Re-imaging citizenship in suburban Australia

Formal citizenship focuses on the provision of rights and responsibilities by the nation state. Such an understanding of democratic citizenship, however, is limited in providing social inclusion in everyday life, if cultural practices privilege whiteness. Although this paper draws attention to such practices that mark the ethnic Other, it also demonstrates the potential that exists to shift the boundaries of white privilege and negotiate dominant narratives of citizenship. Using a theoretical and methodological approach that focuses on poststructural and feminist ideas, I argue that the ways in which place is produced through reiterative everyday practices, makes place a site of transformative social change where white privilege can be questioned and difference welcomed. I draw on 54 indepth semi-structured interviews with people who live and/or work in the City of Greater Dandenong, suburban Melbourne, Australia to makes visible these everyday reiterative practices, and illustrate how they can be conceptualised as acts of responsibility, rather than just repetitive acts of hostility and suspicion. From my intersecting and shifting subject positions as a woman, a resident, ethnic, migrant, and Indian, the visibility of such practices makes it possible to re-imagine citizenship in the local neighbourhood, the city as well as the nation.

Experiences of migration and the determinants of obesity among recent Iranian immigrants in Victoria, Australia

Objectives. There is evidence to suggest that immigrant groups from low- or medium-human development index countries show a significant adoption of obesogenic behaviors and experience weight gain following migration to Australia. The objective of this study is to understand the changes that Iranian immigrants experience in relation to the determinants of obesity after migration to Victoria, Australia.

Design. We conducted five focus group discussions with 33 recent Iranian immigrants. This study took an interpretive qualitative approach to data analysis using the constant comparative method.

Results. Participants discussed individual level acculturation (e.g., in diet, body size, attitudes), as well as environmental level changes (e.g., physical/structural and sociocultural) that occurred after immigration. Stress during the initial immigration transition, which affected diet and physical activity habits, was a common experience among participants. Gender and the effect of political/religious changes were also important factors. Participants' discourse largely focused on their ability and willingness to adopt positive health behaviors after migration.

Conclusion. This study provides insight into the effect of migration on the determinants of obesity among Iranian immigrants in Victoria, Australia, and offers a contrast with the existing evidence by considering the experience of a group that is generally well educated, often emigrates for reasons related to personal freedom as opposed to material deprivation, and has rates of obesity similar to high-income countries.

Bryophytes of urban industrial streetscapes in Victoria, Australia

The bryophyte floristics of industrial/commercial streetscapes of urban Victoria and the importance of various substrata to species richness were explored. Species richness was low compared to healthy natural environments. Thirty mosses from 14 families, and six liverworts, each from different families, were identified. Most species occurred at fewer than 30% of sites, showing the patchy nature of their distribution. Only three species occurred at more than half the sites. Markedly higher species richness occurred on soil than on any other substratum. Epiphytes were extremely few. The low bryodiversity of streetscapes, the patchy nature of the bryophytes and the high number of colonists suggest that the streetscapes have not fulfilled their potential in providing connectivity between urban and non-urban areas. Colonists characteristically occur early in the successional sequence of disturbed areas but, as streetscapes are continually disturbed, colonists effectively are climax species for this habitat. Better management of streetscapes to provide more complex habitat is needed to enable colonisation of these areas by bryophyte species that are more representative of our ever-shrinking natural habitats.

Utilising self-report data to measure racial discrimination in the labour market

Although economists have developed a series of approaches to modelling the existence of labour market discrimination, rarely is this topic examined by analysing self-report survey data. After reviewing theories and empirical models of labour market discrimination, we examine self-reported experience of discrimination at different stages in the labour market, among three racial groups utilising U.S. data from the 2001-2003 National Survey of American Life. Our findings indicate that African Americans and Caribbean blacks consistently report more experience of discrimination in the labour market than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. At different stages of the labour market, including hiring, termination and promotion, these groups are more likely to report discrimination than non-Hispanic whites. After controlling for social desirability bias and several human capital and socio-demographic covariates, the results remain robust for African Americans. However, the findings for Caribbean blacks were no longer significant after adjusting for social desirability bias. Although self-report data is rarely utilised to assess racial discrimination in labour economics, our study confirms the utility of this approach as demonstrated in similar research from other disciplines. Our results indicate that after adjusting for relevant confounders self-report survey data is a viable approach to estimating racial discrimination in the labour market. Implications of the study and directions for future research are provided.

Ocean currents influence the genetic structure of an intertidal mollusc in southeastern Australia – implications for predicting the movement of passive dispersers across a marine biogeographic barrier

Major disjunctions among marine communities in southeastern Australia have been well documented, although explanations for biogeographic structuring remain uncertain. Converging ocean currents, environmental gradients, and habitat discontinuities have been hypothesized as likely drivers of structuring in many species, although the extent to which species are affected appears largely dependent on specific life histories and ecologies. Understanding these relationships is critical to the management of native and invasive species, and the preservation of evolutionary processes that shape biodiversity in this region. In this study we test the direct influence of ocean currents on the genetic structure of a passive disperser across a major biogeographic barrier. Donax deltoides (Veneroida: Donacidae) is an intertidal, soft-sediment mollusc and an ideal surrogate for testing this relationship, given its lack of habitat constraints in this region, and its immense dispersal potential driven by year-long spawning and long-lived planktonic larvae. We assessed allele frequencies at 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci across 11 sample locations spanning the barrier region and identified genetic structure consistent with the major ocean currents of southeastern Australia. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data indicated no evidence of genetic structuring, but signatures of a species range expansion corresponding with historical inundations of the Bassian Isthmus. Our results indicate that ocean currents are likely to be the most influential factor affecting the genetic structure of D. deltoides and a likely physical barrier for passive dispersing marine fauna generally in southeastern Australia.

Cambodian migrant women's postpartum experiences in Victoria, Australia

Objective: to explore the postpartum experiences of Cambodian born migrant women who gave birth for the first time in Victoria, Australia between 2000 and 2010. Design: an ethnographic study with 35 women using semi-structured and unstructured interviews and participant observation; this paper draws on interviews with 20 women who fit the criteria of first time mothers who gave birth in an Australian public hospital. Setting: the City of Greater Dandenong, Victoria Australia. Participants: twenty Cambodian born migrant women aged 23-30 years who gave birth for the first time in a public hospital in Victoria, Australia. Findings: after one or two home visits by midwives in the first 10 day postpartum women did not see a health professional until 4-6 weeks postpartum when they presented to the MCH centre. Women were home alone, experienced loneliness and anxiety and struggled with breast feeding and infant care while they attempted to follow traditional Khmer postpartum practices. Implications for practice: results of this study indicate that Cambodian migrant women who are first time mothers in a new country with no female kin support in the postpartum period experience significant emotional stress, loneliness and social isolation and are at risk of developing postnatal depression. These women would benefit from the introduction of a midwife-led model of care, from antenatal through to postpartum, where midwives provide high-intensity home visits, supported by interpreters, and when required refer women to professionals and community services such as Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies (Victoria Department of Health, 2011) for up to 6 weeks postpartum

Gender wage discrimination in rural and urban labour markets of Bangladesh

Female wages in Bangladesh are significantly lower than male wages. This paper quantifies the extent to which discrimination can explain this gender wage gap across the rural and urban labour markets of Bangladesh, using unit record data from the 1999–2000 Labour Force Survey. The gender wage differential is decomposed into a component that can be explained by differences in productive characteristics and a component not explained by observable productive differences, which is attributed to discrimination. An attempt is also made to improve on the standard methodology by implementing a wage-gap decomposition method that accounts for selectivity bias, on top of the usual “explained” and “unexplained” components. Analytical results from this paper show that gender wage differentials are considerably larger in urban areas than in rural areas and a significant portion of this wage differential can be attributed to discrimination against women. The results also show that selectivity bias is an important component of total discrimination.

The musical and social benefits of community choir membership in Melbourne (Australia)

Sex differences in insect immune function : a consequence of diet choice?

Males often have reduced immune function compared to females but the proximate mechanisms underlying this taxonomically widespread pattern are unclear. Because immune function is resource-dependent and sexes may have different nutritional requirements, we hypothesized that sexual dimorphism in immune function may arise from differential nutrient intake (acquisition hypothesis). To test this hypothesis, we examined patterns of phenoloxidase (PO) activity in relation to nutrient consumption in Queensland fruit flies (Q-flies). In the first experiment, flies were allowed to choose their preferred nutrient intake. Compared with males, female Q-flies had higher PO activity, consumed more calories, and preferred a higher protein:carbohydrate (P:C) diet, suggesting that differential acquisition could explain sex differences. In the second experiment, we restricted flies to one of 12 diets varying in protein and carbohydrate concentrations and mapped PO activity for each sex onto a nutritional landscape. Counter to our hypothesis, females had higher PO activity than males at any given level of nutrient intake. Both carbohydrate and protein intake affected PO activity in females but only protein affected PO activity in males. Our results indicate that sex differences in Q-fly immune function are not solely explained by sex differences in nutrient intake, although nutrition does contribute to the magnitude of these sex differences.

Zonal banning and public order in urban Australia

In recent years, Australian governments of various ideological persuasions at local, state and territory and federal levels have introduced a range of zonal governing techniques to manage the flow of people in urban spaces. Zonal governance involves the identification and formal declaration of a specific urban geographic region to enable police and security personnel to deploy special powers and allied forms of surveillance technologies as a supplement to their conventional public order maintenance functions.

Despite the impetus towards open flows or movement within sovereign territories or larger territorial groupings, such as the European Union, considerable governmental effort has been directed towards the use of new forms of criminal law to re-territorialize urban space through new administrative, property law and regulatory measures. These low-level spatial demarcations introduce various supplementary police powers and discretionary procedures that enhance surveillance within a declared area to increase the level of contemporary urban security. Of particular concern is the legal right to ban or exclude “undesirable” individuals and groups from entering or using certain designated urban zones, to prevent antisocial or violent behavior usually associated with alcohol consumption.

To date, most discussion of the impact of banning and related surveillance measures focuses on illegal migration through ports of entry into sovereign nations and the commensurate burdens this creates for both citizens and non-citizens to authenticate their movements at national geographic borders. This logic is permeating more localized forms of regulation adopted by Australian local and mid-tier state and territory governments to control the movement of people in and out of major event sites and in the urban night-time economy.

A survey of recent reforms in the state of Victoria reveals how this new logic of mass-surveillance aims to promote greater levels of urban security while reshaping the conventional order maintenance functions of both the public and private police. This chapter describes these procedures and their impact in sanctioning the efficient screening of people to promote order in specific zones within the contemporary Australian urban environment, at the expense of more progressive and inclusive crime prevention initiatives. We focus on two exemplars of the intensification of surveillance through zonal governance techniques: ‘major events’ and ‘designated alcohol zones’.

Molecular sex-typing in shorebirds: a review of an essential method for research in evolution, ecology and conservation

Knowing the correct sex of individuals is essential both for research in evolutionary ecology and for practical conservation. Recent molecular advances have produced cheap, quick and reliable methods for sexing birds including chicks, juveniles, immatures and adults. Shorebird researchers have not yet fully utilised these advances. Here we provide an overview of work in this area to date with two objectives: (i) to review the major applications of molecular sexing and findings of shorebird research so far, and (ii) to provide an essential guide on how to carry out molecular sexing using current methods whilst avoiding methodological pitfalls. We encourage shorebird researchers to make better use of molecular sex-typing techniques in studies of conservation, migration, foraging ecology and breeding behaviour.

Molecular determination of sex-ratio in Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella offspring

Theory predicts skewed offspring sex-ratios in a range of situations in which the economics of producing the two sexes differ. Offspring sex-ratio skews in birds are relatively scarcely observed compared to other taxa. This could be because avian molecular sexing techniques, which allow young birds to be sexed, have only recently become available. Alternatively, birds may be largely constrained from adaptively manipulating the sex-ratio of their offspring. We used a recently-developed molecular sexing technique for birds to sex 420 Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella offspring from 168 clutches found in Oxfordshire. Clutch sex-ratio of the population did not depart from the expected binomial distribution, and there was no variation in clutch sex-ratio with laying date, breeding attempt, or a variety of habitat variables which were predicted to differentially affect the survival and future reproductive success of offspring of the two sexes. There was no difference in size or growth rate of the sexes and nestling mortality was not sex-biased. Hence, although we can identify possible advantages of manipulating the sex-ratio in this species, it seems not to be used as a breeding strategy. Given the lack of consistent evidence for skewed avian offspring sex-ratios, more experimental work is required to determine whether, and how, birds may adaptively manipulate their offspring sex-ratio.