Monsters: monstrous identities in young adult romance

Monstrous identities in fantasy for young adults often function as metaphors for cultural tensions about romantic and sexual relations between young people, and about how the young interact with the generation that precedes them. This essay considers four monster figures prevalent in Young Adult (YA) fantasy: the vampire, the werewolf, the monstrous mother, and the monstrous father and analyses their manifestation in YA romances by Robin McKinley, Stephenie Meyer, L. K. Smith and Maggie Stiefvater. It considers what these representations tell us about cultural anxieties over the sexuality of young women, and how they are positioned as reading subjects.

Timing of breeding and diet of the Black-faced cormorant Phalacrocorax fuscescens

Previous anecdotal reports have suggested that Black-faced Cormorant Phalacrocorax fuscescens breeds only in winter in southeastern Australia, but detailed reports confirming this are lacking. Here we examine the timing of breeding in Black-faced Cormorants at Notch Island in northern Bass Strait in 2006. Peak laying occurred during winter (ca 26 July). The diet of Black-faced Cormorants was predominantly fish (97% of identified prey) and varied between breeding and post-breeding periods. Black-faced Cormorants consumed a total of 14 different species with four species having a frequency of occurrence in the diet of ?5% during the breeding season and six species during the post-breeding period. We provide data for the first time on the chronology of breeding of Black-faced Cormorants in one year and give a preliminary description of their diet based on pellet analyses. We propose that late winter breeding may be a strategy to avoid the high ambient temperatures in northern Bass Strait during summer, the associated higher thermoregulatory costs for adults and the increased mortality for chicks.

Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me: constructing teacher identities across different learning paradigms

This article discusses one key finding from a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of overseas-born, ethnic minority early childhood pre-service teachers in New Zealand. Data were collected through interviews with recently graduated Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) teachers and early childhood lecturers. Until they were supported to incorporate their cultural knowledges into their new learning, most graduate participants found there was little to which they could relate in the pedagogies and content of their teacher education courses. This article makes recommendations for the planning, preparation and delivery of early childhood teacher education.

Challenging identities: Muslim women in Australia

Muslim women in Australia are at the forefront of a culture war, and not necessarily by choice. As visible representatives of Islam, veiled women face discrimination and abuse, and carry the stigma of a culture frequently deemed unacceptable and inferior. Despite these adverse conditions, Muslim women have demonstrated a remarkable resilience by maintaining their presence in the public domain and by continuing to make a positive contribution to Australia. The experiences of Muslim women in Australia cannot be typecast as a sisterhood of oppressed females. Challenging Identities questions the assumption of incompatible 'Australian values' and 'Islamic values', and provides valuable first-person accounts from the lives of Muslim women in Australia.

Fair game or no contest: contested identities in initial teacher education

The narrative of one ethnic minority early childhood student teacher tells of her journey as she (re)constructs her identities as a Cook Island woman and as a pre-service teacher, during a teacher education course in New Zealand. This story conveys her experiences of learning across different pedagogical paradigms. Findings show that teacher education lecturers can significantly enhance the learning experience for ethnic minority pre-service teachers by incorporating existing knowledges and understandings in course content and delivery.