Unfinished Decolonisation and Globalisation

This article locates John Darwin’s work on decolonisation within an Oxbridge tradition which portrays a British world system, of which formal empire was but one part, emerging to increasing global dominance from the early nineteenth century. In this mental universe, decolonisation was the mirror image of that expanding global power. According to this point of view, it was not the sloughing off of individual territories, but rather the shrinking away of the system and of the international norms that supported it, until only its ghost remained by the end of the 1960s. The article then asks, echoing the title of Darwin’s Unfinished Empire, whether the decolonisation project is all but complete, or still ongoing. In addition, what is the responsibility of the imperial historian to engage with, inform, or indeed refrain from, contemporary debates that relate to some of these issues? The answer is twofold. On the one hand, the toolkit that the Oxbridge tradition and Darwin provide remains relevant, and also useful in thinking about contemporary issues such as China’s move towards being a global power, the United States’ declining hegemony, and some states and groups desires to rearticulate their relationship with the global. On the other hand, the decline of world systems of power needs to be recognised as just one of several types of, and approaches to, analysing ‘decolonisation’. One which cannot be allowed to ignore or marginalise the study of others, such as experience, first nations issues, the shaping of the postcolonial state, and empire legacies. The article concludes by placing the Oxbridge tradition into a broader typology of types and methodologies of decolonisation, and by asking what a new historiography of decolonisation might look like. It suggests that it would address the Oxbridge concern with the lifecycles of systems of power and their relationship to global changes, but also place them alongside, and in dialogue with, a much broader set of perspectives and analytical approaches

Models of <i>KPTN</i>-related disorder implicate mTOR signalling in cognitive and overgrowth phenotypes

KPTN-related disorder is an autosomal recessive disorder associated with germline variants in KPTN (previously known as kaptin), a component of the mTOR regulatory complex KICSTOR. To gain further insights into the pathogenesis of KPTN-related disorder, we analysed mouse knockout and human stem cell KPTN loss-of-function models. Kptn -/- mice display many of the key KPTN-related disorder phenotypes, including brain overgrowth, behavioural abnormalities, and cognitive deficits. By assessment of affected individuals, we have identified widespread cognitive deficits (n = 6) and postnatal onset of brain overgrowth (n = 19). By analysing head size data from their parents (n = 24), we have identified a previously unrecognized KPTN dosage-sensitivity, resulting in increased head circumference in heterozygous carriers of pathogenic KPTN variants. Molecular and structural analysis of Kptn-/- mice revealed pathological changes, including differences in brain size, shape and cell numbers primarily due to abnormal postnatal brain development. Both the mouse and differentiated induced pluripotent stem cell models of the disorder display transcriptional and biochemical evidence for altered mTOR pathway signalling, supporting the role of KPTN in regulating mTORC1. By treatment in our KPTN mouse model, we found that the increased mTOR signalling downstream of KPTN is rapamycin sensitive, highlighting possible therapeutic avenues with currently available mTOR inhibitors. These findings place KPTN-related disorder in the broader group of mTORC1-related disorders affecting brain structure, cognitive function and network integrity.</p

Luncheon: Curriculum on Selfsame Land: Confronting Settler Colonialism and Antiblackness

Luncheon: Curriculum on Selfsame Land: Confronting Settler Colonialism and Antiblacknes

Learning curves: the discourse of Economics and its challenges for students

The Global Financial Crisis and appreciation of the Australian dollar are just two examples of the many aspects of Economics which have kept this discipline as a primary focus for the media in recent years. Economic literacy enhances our understanding of the forces which shape our world. This paper examines the distinctive features of economics discourse and the challenges it poses for both local and international students. Economic models are based on assumptions which simplify the real world and this abstraction from reality may alienate some students from the subject (Hewings, 1990). Changes in economic influences are shown on these models and then analysed in precise language. Learning the language of Economics is an inescapable part of being able to understand the concepts of the discipline. The paper sets out strategies undertaken on a Macroeconomics unit to address these challenges. It emphasises a positive approach which presents the discourse as a learning experience which will enrich the student's life in both the workplace and as a citizen

Curriculum, Replacement, and Settler Futurity

This paper describes the ways in which “curriculum” has been and continues to be a project of settler colonialism, premised on white settler supremacy. We examine a number of ways in which this has manifested and how various attempts at interrupting this not only get sidelined, but reappropriated in ways that re-inscribe settler colonialism and settler futurity through strategies of replacement.  We use the character of Natty Bumppo from James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales as an allegory for the ways in which white settlers seeks to absorb indigenous peoples, people of color and their knowledges, only to turn themselves into the “native.” While various interventions have tried to dislodge the aims of replacement, the settler colonial curricular project of replacement is relentless in its recuperation and absorption of those critiques, effectively replacing those who offered the critiques with (now) more informed white bodies