Family history and the Great War in Australia

The boom in family history that is a hallmark of so much historical activity around the globe over the last three decades is one contributor to the resurgence of interest in the Great War itself. In Australia, as elsewhere in the western world, family history and the resources dedicated to it have been expanding rapidly. This chapter investigates recent practices of family history of the Great War in Australia. Our aim is to examine the role of family history in producing and reproducing knowledge of the Great War within Australian families, and the relationship between the conduct and transmission of family history on the one hand, and the contours of cultural memory on the other.

Outlaw-in

For the 2014 McClelland Gallery Sculpture Survey and Award Bozo ink created a scaled down model of The McClelland Gallery. Crash-landed in the Australian bush, the gallery’s belly is exposed, and into it the viewer can poke their head. Continuing our investigation into space, identity and Australian art history we look to the viewer to become panoptic in their view of the gallery and its surrounds, and at the same time the subject under surveillance. We encourage the viewer to cross the threshold from subject to object – to break the sanctity of the object/gallery. Like most of our works the invitations are many, we layer real-time experience with fictional narratives, illusions and copies. As much as we question the integrity of space we ask the viewer to consider their complicity in the history and occupation of it.

Cancer risk factors, diagnosis and sexual identity in the Australian longitudinal study of women's health

PURPOSE: We sought to examine cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, and related risk factors among Australian, middle-aged, exclusively heterosexual women compared with sexual minority women (SMW; mainly heterosexual, bisexual, mainly lesbian, and lesbian). METHODS: Secondary data analysis of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health for women born in 1946 through 1951 (n = 10,451) included bivariate tests (i.e., contingency table analyses, independent t tests). RESULTS: SMW did not have significantly higher cancer diagnoses compared with exclusively heterosexual women, although they were more likely to report never having had a mammogram or pap smear. SMW were also significantly more likely to be high-risk drinkers (11.1% vs. 6.8%; p < .05), current smokers (15.1% vs. 8.3%; p < .001), report significantly higher rates of depression (mean ± SD; 6.4 ± 5.5 vs. 5.4 ± 5.1; p < .01.), have experienced physical abuse (10.2% vs. 5.1%; p < .001), and been in a violent relationship (27.2% vs. 12.8%; p < .001). CONCLUSION: SMW had higher rates of several known cancer risk factors, ostensibly placing them at higher risk of cancer as well as chronic health conditions. Further research is needed to determine whether increased risk results in increased cancer as these women age, and to inform the development of interventions to reduce the risk of disease for SMW.

Role recognition and changes to self-identity in family caregivers of people with advanced cancer: a qualitative study

Purpose : Family caregivers of people with advanced cancer can provide extensive support to the patient. However, the role is not well defined and their experiences are poorly understood. This study aimed to explore how caregivers view their role and the impact of their caregiving.

Methods : A symbolic interactionist framework guided the in-depth individual interviews and grounded theory methodology was used to analyse the data. A total of 17 interviews were conducted: 13 with active caregivers and 4 with bereaved caregivers.

Results : Three dominant codes are presented. Caregivers lacked role recognition, as they struggled to recognise their role existed, even though they took on extensive and challenging tasks. Caregivers reported substantial loss or changes to their self-identity: with some caregivers reporting not being able to stop thinking about caregiving and others having difficulty answering questions about themselves. Caregivers also demonstrated difficulty in taking a break: active caregivers did not consider taking a break, whereas bereaved caregivers retrospectively admitted needing a break but reported an inability to take one.

Conclusions : Caregiving is complex and extensive. People who care for those with advanced cancer are in need of intervention to provide support and assistance to them in their role. However, this needs to be structured with consideration for how caregivers view their role.

Geo-identity, urban school choice and education campaigns for public schools

Educational campaigning has received little attention in the literature. This study investigates long-term and organised urban campaigns that are collectively lobbying the Victorian State Government in Australia, for a new public high school to be constructed in their suburb. A public high school is also known as a state school, government school, or an ordinary comprehensive school. It receives the majority of its funding from the State and Federal Australian Government, and is generally regarded as ‘free’ education, in comparison to a private school. Whilst the campaigners frame their requests as for a ‘public school’, their primary appeal is for a local school in their community. This study questions how collective campaigning for a locale-specific public school is influenced by geography, class and identity. In order to explore these campaigns, I draw on formative studies of middle-class school choice from an Australian and United Kingdom perspective (Campbell, Proctor, & Sherington, 2009; Reay, Crozier, & James, 2011). To think about the role of geography and space in these processes of choice, I look to apply Harvey’s (1973) theory of absolute, relational and relative space. I use Bourdieu (1999b) as a sociological lens that is attentive to “site effects” and it is through this lens that I think about class as a “collection of properties” (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 106), actualised via mechanisms of identity and representation (Hall, 1996; Rose, 1996a, 1996b). This study redresses three distinct gaps in the literature: first, I focus attention on a contemporary middle-class choice strategy—that is, collective campaigning for a public school. Research within this field is significantly under-developed, despite this choice strategy being on the rise. Second, previous research argues that certain middle-class choosers regard the local public school as “inferior” in some way (Reay, et al., 2011, p. 111), merely acting as a “safety net” (Campbell, et al., 2009, p. 5) and connected to the working-class chooser (Reay & Ball, 1997). The campaigners are characteristic of the middle-class school chooser, but they are purposefully and strategically seeking out the local public school. Therefore, this study looks to build on work by Reay, et al. (2011) in thinking about “against-the-grain school choice”, specifically within the Australian context. Third, this study uses visual and graphic methods in order to examine the influence of geography in the education market (Taylor, 2001). I see the visualisation of space and schooling that I offer in this dissertation as a key theoretical contribution of this study. I draw on a number of data sets, both qualitative and quantitative, to explore the research questions. I interviewed campaigners and attended campaign meetings as participant observer; I collected statistical data from fifteen different suburbs and schools, and conducted comparative analyses of each. These analyses are displayed by using visual graphs. This study uses maps created by a professional graphic designer and photographs by a professional photographer; I draw on publications by the campaigners themselves, such as surveys, reports and social media; but also, interviews with campaigners that are published in local or state newspapers. The multiple data sets enable an immersive and rich graphic ethnography. This study contributes by building on understandings of how particular sociological cohorts of choosers are engaging with, and choosing, the urban public school in Australia. It is relevant for policy making, in that it comes at a time of increasing privatisation and a move toward independent public schools. This study identifies cohorts of choosers that are employing individual and collective political strategies to obtain a specific school, and it identifies this cohort via explicit class-based characteristics and their school choice behaviours. I look to use fresh theoretical and methodological approaches that emphasise space and geography, theorising geo-identity and the pseudo-private school

Executive power and scaled-up gender subtexts in Australian entrepreneurial universities

Deputy Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor positions have proliferated in response to the global, corporatised university landscape [Scott, G., S. Bell, H. Coates, and L. Grebennikov. 2010. “Australian Higher Education Leaders in Times of Change: The Role of Pro Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor.” Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 32 (4): 401–418]. Senior leadership is the sphere where academic and management identities are negotiated and values around the role of the university are decided. This paper examines the changing and gendered nature of the senior leadership setting and its implications for diversity in and of university leadership. The analysis draws from a three-year empirical study funded by the Australian Research Council on leadership in Australian universities. It focuses on executive leaders in three universities – one which is research-intensive, the second, in a regional site, and the third, university of technology. The article argues that the university landscape and its management systems are being restructured in gendered ways. It utilises the notion of organisational gender subtexts to make explicit how gender works through structural and cultural reform.

Evolutionary history and leaf succulence as explanations for medicinal use in aloes and the global popularity of Aloe vera

BACKGROUND: Aloe vera supports a substantial global trade yet its wild origins, and explanations for its popularity over 500 related Aloe species in one of the world's largest succulent groups, have remained uncertain. We developed an explicit phylogenetic framework to explore links between the rich traditions of medicinal use and leaf succulence in aloes. RESULTS: The phylogenetic hypothesis clarifies the origins of Aloe vera to the Arabian Peninsula at the northernmost limits of the range for aloes. The genus Aloe originated in southern Africa ~16 million years ago and underwent two major radiations driven by different speciation processes, giving rise to the extraordinary diversity known today. Large, succulent leaves typical of medicinal aloes arose during the most recent diversification ~10 million years ago and are strongly correlated to the phylogeny and to the likelihood of a species being used for medicine. A significant, albeit weak, phylogenetic signal is evident in the medicinal uses of aloes, suggesting that the properties for which they are valued do not occur randomly across the branches of the phylogenetic tree. CONCLUSIONS: Phylogenetic investigation of plant use and leaf succulence among aloes has yielded new explanations for the extraordinary market dominance of Aloe vera. The industry preference for Aloe vera appears to be due to its proximity to important historic trade routes, and early introduction to trade and cultivation. Well-developed succulent leaf mesophyll tissue, an adaptive feature that likely contributed to the ecological success of the genus Aloe, is the main predictor for medicinal use among Aloe species, whereas evolutionary loss of succulence tends to be associated with losses of medicinal use. Phylogenetic analyses of plant use offer potential to understand patterns in the value of global plant diversity.

AHS classics: Australia and the First World War: the First World War in Australian history

This article introduces the first volume of AHS Classics: Australia and the First World War. It surveys the critical scholarship on the Australian experience of war, taking its cue from Ken Inglis' seminal article, ‘The Anzac Tradition’ (1965), and tracing the development of his challenge to Australian historians over the following five decades. It argues that the adaptability of the Anzac legend, and its assimilation of varied experiences of the First World War, requires both investigation and caution in the production of new histories of events almost a century distant.

Notions of place, space and identity in rural teacher education

This chapter explores the concepts of space, place, and identity through a selfstudy narrative lens that focuses on the importance of rural within these conversations. Current research into teacher education acknowledges the signifi cance of context and how it matters in terms of teacher preparation; this chapter examines context in terms of the impact of working in a rural context and the differences and similarities of rural to other contexts. The overarching framework for this chapter will be on myself as a rural teacher educator and how this bounds and is bounded by my own identity and experience ‘growing up rural’ in Australia. I will also outline my own emerging research into self-study as a methodology and how this adds to my role as a teacher educator within rural communities. Firstly however, I will explore the concepts of place and space and how this guides my own rural self-study.

Gender roles and the education gender gap in Turkey

Using nationally representative data on individual subjective views on gender roles, we examine the gender gap in educational achievement in Turkey and show that the cultural bias against the education of girls is a fundamental factor behind their low educational attainment in socially conservative societies. The 1997 education reform in Turkey extended compulsory schooling from 5 to 8 years. Using the reform as a natural experiment, we investigate the impact of the reform on the effects of mothers’ traditional views in determining children’s educational attainment. We find that the reform helped reduce school dropout rates across the country. Nevertheless, regardless of the mother’s view on gender roles, the reductions in school dropout rates were similar for boys and girls, failing to eliminate the gender gap against girls. Turkey is an excellent environment to study the effects of societal gender roles since it combines modernity with traditionalism and displays a wide spectrum of views on gender roles. It is also one of the few developing countries where a gender gap to the detriment of females still exists in educational achievement