Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons^™

Mourning Eros: Hieroglyphic Love And Loss In H.D.'S Helen In Egypt, Shauna Karine Dorotich

Theses : Honours

H.D. and Lacan both articulate a philosophy of love that exists beyond the sexual relationship. This thesis highlights the concordance between their later writings on love, with a specific focus on Lacan's Book xx; On Feminine Sexuality, the Limits of Love and Knowledge, 1972 - 1973 (Encore), and H.D.'s Helen in Egypt. Initially, I address the paradox of erotic love to explicate the way fantasy results in the death of the woman within the sexual relationship. I then argue that a subject must experience a phase of mourning the fantasy of erotic love in order to progress to …

M/Others : One Lens, Multiple Maternities, Toni Wilkinson

Theses : Honours

This body of photographic portraits re/presents the maternal relationship as a significant one in a cultural economy than 'downgrades motherhood', and fails to adequately recognise the contribution of mothers to society, as they struggle to uphold self and family in contemporary life. Throughout this work, which fuses religious visual art principles and photographic documentary, a more complex, powerful maternal figure emerges than the singular, passive and restrictive example of motherhood, commonly portrayed in art history. I undertake a comparative analysis between traditional Madonna and child icons and contemporary female photographers involved with maternal themes, to highlight that certain photographs facilitate …

Blogging The Other: Representations Of The Australian Islamic Diaspora, Judith Elund

Theses : Honours

Recent events have seen an increased focus on Islam and Muslims throughout the world. In Western nations, this focus has often turned into fear and the demonisation of an 'other' that is regularly misunderstood and misrepresented, further exacerbating tensions between the West and Islam. International terrorist activities, such as the London bombings of July 7, 2005 have seen an increase in fear of Muslims and of potential terrorism on our shores, ensuring Muslim issues have become a major focus in Australian news. Taking 7/7 as an example, this paper supplements recent studies in exploring how Australian news media position Muslims …

Contextualising Identity : The Intersection Of Gay Culture And Consumer Culture On The Gay Male Body, Dan Gladden

Theses : Honours

Gay Culture is largely informed and influenced by the wider social values and systems that surround it. Commodity culture infiltrates every area of day-to-day living, and is no less influential within gay culture. Images presented by the media, particularly gay targeting media such as DNA magazine, show a male body as almost exclusively young, muscular, good-looking and of western appearance. The continuously repeated image of the male body as being of only one specific type can be problematic within a minority culture as it can lead to exclusion for those who do not measure up to the standards. While acceptance …

Death Lilly : Performing The 'Flower Girl' Role In The Age Of Consumption, Catherine Gomersall

Theses : Honours

This self-reflexive photomedia project interrogates the 'flower girl' role as a cultural fetishism of 'innocent' white-girl femininity, which I claim is perpetuated in the bridal fantasy. In my photomedia work the theme of 'death' and the uncanny is explored as well as the themes of 'wildness' and 'violence' in order to subvert the dominant discourse of ideal white femininity which is defined in popular culture by a sanitised bourgeois aesthetic. I attack the bourgeois surface of the bridal magazine in my artwork as I perform the 'flower girl' role in the context of popular culture and capitalism. The flower girl …

A Feminist Jungian Analysis Of The Representations Of Teenage Females In Films 1950s To 1970s, Lea O'Dea

Theses : Honours

This thesis is framed within the broad study of film theory and analysis. It is my research into the representations of teenage females in mass media films made and released in the USA and Australia in the years before and after the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s and Women's Liberation Movement that began in the 1970s. This work is significant primarily in that it is an analysis specifically of teenage females who feature as lead characters in films. The sample of films has been chosen because as mass media, mainstream films their distribution is indicative of their acceptance within the …

Girl Du Jour - Girl Of The Day, Sarah Perfrement

Theses : Honours

Girl du jour explores and discusses a select group of women's lives, as well as factors influencing the development of young women's identities. The project offers a personal and intimate insight into the women's lives through the use of documentary/photojournalism whilst also incorporating the choreographed image. Girl du jour explores the group of young women's lives both theoretically and visually, making reference to the performance of identity, women's issues, body image (including young women and the influence of the fashion industry) and motherhood. The women depicted are exposed in their intimate, public and social lives are depicted in an attempt …

How To Play The Game: Constructing Australian Masculinities In An Increasingly Mediated World, Carl Broman

Theses : Honours

Increasing research into social constructions of gender, have begun focusing on the study of male behaviour, or masculinity. The study of hegemonic masculinities helps display the dominant forms of socialised acceptable behaviour and expose artificial constructions of gender difference. Concerning trends in destructive masculine behaviour may find relationships with other forms of social disconnection linked with late capitalism. I look at how direct localised contributions to constructing masculinities have been disempowered by the expansion of the Western corporate economy. The culture of popular sport has been transformed to create an individual identification with Australian Rules Football and its masculinities, that …

Shifting Representations Of Aboriginality In Australian Cinema : Re-Presenting From An Anti-Colonial Perspective, Kylie Solonec

Theses : Honours

Recently there has been a significant shift in the way that Aboriginal people are being represented in Australian cinema. Some would argue that the social and political movements that have occurred since the 1960s through until today have had a significant effect and in turn have produced a third wave of Australian cinema. Concurrently with this process, there have been a number of Indigenous politicians, academics and filmmakers who have actively been striving to gain better resources and opportunities for Indigenous filmmakers to be able to tell their stories. A combination of these two projects has seen a shift in …

Visions Must Be Re-Visioned : Gender Politics In Earthsea, Audrey Barton

Theses : Honours

This thesis analyses Ursula Le Guin's interpretation of gender and genre in her Earthsea novels, A Wizarf of Earthsea (1968) and Teha1111 (1990). Examining Le Guin's assertion for the need to "re-vision" her former work with the latter, I interrogate the ways in which she attempts to "break free" from the ideologies that impose themselves upon her work. Part one explores the mode of the hero quest used in A Wizard of Earthsea and examines the significance of this in terms of "gendering" the text. Part two examines the revisioned text Tehanu and the ways in which the …

Identifying Complex Issues Surrounding The Construction Of Indigeneity In Film And Documentary, Debbie Carmody

Theses : Honours

Indigenous identity can only be located within . a framework of historical dislocation from where white notions of assimilation are shattered. Therefore Indigeneity can only be defined in relation to the black experience within colonialism's hegemonic structures. I will argue this by looking at constructions of Indigenous Australians in the feature film Radiance (1998) directed by Rachel Perkins, and the documentary Sissy (2000) directed by Debbie Carmody (previously known as Debbie Gittins), which was made as part of this thesis. This raises questions: What is the black experience and the process of black survival within colonialism's hegemonic structures? How does …

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 …

Public And Private Perceptions : Press Representations Of Australian Women Athletes At The Sydney Olympic Games, Rachel Payne

Theses : Honours

In the year 2000, Australia assumed its role as Olympic host, with the summer Games held at Sydney in September. The Games of the Millennium, like any Olympics, was historically significant but, for sportswomen, the Sydney Olympics marked an important milestone as this was the year to celebrate the centenary of female athletes' involvement in the Olympic Games. Within the context of mediated Olympic presentation, it was the Australian press' duty to convey this moment, and other events involving female athletes, to the public in a manner in which it believed to be most suitable, and/or newsworthy. In the past, …

The Perceived Effects Of Cross-Cultural Interaction On Flight Crew Training Between Anglo-Australian Flight Instructors And Asian Students, Daniel Goh

Theses : Honours

The study investigated the perceived effects of cross-cultural interaction on ab-initio flight crew training between Anglo Australian flight instructors and Asian students. Students and instructors perceptions were sought as to whether they believed that cross-cultural interaction would impede learning. The sample included forty-eight students and nine instructors from two flying schools. Thirty-eight students were required to complete a 15 item survey and ten students and nine instructors participated in a semi-structured interview. The research identified four specific areas - language, studying and teaching methods, attitudes towards asking questions, and command decision making. Cross-cultural interaction was found to be an integral …

Reading Dolly : The Reading Practices Of Adolescent Girls, Suzanne Fleming

Theses : Honours

In recent years the representation and participation of women in the media has received a great deal of attention. So too, has the area of language and gender. Research and discussions around these two fields intersect to provide a context for this research project. Unlike any study located to date, this study provides a theoretical exploration of practices girls employ when reading Dolly, an Australian teen magazine aimed at adolescent females. The project involves 11 year-eight girls from two metropolitan schools and aims to answer questions regarding the reading practices they employ when reading Dolly, the meanings they make with …

An Investigation Of Agency In Children's Own Narrative Writing Before And After Exposure To Counter-Sexist Texts, Jane Nolan

Theses : Honours

This research focuses on the issue of gender in education. It looks at the role counter-sexist texts play in the formation, consolidation and interruption of children's gender ideology. It initially investigates whether or not counter-sexist texts can change agency in children's writing by analysing children's own narrative writing. Then it seeks to shed light on the ways that children respond to these types of texts by using transcripts from discussion sessions.

The sample consisted of 20 students from a Western Australian state primary school. These students were randomly distributed into a control and experimental group. Each week, for a period …

Domestic Space And The Construction Of Identity, Kerry Faulkner

Theses : Honours

This thesis on Domestic Space and the Construction of Identity investigates the construction of feminine identity within the domestic journal. The devalued status of the homes magazine is a direct reflection of the devalued status of women's domestic work and its political insignificance in a patriarchal society which values external paid labour over unpaid domestic work. This work is of course central to society and homes magazines provide an important focus for research since they intersect with the construction of femininity and roles for women. The contradictory nature of the domestic journal is such that while it supports the hegemonic …

Who's Speaking To Whom?: The Formation Of The Multicultural Radio And Television Association Of Western Australia, Natasha D. Vukelja

Theses : Honours

The fundamental aim of this dissertation will be to outline and critique the factors which have delayed the establishment of the first independent ethnic/multicultural radio station in Perth. The Multicultural Radio and Television Association of Western Australia are due to commence broadcasting on 6EBA FM on 1 December, 1990. While the Association has been broadcast·.ng through 6NR Community Access Radio for the past fourteen years, the increasing demand for air-time led them to apply for a Special Purpose, category 'S' licence through the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal. The application was made in 1987, and the licence was granted after a hearing …