More than a Korean adoptee: making sense of identity and adoption in South Korea and adoptive countries

B1 - Research Book Chapter

“It Depends How You’re Saying It”: The Complexities of Everyday Racism

While racism is widely recognised as a complex social phenomenon, the basis for defining and identifying everyday racism from a lay perspective is not well understood. This exploration of factors used to frame everyday racism draws on seven cognitive interviews and four focus groups conducted in November 2010 and January 2011 with Australian adults predominantly from Anglo ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The study reveals lay theorising centring on tropes of intentionality, effect of speech, relationality and acceptability. Participants were more likely to think of racism as having negative, overtly offensive and emotional connotations. Racialised speech that was not considered to be blatantly racist was more contested, with participants engaging in complex theorising to determine whether or not such speech constituted racism. The study also highlights the potential of qualitative research to inform survey development as an unobtrusive method for in-depth participant reflection. The ambiguous nature of everyday racism demonstrated in this paper indicates a need to foster more nuanced lay understandings of racism that encompass the subtle, rational and complementary expressions that can be situated within institutions and society

Boomerang Studio: Community Design for Action

An arts education space, focusing on concepts of design thinking aimed at providing low income middle and high school teens of color the opportunity to learn about interior design, architecture and crafts. Ultimately, Boomerang Studio hopes to engage students in the world of design as a means of creating greater diversity within these disciplines

Identifying and developing effective approaches to foster intercultural understanding in schools

This paper provides a systematic review of education literature focused on identifying school-based approaches for developing students’ intercultural understanding. Studies were assessed using selection criteria and then critically appraised for study quality. A key finding from the review is that developing students’ intercultural understanding beyond cultural awareness requires students and teachers to take a critical approach toward cultural diversity, as well as the opportunity for ongoing intercultural and intergroup contact. Studies reported that only building cultural awareness and knowledge is not enough to promote long-term changes in attitudes. There is a need for more rigorously evaluated longitudinal school-based interventions. Finally, studies consistently call for investment in teachers’ professional and personal intercultural capabilities. The paper concludes by calling for school-based interventions that are informed by best practice approaches at a whole school level in order to effectively develop students’ intercultural attitudes and skills

Amplifying Quiet Voices: Challenges and Opportunities for Participatory Design at an Urban Scale

Many Smart City projects are beginning to consider the role of citizens. However, current methods for engaging urban populations in participatory design activities are somewhat limited. In this paper, we describe an approach taken to empower socially disadvantaged citizens, using a variety of both social and technological tools, in a smart city project. Through analysing the nature of citizens’ concerns and proposed solutions, we explore the benefits of our approach, arguing that engaging citizens can uncover hyper-local concerns that provide a foundation for finding solutions to address citizen concerns. By reflecting on our approach, we identify four key challenges to utilising participatory design at an urban scale; balancing scale with the personal, who has control of the process, who is participating and integrating citizen-led work with local authorities. By addressing these challenges, we will be able to truly engage citizens as collaborators in co-designing their city