Critical literacy in a global context: Reading Harry Potter

Millions of adolescents across the globe eagerly await and read each new Harry Potter fictional novel. As a series, the novels can be assumed to participate influentially in the production of adolescent literacies and subjectivities. Situated in politically conservative times, however, the texts may support readings in simple accord with culturally pervasive conservative views which favour conventionally masculinist, martial views of the individual and of society. Such readings potentially confirm ancient prejudices built out of differences which themselves may be associated with the socio-cultural reproduction of violent conflicts. Nevertheless, contemporary conditions such as planetary climate change and globalised political fear demand resolutions based not in conflict but in unprecedented degrees of global and local co-operation. This thesis, then, explores ways in which the Harry Potter texts may be approached from a critical literacy perspective to support readers to contest conservatively-aligned readings and to question the role of the texts in preparing students for a world of peace and cooperation

The Sacrifice of Les Murray

Les Murray\u27s vivid and evocative poetry has made him a major Australian literary figure. Critics routinely note the sophisticated, often highly wrought nature of Murray\u27s poetic language and acclaim his technical virtuosity, including gifts for pun, paradox, aphorism, idiom and metaphor. The themes of both Murray\u27s poetry and his non-fiction prose often revolve around the divisions he sees in Australia between cultures, between society and people, and within individuals themselves. Despite his efforts to bring healing to these schisms, however, the poet is criticised for his frequent dogmatism and didacticism, which mark his work as divisive. Although Murray professes to detest Enlightenment thinking and its effects in present-day modernity, this thesis seeks to show that his dogmatism is embedded in Enlightenment thought through a conceptual reliance on singularity and scarcity, or the transcendental signified. The poet\u27s investment in a Romantic stance, in the patriarchy and in Christianity demonstrates a limitation on his conception of being which in turn limits the possibility of an expansion towards his desired convergence of cultures, or wholeness of being. The use of postmodernism\u27s concepts of pluralism and multiplicity tend to loosen the Enlightenment\u27s grip on definitions of being to consider new ways of wholeness through relationship. Murray\u27s resistance to the concepts of postmodernism is seen as the source of his sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself in a poetry whose linguistic complexity exceeds its conceptual complexity

Effectiveness, costs, and cost-effectiveness of recruitment strategies for a mammographic screening program to detect breast cancer

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Since effective and affordable recruitment methods are essential for the widespread implementation of mammographic screening for detection of breast cancer, we studied the effectiveness, the costs, and the cost-effectiveness of various recruitment strategies in the population targeted by a pilot Australian program that offered free mammography screening between 1988 and 1990. METHODS: We evaluated three public recruitment strategies--local newspaper articles, community promotion, and promotion to physicians--and five personal strategies--invitation letters with or without specified appointment times, either alone or with a follow-up letter, or telephone call to nonattenders. The effectiveness of public recruitment strategies was estimated from monthly attendance rates by Poisson regression analysis, while the probability of attendance in response to personal strategies was calculated using logistic regression analysis. Costs were determined by resource usage studies. The cost-effectiveness ratios for personal strategies were determined using decision analysis. RESULTS: The costs in 1988-1989 Australian dollars per woman recruited were $22 for local newspaper articles and$106 for community promotion. No detectable increase in attendance resulted from promotion to physicians. When the cost of reserving an appointment was considered, the most cost-effective personal recruitment strategy was an invitation letter without a specified appointment time, followed by a second letter to nonattenders. This strategy recruited 35.6% of women in the sample targeted and cost $10.52 per attendee. In comparison, the most effective personal recruitment strategy was a letter with a specified appointment time followed by a second letter to nonattenders, which recruited 44.1$19.99 and a marginal cost of $59.71 per additional attendee. CONCLUSIONS: Personal recruitment strategies were more cost-effective than public strategies. The most cost-effective personal strategy was an invitation letter without a specified appointment time, followed by a second letter to nonattenders