Professional identity and pedagogical space : negotiating difference in teacher workplaces

This paper explores "spatial struggle" in the formation of professional identities of overseas-born teachers. The basis of this struggle arises from a limited number of subject positions available for them in pedagogical spaces of the Australian system of education. We argue that relations of power/professional knowledge in teacher workplaces as well as the binary strategy of "us" and "them" generate marginal locations for overseas-born teachers within schools. This construction of marginality is informed not only by discourses of what counts as being a professional but also by the conception of workplace as a monocultural, pre-given and bounded entity. By rethinking workplaces as relational, as locations that are connected to other socioculturally produced places through spaces of semiotic flows, we can also rethink the professional becoming of overseas-born teachers. This involves a critical understanding of their situationality, which can be conceptualised as a struggle for professional recognition, voice and place within the real and imagined communities of teachers.

Deep identity, shallow time : sustaining a future in Victorian fishing communities

Like commercial fishers everywhere, it seems, those living in coastal communities of Victoria perceive themselves to be under threat from recreational fishers, environmentalists, imposed management regimes, and modernisation and globalisation of the industry. In responding to these threats they appeal to conventional props of tradition--to continuity in genealogical time, affiliation with place and specialised knowledge and practice. This seems paradoxical, given that most established fishers in Victoria are first or second generation members of an industry that, through its 150-year history, has been characterised by innovation and mobility. That paradox, we argue, is more apparent than real. Fisher identity is grounded primarily in engagement with an environment that is not familiar to outsiders. The paradox arises because fishers, like others who seek to sustain a future in the face of threat from outsiders, reshape strongly felt identity as tradition.

National and cultural identity in diaspora

The thesis examines the 'preservation' of Lithuanian national and cultural identity among migrant groups in Australia, comparing postwar migrants with people who have arrived since 1970. It argues that cultural identity is a flexible, evolving concept, negotiated in relation to the social, economic and political circumstances of the migrant.

Scalpel slaves or cyborgs? : cosmetic surgery and embodied identity

This thesis explores individuals' experiences of cosmetic surgery in Melbourne. The research conducted with recipients of cosmetic surgery is a complex and ambiguous practice simultaneously encompassing pain and pleasure, agency and constraint, empowerment and conformity. By providing a more nuanced representation of people's experiences of such surgery, the thesis envisions a subjectivity that may better account for individuals' active and lived relationship to their bodies.

Malay theatre in Singapore : issues of cultural identity

This thesis explores the impact of culturally hybrid practices on the Singapore Malay community through fully comprehensive analyses of significant productions by two prominent Singapore Malay theatre groups. It demonstrates the value of applying contemporary cultural/semiotic theory and analysis to issues of cultural hybridity and identity to theatrical performance discourse.

Dutch Indonesians in Australia : second-generation identity in the diaspora

Exploring "local" and "transnational" relationships, this research shows that second-generation relationships with the homeland and with other members in the diaspora are less important regarding (diasporic) identity formation than realities of sedentary diasporic life (in Australia) and that "locality" and diaspora are not opposing concepts but theoretically and practically interconnected.

English as an international language and teachers' professional identity

This thesis found that the notion of English as a lingua franca and its implications in teaching English are difficult for English teachers to accept in a social-cultural context where English is a foreign language. Teachers' professional identity is the key to determine the success or failure of educational innovations.

Participation, relational justice and social identity in cervical cancer screening

Extending existing health literature by drawing on social and community psychology, this thesis represents the first attempt to explore the conceptualisation of 'participation' in cervical cancer screening. Quantitative and qualitative findings suggested that women's experiences of 'patient participation' and 'voice opportunity' were important and related to various social processes and variables in this health context. Using four case studies, the professional portfolio demonstrates a biopsychosocial approach to assessment and intervention as used by a provisional health psychologist working with clients with intellectual disabilities in order to promote sexual health.

Cultural and place identity : a study in Melbourne's western suburbs

This research explored the effect of cultural identity on the character of neighbourhoods in Melbourne's western suburbs. The study revealed that migrant cultural identity is expressed in neighbourhoods with diverse cultural groups although it was found to be shaped by the dominant perception of suburban character.

Sociology of cancer in men and women : sexuality, identity and body changes

Prostate and breast cancers are a common group of gender specific diseases that affect men and women respectively. This study explores the impact of the cancer and the social processes involved in re-establishing the self in the aftermath of cancer. The study's premise is that the self is an embodied social agent and that the body is the medium where illness is expresses and experienced by the embodied self.

Not waving but drowning : case studies in work identity of new university academics

Eight case studies of academics at a new multi-campus, multi-state Catholic university form the basis of the research. A particular focus is examining how the academics struggle to construct their work identity against the global higher education background of changing government policies, reduced funding and major shifts in thinking about the functions of universities; and also the background of within-university changes: its new research-orientation, its particular form of corporate managerialist administration.

Identity and marginality among Slavic Baptists in Victoria

Analyses the ethnic and religious identity of an immigrant community in the light of Professor Hans Mol's social-scientific theory of religion. Argues that the Baptist religious beliefs facilitate the identification process of Slavic Baptists within the Australian host society.