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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Diva Voce : Reimagining The Diva In Contemporary Feminist Performance, Dawn Albinger Jan 2012

Diva Voce : Reimagining The Diva In Contemporary Feminist Performance, Dawn Albinger

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This practice-led contemporary performance study investigates and invigorates the diva icon’s usefulness to feminist theatre praxis. It traces the research journey from an unexamined belief in the diva as an icon of empowered, independent and expressive womanhood, to a more nuanced conception of the diva as boundless feminist performer and philosophical subject. Two major questions emerge from and drive the process. The primary research question asks: How can the diva icon (in all her fury and glory and wretchedness and perversity and mastery and mortality) usefully inform a feminist theatre praxis? Early investigations give rise to a subsequent social query: …


Swamp : Walking The Wetlands Of The Swan Coastal Plain ; And With The Exegesis, A Walk In The Anthropocene: Homesickness And The Walker-Writer, Anandashila Saraswati Jan 2012

Swamp : Walking The Wetlands Of The Swan Coastal Plain ; And With The Exegesis, A Walk In The Anthropocene: Homesickness And The Walker-Writer, Anandashila Saraswati

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This project is comprised of a creative work and accompanying exegesis. The creative work is a collection of poetry which examines the history and ecology of the wetlands and river systems of the Swan Coastal Plain, and which utilises the practice of walking as a research methodology. For the creative practitioner walking reintroduces the body as a fundamental definer of experience, placing the investigation centrally in the corporeal self, using the physical senses as investigative tools of enquiry. As Rebecca Solnit comments in her history of walking, ‘exploring the world is one of the best ways of exploring the mind, …


A Struggle For Recognition: The War Widows' Guild In Western Australia 1946-1975 ; And, Exegesis: Researching And Writing An Organisational History, Melinda Tognini Jan 2012

A Struggle For Recognition: The War Widows' Guild In Western Australia 1946-1975 ; And, Exegesis: Researching And Writing An Organisational History, Melinda Tognini

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis comprises an organisational history of the War Widow' Guild Australia WA Inc., and an essay about the research and writing process I undertook to construct such a history. The history outlines the development, struggles and achievements of the War Widows’ Guild in Western Australia from 1946 to 1975. While many were celebrating the end of the war in 1945, thousands of war widows faced an uncertain future without their husbands. Although Prime Minister John Curtin addressed the issue of war widows' pensions as part of his Post War Reconstruction initiatives, the pension was well below the basic wage. …


Mind The Gap : An Examination Of The Pause In Modern Theatre; And, Shadows : A Play (Major Creative Work); And, Bank Accounts : A Collage Of Monologues (Minor Creative Work), John L. Pratt Jan 2012

Mind The Gap : An Examination Of The Pause In Modern Theatre; And, Shadows : A Play (Major Creative Work); And, Bank Accounts : A Collage Of Monologues (Minor Creative Work), John L. Pratt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Both as a student of theatre and, eventually, as a professional practitioner, it has long been apparent to me that there is a dearth of reference material on what has become one of the modern theatre’s most important elements: the pause. Actors, directors and playwrights can only interpret the word ‘pause’ according to their own experience and its meaning remains nebulous, even after agreement has been reached in a specific context. The essay, Mind The Gap, examines the significance of the pause to these various practitioners. It suggests, with examples, close analysis of the purpose of each pause, differentiation of …


Lilac Tractors : A Novel ; And, Critical Essay: Intersections Among Psychiatry, Madness, Sexuality And Feminism In 'Lilac Tractors', Anna Bennetts Jan 2012

Lilac Tractors : A Novel ; And, Critical Essay: Intersections Among Psychiatry, Madness, Sexuality And Feminism In 'Lilac Tractors', Anna Bennetts

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis comprises a novel, ‘Lilac Tractors’ and an essay, ‘Intersections among psychiatry, madness, sexuality and feminism in ‘Lilac Tractors’’. The novel focuses on the relationship of a married couple, Gary, a fly-in, fly-out rig worker, and Sharon, a mature-age university student studying psychology. They live together in Perth’s north at the turn of the twenty-first century, as the outer suburbs are beginning to sprawl. Gary has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Sharon finds that her growing knowledge of the condition increases her annoyance with him, rather than her compassion. But mostly she is unhappy because Gary is too gentle …


An Evaluation Of The Instructional Practices In Voice Teaching At Australian Performing Art Institutions, Ann Adlem Jan 2012

An Evaluation Of The Instructional Practices In Voice Teaching At Australian Performing Art Institutions, Ann Adlem

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate the practices and techniques of vocal training for student actors at a tertiary level, through a survey of experienced voice practitioners in Australian performing arts schools, appropriate texts, consideration of contexts and my own professional experience. Vocal instruction starts with the basic training of ‘the instrument’ or the vocal capabilities of the body. Following this or concurrent with its teaching, more specific forms of training are addressed. This research project used qualitative research methods to compile a detailed description of the voice teaching practices currently used in Australia. It comprises …


Uncertain Surrenders: The Coexistence Of Beauty And Menace In The Maternal Bond And Photography, Toni Wilkinson Jan 2012

Uncertain Surrenders: The Coexistence Of Beauty And Menace In The Maternal Bond And Photography, Toni Wilkinson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This creative inquiry is grounded in my maternal experiences and situated within a feminist approach to photography that develops a discussion of maternal passion and acknowledges the conflicting dynamics of the maternal relationship. The research includes a book of photographs of my children, Georgia and Henry, titled Uncertain surrenders, and a written component explicating the theoretical imperatives that motivated the project. I suggest that the coexistence of beauty and menace within the photographic portraits exquisitely represents the complexity of maternal passion. Julia Kristeva (2005) says, “we lack a reflection on maternal passion” in Western culture because it is an ambiguous …