The Allergic Bodies Conference: Postgraduate/Postdoctoral Research Conference, 2010

This is the programme document for the annual Postgraduate/Postdoctoral Research Conference with Keynotes: Dr Jennifer Bajorek (Goldsmiths), Marianne Sjelsford (National Academy of Arts, Oslo, Sweden); Dr Maarten Vanvolsem (Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography, Katholieke Universiteit, Brussels), Professor Pedro Lasch (Duke University)

The 'memoir problem', revisited.

The ‘memoir problem’ revisited “That you had parents and a childhood does not of itself qualify you to write a memoir”. Neil Gunzlinger, book reviewer for the New York Times, griped in a review of yet another confessional memoir. It’s true; suddenly everyone is writing memoir, even people who only ever wrote fiction, rock music or poetry, or never wrote before. I even find myself writing memoir, but mining some of my own fictional writing for triggers and nudges, delving into old poems for clues and lines of inquiry. After all, the memory does not always linger on. Now, since revisiting this autobiographical writing as a resource for chapters of my Creative Nonfiction PhD thesis, a food memoir, in this paper I’ll discuss attempts made to fictionalise the ‘true’ events of the stories, and the uses made of them, to revitalise memoir. I also reflect on the work of controversial memoirist Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose six-volume work, ‘My struggle’, has offended members of his extended family, critics and purists, or simply bored many readers with the impossibly detailed accounts of his life, to ask again of memoir, “Should it be artful or truthful?

Signing off on the state

This thesis provides a contextual analysis of my creative practice as a visual artist. An overview of the social and historical relationships of the individual in societal organisations, and in relation to what Stuart Hall refers to as tendential lines of force, the dominant structures of religion and the state (Hall, 1996), set the context for a selfreflexive analysis of my practice. In carrying out a contextual analysis of my practice, it is the intention of this thesis to map a context by which Australian national identity is manufactured. This context is the hegemonic processes that seek to maintain a cultural and political dominance using systems of representation and symbolic power to do so. I have framed this subject against the United Nations as an international body with which the nation-state needs to negotiate. This thesis draws on the debates surrounding the history wars in Australia under the former Howard government, with particular reference to the Australian War Memorial and the National Museum Australia, and their particular responses to the histories of frontier warfare. The significations of state power on Anzac Day are examined, as are the state embodied mechanisms that have censored the representation of Australia’s history. This is supported by a visual register of historical images from the archives of various state libraries depicting frontier violence in Australia over the first 160 years of European settlement. This thesis is supported by visual documentation of my exhibition Signing Off on the State held at the Fremantle Arts Centre in 2005. Seminal texts I have referred to are; Pierre Bordieu’s Language and symbolic power (1991), Stuart Hall, Critical dialogues in cultural studies (1996), Adolpho Sanchez Vazquez Art and Society: Essays in Marxist aesthetics (1973), John Connor’s The Australian frontier wars (2002), and Mckernan and Browne, Australia – two centuries of war and peace (1988)

The European Landscape of Qualitative Social Research Archives: Methodological and Practical Issues

In this article I set about describing current practices in archiving and reusing qualitative data. I discuss where can you find archived sources of qualitative data, and discuss some of the debates surrounding methodological, ethical and theoretical considerations relating to re-using data. I then address more pragmatic issues involved acquiring, preserving, providing access to and supporting the use of the data. Where best do qualitative data collections sit?in traditional libraries or archives alongside historical documents or as part of more holistic digital collections of contemporary social science research resources? This question relates to accessibility, resource discovery and cataloging methods, data preparation and documentation and promotional and outreach efforts to encourage data use. The ESDS Qualidata unit at the UK Data Archive is used as case study for showcasing archival practices, and is situated within the broader European landscape of social science-oriented data archives. Infrastructure requirements for running an archive are discussed and a look forward future developments

Archives Use of Social Media to Develop Connections with Family Historians

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a research project designed to investigate how social media is being used by archives to develop connections with family historians. This research used qualitative methodology and utilised Skype and Instant Messaging to conduct semi-structured interviews with participants from six archives. The research uses Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory as a framework. The research found the interviewees were using social media in various combinations to serve different purposes. In the majority of cases these tools were being used to achieve maximum access to the wider online community. The study highlights issues and concerns discussed by participants when using social media. There were limited examples of social media use to make connections with family historians during the study. Nonetheless this paper provides three detailed instances of its use to illustrate how archives can make these connections

Archives Use of Social Media to Develop Connections with Family Historians

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a research project designed to investigate how social media is being used by archives to develop connections with family historians. This research used qualitative methodology and utilised Skype and Instant Messaging to conduct semi-structured interviews with participants from six archives. The research uses Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory as a framework. The research found the interviewees were using social media in various combinations to serve different purposes. In the majority of cases these tools were being used to achieve maximum access to the wider online community. The study highlights issues and concerns discussed by participants when using social media. There were limited examples of social media use to make connections with family historians during the study. Nonetheless this paper provides three detailed instances of its use to illustrate how archives can make these connections

A Decade of Urban History: The Historical Urban Studies Series

The first half of the 1990s was a pivotal period in the development and growth of urban history in Europe. In Britain the Urban History Group began to convene again after a decade in abeyance, work commenced on the three-volume Cambridge Urban History of Britain, the Urban History Yearbook became Urban History whilst the European Association of Urban Historians organized their first conference. It was in this climate that Ashgate Publishing commissioned a new monograph series, Historical Urban Studies, under the editorship of Richard Rodger, editor of Urban History, and Jean-Luc Pinol, the leading French urban historian and a key figure in the European Association of Urban Historians (EAUH). The aim of the series was and is to be comparative over both time and space, drawing on multiple locations to explore what is common and what distinctive about the urban experience of diverse towns and nations. The broad agenda for the series was shaped by an overarching concern with the administration and governance of the city which underpinned attempts to manage the social, economic and political challenges wrought by 300 years of urban change. In particular, the editors stress the importance of the comparative element which should allow historians to distinguish ‘which were systematic factors and which were of a purely local nature’. The editors set themselves an ambitious agenda and this essay aims to explore how the series has developed over the ten or so years since it commenced publication; the degree to which it has provided a platform for advancing the sub-discipline of urban history; and to consider some future directions which urban history might take

Museums, Equality and Social Justice

The last two decades have seen concerns for equality, diversity, social justice and human rights move from the margins of museum thinking and practice, to the core. The arguments – both moral and pragmatic – for engaging diverse audiences, creating the conditions for more equitable access to museum resources, and opening up opportunities for participation, now enjoy considerable consensus in many parts of the world. A growing number of institutions are concerned to construct new narratives that represent a plurality of lived experiences, histories and identities which aim to nurture support for more progressive, ethically-informed ways of seeing and to actively inform contemporary public debates on often contested rights-related issues. At the same time it would be misleading to suggest an even and uncontested transition from the museum as an organisation that has been widely understood to marginalise, exclude and oppress to one which is wholly inclusive. Moreover, there are signs that momentum towards making museums more inclusive and equitable is slowing down or, in some contexts, reversing. Museums, Equality and Social Justice aims to reflect on and, crucially, to inform debates in museum research, policy and practice at this critical time. It brings together new research from academics and practitioners and insights from artists, activists, and commentators to explore the ways in which museums, galleries and heritage organisations are engaging with the fast-changing equalities terrain and the shifting politics of identity at global, national and local levels and to investigate their potential to contribute to more equitable, fair and just societies

Wadawurrung ethnobotany as synthesised from the research of Louis Lane

This research looks at how plants were used by Wadawurrung People prior to colonisation in a region classified as a biodiverse hotspot. This thesis provides a unique and valuable opportunity for modern society to learn about the Wadawurrung People’s comprehensive relationship with plants and their way of life