection for innovating in new media services (in online, mobile, and social media) that has produced the constraining apparatus of the ex ante/public value/Drei-Stufen-Test in Europe, based on principles of competitive neutrality and transparency in the application of public funds for defined and limited public benefit. However, I argue that a commitment to innovation can define as complementary to, rather than as competitive ‘crowding out’, the new products and services that PSM can, and should, be delivering into a post-scarcity, superabundant all-media marketplace. The evidence presented in this paper for this argument is derived mostly from analysis of PSM in the Australian media ecology. While no PSB outside Europe is subject to a formal public value test, the crowding out arguments are certainly run in Australia, particularly by powerful commercial interests for whom free news is a threat to monetising quality news journalism. Take right wing opinion leader, herself a former ABC Board member, Judith Sloan: ‘… the recent expansive nature of the ABC – all those television stations, radio stations and online offerings – is actually squeezing activity that would otherwise be undertaken by the private sector. From partly correcting market failure, the ABC is now causing it. We are now dealing with a case of unfair competition and wasted taxpayer funds’ (The Drum, 1 August http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2818220.html). But I argue that the crowding out argument is difficult to sustain in Australia because of the PSB’s non-dominant position and the fact that much of innovation generated by the two PSBs, the ABC and the SBS, has not been imitated by or competed for by the commercials. The paper will bring cases forward, such as SBS’ Go Back to Where you Came From (2011) as an example of product innovation, and a case study of process and organisational innovation which also has resulted in specific product and service innovation – the ABC’s Innovation Unit. In summary, at least some of the old Reithian dicta, along with spectrum scarcity and market failure arguments, have faded or are fading. Contemporary PSM need to justify their role in the system, and to society, in terms of innovation.

Ingenious : Emerging Youth Cultures in Urban Australia

The book documents new findings on the contribution of migrant young people to Australia’s urban life. The essays collected traces teenagers within a world of city suburbs and P plates, shopping malls and chat rooms and text messages. Proud of their migrant backgrounds, they are moving away from explicit ethnically defined cultural groups to focus on their place in contemporary Australian society. These young people through their every day activities are redefining what it means to be an Australian The book is edited by widely published cultural researchers Melissa Butcher from the University of Sydney and Mandy Thomas from the Australian National University who together worked on the GENERATE project. It is far too common for our youth to be portrayed as not belonging to our dominant or mainstream culture. In Ingenious, the editors study the kaleidoscope of influences and environments our youth move within - online networks, dance parties and more - to paint a flexible, innovative generation.

Dreams in the Shadows : Vietnamese-Australian Lives in Transition

Explores the experiences of Vietnamese immigrants in Australia. Description What is it like to be a refugee in a country that has a completely different culture from your own, where you feel very different from those around you? With a fine eye for detail and keen empathy for her interviewees, Mandy Thomas explores the experiences of Vietnamese living in Australia. She examines displacement and loss, the ongoing effects of war trauma, and international and community politics. While reflecting on many of the contemporary debates on identity and communality, she explores the concrete realities of Vietnamese lives through their daily experiences. She discusses how Vietnamese families have adapted Western domestic architecture to create a more comfortable home environment, how traditional festivals now serve new purposes, and the changing nature of status and gender relations. She describes the reception of the Vietnamese by the wider Australian society and in the media, and she explores the ongoing ties that overseas Vietnamese have with their homeland. Dreams in the Shadows is a valuable resource for anyone working with immigrant communities, for readers interested in Vietnamese immigration to Western countries, and for researchers of migration and multiculturalism. 'Dreams in the Shadows is a wonderfully sensitive account of Vietnamese in Australia that provides insight into the worlds of Vietnamese immigrants and the often marginalizing orders of the host society.' Bruce Kapferer, Professor of Anthropology, James Cook University and University College London 'A perceptive, sensitive and culturally nuanced account of one of the most recently formed diasporas - that of Vietnamese in Sydney. Deserves to be widely read.' Pnina Werbner, Reader in Social Anthropology, Keele University

The moral status of babies

In their controversial paper 'After-birth abortion', Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argue that there is no rational basis for allowing abortion but prohibiting infanticide ('after-birth abortion'). We ought in all consistency either to allow both or prohibit both. This paper rejects their claim, arguing that much-neglected considerations in philosophical discussions of this issue are capable of explaining why we currently permit abortion in some cases, while prohibiting infanticide.

Returning to the roots of culture : a review and re-conceptualisation of safety culture

Despite significant research, there is still little agreement over how to define safety culture or of what it is comprised. Due to this lack of agreement, much of the safety culture research has little more than safety management strategies in common. There is, however, a degree of acceptance of the close relationship between safety culture and organisational culture. Organisational culture can be described using traditional views of culture drawn from the anthropology and cultural psychology literature. However, the safety culture literature rarely ventures beyond organisational culture into discussions of these more traditional concepts of culture. There is a need to discuss how these concepts of culture can be applied to safety culture to provide greater understanding of safety culture and additional means by which to approach safety in the workplace. This review explores how three traditional conceptualisations of culture; the normative, anthropological and pragmatist conceptualisations, can and have been be applied to safety culture. Finally the review proposes a synthesised conceptualisation of safety culture which can be used to provide greater depth and practical applicability of safety culture, by increasing our understanding of the interactions between cultural and contextual variables in a given workplace and the effect they have on safety.

The emergence of critical health psychology : can it contribute to promoting public health?

The purpose of this article is twofold : first to provide an overview of the emergence of critical health psychology for those working in the related social and health sciences and as a review of its major developments for health psychology; and second to discuss critically the potential for critical health psychology to contribute to promoting public health with specific reference to the directives espoused by Prilleltensky (2003) and Murray and Campbell (2003). The identification of three philosophical phases of the emergence of critical health psychology is used to examine the directions of the field and the challenges facing critical health psychology in order to contribute to public and global health.

On the impact of the "linguistic turn" on research in information systems

The linguistic turn within philosophy has recently gained increased attention within social sciences. It can be seen as an attempt to investigate traditional philosophical problems by analysing the linguistic expressions used for these investigations. More generally, the phenomenon of language itself must be considered because of its (constitutional) impact on the investigation of phenomena in social sciences. In order to understand the consequences of the linguistic turn, its origins in philosophy are important and will be discussed. Within social sciences the linguistic turn already had significant impact. As an example, we will therefore discuss what directions the linguistic turn enabled for organizational analysis. Information Systems as a discipline must face the consequences of the linguistic turn as well. We will discuss how the linguistic framework introduced impacts the development of knowledge management and that of managerial and organizational support systems. This example shows what different perspectives the linguistic turn can provide for investigations within Information Systems. In addition, we will briefly outline the impact of the linguistic turn with respect to methodologies in Information Systems research.

The application of a set of principles to safeguard student learning engagement

Student engagement is a key contributor to student achievement and retention. Increasingly, international and Australasian universities are introducing a range of specific initiatives aimed at monitoring and intervening with students who are at risk of disengaging, particularly in their first year of study. A multi-site case study formed the focus of a national learning and teaching project to develop a suite of resources to guide good practice for safeguarding student learning engagement that were consistent with the notions of equity and social justice. Pivotal to the suite of resources is the Social Justice Framework and a set of social justice principles that emerged through a synthesis of existing literature and were further refined through the examination of qualitative data collected across the participating institutions. These social justice principles reflect general notions of equity and social justice, embrace the philosophical position of recognitive social justice, and are presented in an interconnected and co-dependent way within the framework. Participants will be provided with the opportunity to identify and discuss the practical applications of the principles to student engagement activities in their own institutions.

Evaluating Communication for Development : A Framework for Social Change

Evaluating Communication for Development presents a comprehensive framework for evaluating communication for development (C4D). This framework combines the latest thinking from a number of fields in new ways. It critiques dominant instrumental, accountability-based approaches to development and evaluation and offers an alternative holistic, participatory, mixed methods approach based on systems and complexity thinking and other key concepts. It maintains a focus on power, gender and other differences and social norms. The authors have designed the framework as a way to focus on achieving sustainable social change and to continually improve and develop C4D initiatives. The benefits and rigour of this approach are supported by examples and case studies from a number of action research and evaluation capacity development projects undertaken by the authors over the past fifteen years. Building on current arguments within the fields of C4D and development, the authors reinforce the case for effective communication being a central and vital component of participatory forms of development, something that needs to be appreciated by decision makers. They also consider ways of increasing the effectiveness of evaluation capacity development from grassroots to management level in the development context, an issue of growing importance to improving the quality, effectiveness and utilisation of monitoring and evaluation studies in this field. The book includes a critical review of the key approaches, methodologies and methods that are considered effective for planning evaluation, assessing the outcomes of C4D, and engaging in continuous learning. This rigorous book is of immense theoretical and practical value to students, scholars, and professionals researching or working in development, communication and media, applied anthropology, and evaluation and program planning.

(Neo)Liberal doses of inequality : advance Australia where?

The relationship between social background and achievement has preoccupied educational researchers since the mid-20th century with major studies in the area reaching prominence in the late 60s. Despite five decades of research and innovation since, recent studies using OECD data have shown that the relationship is strengthening rather than weakening. In this paper, the systematic destabilisation of public education in Australia is examined as a philosophical problem stemming from a fundamental shift in political orientation, where “choice” and “aspiration” work to promote and disguise survivalism. The problem for education however extends far deeper than the inequity in Federal government funding. Whilst this is a major problem, critical scrutiny must also focus on what states can do to turn back aspects of their own education policy that work to exacerbate and entrench social disadvantage.

Mapping Multiple Literacies: An Introduction to Deleuzian Literacy Studies

Mapping Multiple Literacies brings together the latest theory and research in the fields of literacy study and European philosophy, Multiple Literacies Theory (MLT) and the philosophical work of Gilles Deleuze. It frames the process of becoming literate as a fluid process involving multiple modes of presentation, and explains these processes in terms of making maps of our social lives and ways of doing things together. For Deleuze, language acquisition is a social activity of which we are a part, but only one part amongst many others. Masny and Cole draw on Deleuze's thinking to expand the repertoires of literacy research and understanding. They outline how we can understand literacy as a social activity and map the ways in which becoming literate may take hold and transform communities. The chapters in this book weave together theory, data and practice to open up a creative new area of literacy studies and to provoke vigorous debate about the sociology of literacy.

[Book Review] Urban Maps : Instruments of Narrative and Interpretation in the City by Richard Brook and Nick Dunn, Ashgate, Farham, United Kingdom, 2011, 250pp. ISBN 978-0-754676-5-77.

Urban maps discusses new ways and tools to read and navigate the contemporary city. Each chapter investigates a possible approach to unravel the complexity of contemporary urban forms. Each tool is first defined, introducing its philosophical background, and is then discussed with case studies, showing its relevance for the navigation of the built environment. Urbanism classics such as the work of Lynch, Jacobs, Venuti and Scott-Brown, Lefebrve and Walter Benjamin are fundamental in setting the framework of the volume. In the introduction cities and mapping are first discussed, the former are illustrated as ‘a composite of invisible networks devoid of landmarks and overrun by nodes’ (p. 3), and ‘a series of unbounded spaces where mass production and mass consumption reproduce a standardised quasi-global culture’ (p. 6).