Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Academic Snobbery: Local Historians Need More Support [4 April], Ian C. Willis

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Local history is one of the most popular forms of history in Australia. Yet there is a yawning gap between the enthusiastic amateur and the academic historian.

While some academic historians engage with local history, sadly there is an entrenched snobbery from the academy. From the other side, the enthusiastic amateur is too wound up with a parochial approach to local history and often doesn’t see the bigger picture.

If both sides can engage with each other, the result would be a better type of history practise and a greater contribution to the story of Australia.

On Being A Happy Academic, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Happiness research provides guidance on what academics can do to increase their satisfaction at work. Changes in external circumstances, such as salary rises, seldom have a lasting effect. More likely to improve long-term happiness levels are exercising well-developed skills, building strong relationships, helping others and cultivating mindfulness. These methods for improving well-being have some specific implications for academic life, suggesting strategies for individuals and policy-making.

Considering The Work Of Martin Nakata's "Cultural Interface": A Reflection On Theory And Practice By A Non-Indigenous Academic, Colleen Mcgloin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This is a reflective paper that explores Martin Nakata's work as a basis for understanding the possibilities and restrictions of non-Indigenous academics working in Indigenous studies. The paper engages with Nakata's work at the level of praxis. It contends that Nakata's work provides non-Indigenous teachers of Indigenous studies a framework for understanding their role, their potential, and limitations within the power relations that comprise the "cultural interface". The paper also engages with Nakata's approach to Indigenous research through his "Indigenous standpoint theory". This work emerges from the experiential and conceptual, and from a commitment to teaching and learning in Indigenous …

Academic Patronage, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Patronage, expansively conceived as covering all forms of bias and discrimination, is pervasive in organisations and professions, including academia. Four key types of academic patronage operate through decisions made, processes used, assistance given to individuals and personal interactions. Some forms of patronage, especially discrimination on the basis of sex and ethnicity, have come under sustained criticism and are officially stigmatised. However, policies for equal opportunity and against conflicts of interest have only begun to address more personal forms of patronage. Some forms of patronage, such as supporting one's research students, are common and treated as normal; systems without such patronage …