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Year 12 Students' Perceptions Of Deputy Principals' Effect On The Religious Culture In Catholic Secondary Schools, Robert Novacsek, John R. Godfrey

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research on how Deputy Principals affect the religious culture of Secondary Catholic Schools is extremely limited. Deputy Principals may play a crucial role in shaping the culture of schools in many ways, religious and otherwise. This study examined Year 12 students perception of the effect Deputy Principals have on the religious culture in their schools. Year 12 students have an insight into the role of Deputy Principals as they have more extensive school experience than the other high school grades; the nature of their interaction with Deputy Principals is more varied; and as they approach the conclusion of their secondary …

The Children Overboard Event: Constructing The Family And Nation Through Representations Of The Other, Kate Slattery

Theses : Honours

This thesis presents a selection of representations of the Children Overboard event of October 7, 2001, sourced from the Australian government and print news media. Employing an interpretative and critical discourse approach, I explore how the event could be seen to define the physical and cultural boundaries of the Australian nation. In particular I explore how a threat to nation is articulated. From my analysis of the representations, I identify a rhetoric of the 'Other' set within the discursive spaces of family and nation. These discourses circulated within the Children Overboard event are pursued in this thesis in terms of …

Remote Audiences Beyond 2000 : Radio, Everyday Life And Development In South India, Thomas J. Yesudhasan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The core of this thesis is that radio remains an important communication tool for tribal communities living In remote hill areas of South India. Some of the more salient findings relate to media uses and preferences ot people, suggesting that sophisticated negotiations take place between audiences and media. These Include suspicion of television and its impact upon work practices and education, the organization of time and space to accommodate radio and television Into people's busy daily lives, and the recognition that radio may be a more Innovative medium than television. These conclusions have been reached from an In- depth qualitative …

Aboriginal English Genres In Perth, Ian G. Malcolm

Research outputs pre 2011

Aboriginal Australia has a unique heritage of oral literature and Aboriginal people of all ages take delight in yarning. Despite the richness and contemporary relevance of this heritage, little is known in the wider Australian society about the oral discourse skills that are taken for granted in Aboriginal communities.

Although the art of oral narrative has developed over countless generations and by medium of Indigenous languages, previous studies (Malcolm 1994a, b; Malcolm and Rochecouste 2000; Rochecouste and Malcolm 2000) have shown that it is vigorously maintained in Aboriginal English.

The lack of general awareness of the verbal art of Aboriginal …

From Impartial Objectivity To Responsible Affectivity: Some Ethical Implications Of The 9/11 Attacks On America And The War On Terror, Lelia Rosalind Green, Steven Maras

Research outputs pre 2011

In this paper we trace same of the ways a responsibility to affect might be thought of in the wake of the events of 9/11, and examine what it might mean to shift the orientation of journalistic ethics away from an ethics based on objectivity to an ethics of affectivity.

Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: Politeness For The Customer In Spoken Aspects Of Service In The Restaurant In Australian English And Japanese, Chieko Imaeda

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In listening to members of different cultures, it is possible to feel bad, even while recognising that the speaker is trying to speak politely. Sometimes we do not feel very comfortable with someone else’s speech, even though their expressions might be very polite with the choice of specific linguistic forms to show a high level of formality such as terms of address and specific types of formulaic expression such as ' I (don 't) think ... ' or ' I (don't) believe' . The speaker may be intending to speak politely in a considerate way. But the hearer's reaction may …

A Study Of The Cultural Appropriateness Of Service Delivery Models In The Australian Mental Health System, Mong L. Connell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study is an attempt to examine the cultural appropriateness of the mental health system in relation to the Vietnamese refugee community in Australia. Culture and mental health, as widely acknowledged in the field of transcultural psychiatry, are closely linked. No aspect of the diagnosis or treatment methods can be justified without reference to the cultural traditions of the mental health system and the client. In a country like Australia, where multiculturalism is a dominant feature of the society, the need is even greater in incorporating culture into every aspect of the mental health system, if it desires to provide …

Reading Hong Kong Chinese Culture: Hybridity Or Eclecticism, A Matter Of Contemporary Configuration, K. C. Staples

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates the Cultural Studies paradigm 'hybridity' through an analysis of Hong Kong culture. In Cultural Studies, 'hybridity' is usually applied to cultures that have been influenced by another culture, resulting in a loss of identity, leading to a cultural mixture. As a former Colony comprising predominantly of a southern Chinese population, Hong Kong has been influenced by British culture. However, the question is whether Hong Kong culture has been 'hybridises', or, the Hong Kong people, in mastering two cultures, have become bicultural, and use their biculturalism bilaterally, as particular situations require. The study also researches the condition of …

Conceptual-Associative System In Aboriginal English : A Study Of Aboriginal Children Attending Primary Schools In Metropolitan Perth, Farzad Sharifian

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

National measures of achievement among Australian school children suggest that Aboriginal students, considered as a group, are those most likely to end their schooling without achieving minimal acceptable levels of literacy and numeracy. In view of the fact that many Aboriginal students dwell in metropolitan areas and speak English as a first language, many educators have been unconvinced that linguistic and cultural difference have been significant factors in this underachievement. This study explores the possibility that, despite intensive exposure to non-Aboriginal society, Aboriginal students in metropolitan Perth may maintain, through a distinctive variety of English, distinctive conceptualisation which may help …

Home And Away: The Tourist, The Flâneur And Everyday Life, John S. Gates

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines the role and status of the tourist in the present day. It argues that the tourist, and the touristic experience, is emblematic of the consumption-based economy of late capitalism. It analyses tourism as a practice of, rather than opposed to, everyday life, for many subjects in late-capitalist Western society. The argument is developed by comparing and contrasting the tourist with the flâneur. The flâneur is regarded as a representative subjectivity of early modernity who developed visual and spatial practices, methodologies of movement and observation, which interpreted the city. The tourist's relationship with the global spaces of the …

An Exploratory Study Into The Relationship Between Moral Judgement And Academic Ability By School, Gender, And Socio-Economic Status, Kathleen Bancroft

Theses : Honours

Society appears to be exhibiting an innate belief that the private school system provides a better education, a moral education and the opportunity to secure a place in the workforce more so than its counterpart, the public school system (Australian Council of Educational Research, 1980). A 1.5% shill of Australian school students from the public school system to the private school system each year has been reported (Kemp, 1997). Previous research indicates that parents are choosing the private system as they perceive an educational advantage over public schools (Australian Council of Educational Research, 1980). The purpose of this study is …

A Socio-Historical Study Of The Construction Of Knowledge In Secondary Media Education In Western Australia - Whose Knowledge?, Robyn Quin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates the history of the construction of knowledge in the school subject media studies using the Western Australian experience as the case for the study. It seeks to explain why the subject media studies looks and sounds the way it does today through the production of a genealogy of the subject. The problems addressed are first, why was this subject introduced into the curriculum in the 1970s. Secondly, how has the knowledge in the subject been defined and contested, how and why has it changed in the course of the subject’s history. Thirdly, which knowledge attains the status …

Your Place, My Place, Interface, Lelia Green (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

This publication is the output of 2001 School of Communications and Multimedia post-graduate cohort. For many of us this is the first time our own work will be seen beyond the assignment or the essay destined for the tutor. For students from the interactive multimedia and film and video streams communicating in the written word without the assistance of pictures and electrical gadgetry can be a frightening experience. Further, most us of had little experience in creating or simulating an academic journal with all that it entails. Still, with assistance of our publications unit coordinator Lelia Green we soldiered on. …

Hiding Behind Nakedness On The Nude Beach, Lelia Rosalind Green

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper draws upon a series of experiences between 1980-85, when I identified as a naturist during my summer holidays in Europe, and in a visit to Wreck Beach in Vancouver (where I felt very much at home). At the time, I was aware that nude beaches were much less threatening to me as a large woman than are conventional 'textile' beaches. This paper draws upon those experiences to theorise why this might be the case, and why I have been absent from beach culture for much of the past decade.

Monday Morning And The Millennium : Cultural Studies, Scepticism And The Concept Of Power, Mark Gibson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The thesis examines the use or the concept of power in cultural studies, offering a revisionist perspective on the history or this use. The dominant approach to questions or power in the field, it is argued, is a 'rationalist' one: the various phenomena comprehended under the concept are conceived ultimately as instances or the one phenomenon. This approach implies that positions in relation to power share a common referent allowing them to be assessed according to general criteria of 'correctness' or theoretical adequacy. It also allows developments in debates around power to be represented in terms or a narrative or …

A Critical Linguistic Analysis Of A Popular Comic Genre In Japan, Angela Rawson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research will focus on the issue of power and gender in the language of Japanese comics (manga). Comics in Japan are enormously popular and are read by a wide audience. They are aimed at specific audiences and it is my argument that the language of manga helps to reinforce certain social stereotypes - particularly the inferiority of women and the dominance of males. The language of children's manga will be analyzed using the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), which concerns itself with the relation between ideology and power in discourse. The analysis will be at various levels including …

Spaces For The Spirit: Christian Spirituality As Represented By Australian Media, Jennifer Anne Jones

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

Dead Mothers, Lonely Daughters : Negotiating Intersubjective Space In Young Adult Fiction, Anna-Claire Walsh

Theses : Honours

This thesis examines the effect of maternal absence on the ability of three central female characters to develop intersubjective relationships in three novels for young adults. The theoretical framework is Jessica Benjamin's psychoanalytic theory of 'intersubjectivity' which seeks to transcend split complementarities such as active-passive creating a model that synthesises traditionally opposed terms. Benjamin situates maternal subjectivity as the foundation from which a baby's identity is constructed and attributes women with both active and passive qualities. The relationship between mother and infant consequently acts as a paradigm for understanding the interaction between adult subjects in later life. Chapter One introduces …

Salinity Tolerance Of Selected Ectomycorrhizal Fungi (Pisolithus Tinctorius Pers.) And Ectomycorrhizal Eucalypts, Ben Bradshaw

Theses : Honours

Increasing soil salinity has become a major problem worldwide. It has led to a reduction in the amount of arable land, has put at risk the supply of freshwater and threatens the existence of many natural habitats. The major increase in salinity has been attributed to human activities such as clearing of natural vegetation and large-scale irrigation programmes. The alleviation of this problem has focussed on changed management strategies. the most significant of which is the re-establishment of deep rooted plants in sail affected areas. This, however, is difficult because of the variation in salt tolerance of such plants and …

An Investigation Of The Multiple Response To Oppression And Implications For Identity Among Aboriginal Adolescents, Victoria E. Hovane

Theses : Honours

In a history characterized by dispossession and oppression since colonisation, the responses of Aboriginal people to oppression have typically been presented from an ethnocentric perspective of internalization and assimilation. Another body of literature however, suggests alternative responses to non-dominant status such as resistance and adaptation to oppression. This study sought to investigate the ways in which Aboriginal adolescents respond to the negative messages they receive about being Aboriginal and the implications for their developing sense of identity, within a sociopolitical framework. A group of nine participants (five females and four males), aged 14 - 17 years (M = 15.4yrs), were …

Mothers, Gaze And Rape : Almodóvar's Cinema And The Construction Of Gender, Gorana Mlinarevic

Theses : Honours

Although often named a 'women's director': Pedro Almodóvar has frequently been attacked by feminist, mainly Anglo-Saxon, film critics. Most of them have found his portrayals of women to be very humiliating. On the other hand, Spanish heterosexual, mainly male, film critics have attacked him for focusing only on portrayals of marginal genders and sexualities. Nevertheless, he has become one of the most, if not the most, commercially successful Spanish film directors. The intention of this project is not just to analyse Almodóvar's cinema and the critics' acceptance/rejection of the same. Rather, the project is intending, through use of 'Ia politique …

Indeterminacy In First And Second Languages: Case Studies Of Narrative Development Of Chinese Children With And Without Language Disorder, Bee Hong Lo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Bilingual children with specific language impairment (SLI) from non English speaking background (NESB) present a major diagnostic problem to speech pathologist and educationist in an English speaking country. There has been no known study on the simultaneous narrative development involving bilingual Chinese children with and without SLI. This longitudinal case study examined the relationship of Chinese (L1) and English (L2) in narrative development in a child with no language difficulty (Child LN) and a child (Child L1) diagnosed as having SLI. The hypothesis posed for this study was that Child L1 has the same developmental profile for narrative skill in …

Research Problem: What Are The Differences Between Wadjela And Nyungar Criteria When Assessing Organisational Effectiveness Of Non-Government Human Service Organisations?, Keith Truscott

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Wadjela and Nyungar experts (of managerial, administrative, service staff), from the same South-West city location in Western Australia were randomly chosen from the non-government human service field for separate workshops and asked the question “what makes a non-government human service organisation effective?" The purpose was to compare the group consensus answer between the two separate workshop groups. The Nyungars are the Indigenous people in the South-West of Western Australia and the Wadjelas are the Non-Indigenous people living in the same area. The results listed five criteria, in order of priority that made non-government human service organisations effective. For the Wadjela …

Influence Of Home And School Environments On The Academic Performance Of Chinese-Australian And Anglo-Australian Students Studying At An Academically-Oriented High School In Perth, Western Australia, Ranbir Singh Malik

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Although minority status has been associated with low academic achievement, the “high Asian achieving syndrome" remains as one of the unresolved sociological puzzles. Consistent evidence suggests that regardless of the family status, children from the Asian migrant families, settled in the industrialised countries, tend to perform academically better than their counterparts from the dominant group. This disparity is attributed to a number of factors, which taken separately, do not address this complex issue. In Australia little research has been done to compare the home environment and school experiences of children coming from Chinese-Australian and Anglo-Australian families even though the number …

Parents' Construction Of Emotional Abuse And Neglect Of Children Aged Birth To Six Years In A Rural District In Uganda, Edreda Tuwangye

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Child abuse and neglect are endemic not only in Western countries but also in developing countries such as Uganda. An investigation was conducted to establish how parents living in rural Uganda construe child abuse and neglect. The study is of theoretical interest on two counts. First, there is evidence to suggest that Western accounts of child abuse and neglect may not apply to developing countries, a matter of importance given the dominance of Western research in the thinking of policy and intervention studies. Second, most of the research assumes that abuse and neglect are self-evident constructs and there is seldom …

Friendship Formation In Australian And Chinese Cultures, Joanna R. De Grauw

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

Child Abuse : Creating The Public In The Public Service Advertisement, Mark Brennan

Theses : Honours

This thesis seeks to examine the discursive construction of the public. Unlike studies before it, it explores a site that has yet to be analysed in depth- the public service advertisement. While the characteristics of this genre are understood in cultural common sense, what has been neglected is a consideration of how these advertisements can be understood to address an entity that is amorphous and unknowable. This study argues that such an address is only possible in this genre through the discourse of childhood. By employing an interdisciplinary approach that includes cultural and-media studies, political theory and sociology, the history …

Culture As Commodity: The Home As Spectacle In Popular Culture, Jillian E. Benn

Theses : Honours

This study proposes to examine representations of the home in the media. The media play a significant role in the culture of Australians, who are obsessed with the suburban home and its cultural and social meanings. The place of the home within popular thought and culture and the subsequent ideologies and meanings associated with the home are questioned in this dissertation. The major theme to emerge is that the contemporary suburban home is a spectacle. This project interprets, evaluates and contributes to current theories and debates surrounding the concept of suburbia. It is an original contribution to the perception of …

Suck My Dick: G.I. Jane, Demi Moore And The Action Heroine, Matthew Mckeown

Theses : Honours

The content of my thesis sits at the tail end of about three decades of feminist criticism that has examined women's place in film texts. During which, theoretical work has been done studying the types of roles given to women, how they are constructed visually and narratively across different genres. This thesis then sets out to examine the action genre and the room it makes for the central female protagonist. How does this genre, largely ignored by critics and academics and inherently masculine and dominated by males, allow for a central female heroine? What room is there for any femininity, …

What Are The Important Elements Of The Pre-Primary Curriculum? : The Views Of Parents And Teachers, Ann Hyde

Theses : Honours

The delivery of pre-primary education in Western Australia has undergone dramatic and rapid change since its tentative beginnings in 1911. During the 1990's we have seen the most tumultuous period of change with the implementation of the government's Good Start Program. It is timely that we investigate what the primary stakeholders expect from pre-primary programs. Are parents and teachers expecting the same things? Is there harmony between the curriculum of the home and the school? This study addressed these questions. A survey was conducted, involving 150 parents and 60 teachers (30 pre-primary teachers and 30 year one teachers). Schools were …