School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemWheel of time, wheel of history : cultural change and cultural production in an A mdo Tibetan community( 1999)Examining art, literature and mass media this dissertation aims to understand processes of social and cultural change in Rebkong (Tibetan: Reb gong; Chinese: Huangnan Zangzu Zizhi Zhou [Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture]). Located in Tibet's north-eastern province of Amdo (now on the eastern edge of China's Qinghai Province), Rebkong has long been part of the Sino-Tibetan interface where symbols of identity and power were negotiated through complex and hybrid oppositions. The chapters in Part I describe the historical expansions of Tibetan and Chinese powers into Amdo, focusing on forms of administration and their relation to competing ideologies. From those findings it is argued that the cultural and administrative structures supported by the Chinese state in Amdo today have evolved from earlier forms of colonisation and, in response to forms of imperialism introduced by Western powers, are a modern advance on them. Continuing this theme in Part II the dissertation analyses cultural politics in Rebkong through an examination of ritual art and performance, temple scrolls (T: thang ka), butter sculpture, "socialised" painting, and the lives of individual artists. The mass-media and its impact on questions of identity and new forms of knowledge in Rebkong are also examined in the context of the "outsideness" of the ethnographer. The argument throughout is that change is always a question of power, particularly in colonial contexts. In Rebkong the opposition between Tibetan and Chinese visions of authority has resulted in a series of contrasting values, the most important of which has been that of religious versus secular, or ideal versus material. Since 1949 there have been a number of Chinese political movements that have attempted to eliminate Tibetan Buddhism, along with its symbols, institutions and representatives. The body of research developed here makes it clear that while such strategies have caused much destruction they ultimately strengthen the symbolic power of the cultural values they attempt to displace; as new forms of heterodoxy "Tibetan" values fall outside state control and become unmanageable. Finally the dissertation draws attention to forces of globalisation and to China's own ongoing cultural and ideological crisis. It is argued that the type of cultural analysis presented here, as well as the humanistic opportunities within the ethnographic encounter itself, can suggest new readings of "tradition" as a positive and liberating force for confronting reified and over-politicised forms of cultural life.
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ItemThe provision of hospital care in country Victoria 1840's to 1940s( 1999)Many hospital histories have been written whose authors have usually made exaggerated claims about the significance of individual hospitals. This narrow approach fails to take into account the influences of ideological and economic changes such as the rise of the Labour movement between 1890 and 1915, the erosion of the charitable ideal, the secularisation of Australian society and the increased acceptance of certain welfare provisions as a right rather than a privilege. This results in some misconceptions and a blinkered view of hospital development. A comparative analysis of how country hospitals were administered during this early founding period is important because it reveals that prior to 1862, three categories of hospitals were established, namely, working men's hospitals, custodial or hospital/benevolent institutions and semi-voluntary hospitals. All were controlled by hospital committees dominated by lay community leaders. Country hospitals provided an important focus for small communities with hospital committees defending their independence and resisting attempts by central authorities to wrest administrative control from them. The control exerted by an increasingly centralist State government over hospitals in country Victoria (heavily influenced by the medical profession), hindered their development to a greater degree than those in metropolitan areas. The mechanisms for achieving this were the enforcement of the Appropriation Acts from 1862 and the rigid implementation of the 1923 Hospital and Charities Act. Both of these kept hospitals tied to the voluntary/philanthropic model (or semi-voluntary model because charities received significant funding from the state) until the 1930s thereby delaying the establishment of more viable community hospitals. After the early 1930s, a transition from charities to community hospitals occurred. A major source of their concern was the already inequitable levels of funding compared to metropolitan hospitals. This inequity meant that Hospital Committees spent much time raising funds through enlisting subscribers, fund-raising and soliciting bequests. Their first collective action was the formation of the Country Hospitals Association in 1918. The number of charitable hospitals in country Victoria grew rapidly from fourteen in 1859 to thirty-four in 1891 and sixty-one in 1923. In that year there were also 476 private hospitals, which prior to the 1890s were little more than nursing homes. Whilst the Charities Board sought to control the spread of public hospitals, hospitals established by the Bush Nursing Association proliferated outside their control, leading to conflict between the Board and the Association. Funding for public hospitals dropped significantly between the 1890s and 1930s. At the same time there was an increase in the demand for beds in public hospitals by the lower middle classes who found private hospital costs prohibitive and wanted the higher standard of care provided in public hospital facilities. An increased dependence on medical technology led to an urgent need for the upgrading of Victorian country hospitals' technologically obsolete equipment. Additionally, Victorian hospitals were heavily influenced by North American views on efficiency and standardisation. Finally, the impetus to improve hospitals came in the 1930s when unemployment relief funds and a gambling tax levy subsidised new hospital facilities.
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ItemWilliam Thomson 1841-1851 : Thomson's program of Natural Philosophy and the historical development of the concept of energy( 1999)It is the aim of this thesis, first, to investigate the historical development of Thomson's physico-mathematical theories during the period 1841-51, centred especially on the fields of electricity and magnetism, that led gradually to the emergence of Thomson's concept of energy. Second, to reconstruct Thomson's investigations during this decade under the scope of a program of natural philosophy in the Scottish tradition of abstract dynamics. For this purpose, I have identified two different epistemological grounds in Thomson's work. One, determined by Thomson's program of natural philosophy, whose aim it was to establish a Mathematical Core common to various fields of the natural sciences. The other, determined by Thomson's investigations in electromagnetism - ie, Thomson's program of natural history. Therefore, the task of reconstructing Thomson's work during the decade 1841-51 under the tenets of abstract dynamics became, on the one hand, to set the relationships established by Thomson between his programs of natural philosophy and natural history; on the other, to describe the gradual development of Thomson's mathematical core as it grew in complexity and extension. In the end, I conclude that it was precisely because this common mathematical ground, applicable to various fields of natural phenomena, and established during the decade 1841-51 under the guidance of a program of natural philosophy, that the convertibility and the ubiquitous character of the concept of energy could have been grasped and understood by Thomson.
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ItemA history of occupational health in Victoria until 1980( 1998)A History of Occupational Health in Victoria until 1980 In the flurry of activity in occupational health which began in the late 1970s, the impression was often given that nothing had been done before. In fact the State Governments made a considerable contribution to occupational health prior to this time, a contribution that has not previously been documented. The main theme of the thesis is the role of science in the prevention of occupational disease, with emphasis on the scientific work of the State Occupational Health Divisions, particularly in Victoria. Subsidiary themes concern the public administration of occupational health; the history of union involvement in occupational health; and the effect on occupational health of the changing political climate in the 1970s. The history of occupational health in Victoria began around 1900 with concern about the health of miners. In the beginning most of the work - including the chemical analysis of industrial pollutants - was done by physicians rather than scientists. In 1937 the Industrial Hygiene Division was set up in the Department of Health under the direction of,-- Dr D.O. Shiels. Eventually specialist inspectors and scientists, later known as Industrial Hygienists, were employed in the Division, an arrangement that continued until 1982. In that year the election of a Labor government in Victoria marked the start of a new attitude to occupational health, which placed less emphasis on a scientific approach to_ the assessment of occupational health hazards and more on the use of industrial relations as a means of protecting workers health. The history until the 1980's divides into three eras: prior to 1937; from 1937 - 1956 when Dr D.O. Shiels was appointed Industrial Hygiene Medical Officer in the Department of Health and established the Industrial Hygiene Division; and from 1956 - 1980 when the Division was under the control of Dr A.J. Christophers. Within this chronological framework, the thesis illustrates the effect on occupational health of various labour, industrial and governmental activities by means of a series of small case studies. These are: (i) the anthrax deaths in the 1950s which illustrate the IHD's scientific approach to problem-solving; (ii) the phosphine inquests which illustrate some of the attitudes of unions, employers and expert witnesses; (iii) a case of arsenic poisoning, claimed to be due to eating contaminated mussels and said to be a government cover-up; iv) the involvement of the IHD in other environmental health issues; (v) the 1951 Benzene Regulations which resulted in the cessation of the use of benzene as a solvent, despite the initial reaction from industry that no substitute was available; (vi) the wharf on-call service and the attitude of the waterside workers; (vii) the cases of methyl chloride poisoning that resulted in the promulgation of the Methyl Chloride Regulations banning the use of methyl chloride as a refrigerant; (viii) the story of asbestos in the blue Harris trains, which illustrates the differing attitudes of scientists and workers to the question of risk assessment, standard-setting and the acceptability of occupational risk; (ix) the activities of the IHD in monitoring exposures to asbestos and silica, illustrating some of the constraints under which the Division worked. (x) the response of the IHD to radiation hazards, which illustrates the effect of current social concerns on the direction of public policy. Written by Janet Sowden April 1998
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ItemCraft to applied science : the Institution of Civil Engineers, London and the development of scientific civil engineering in Britain, 1818-1880( 1996)This thesis examines civil engineering practitioners and practice in Britain in middle part of the nineteenth century. The background and education of a sample of the engineers of the period, who were members of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, have been determined from the published records of that Institution. This showed, contrary to what has been commonly believed, that civil engineers were drawn from the middle and upper strata of society. They were well educated for the time. Many had advanced schooling, and almost a quarter of them has some university education. The technical papers on civil engineering subjects were also examined over the period from when they commenced publication in 1837 to 1880 to assess any change that may have taken place in the way the engineers approached their problems by adopting or adapting techniques developed in areas of science to their task so as to turn engineering towards applied science. This examination had to be restricted to a few representative areas of civil engineering activity, and structural design, hydrology and hydraulics, foundations and stability of slopes, materials and railway construction were taken as being fairly representative of the range of tasks faced by civil engineers. This study showed a slow and erratic movement towards embracing "scientific methods" into engineering practice. It became established in the field of structural design, but hardly impacted on the approach to railway permanent way or design, or in the area of foundations and slope stability. There were moves however in all areas. Interestingly these moves were generally led by members who had a university training. Their names appear in many of the areas studied indicating they made a significant contribution to shifting engineering towards applied science.
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ItemAn unreasonable profession : spiritualism and mediumship between the wars in Britain( 1996)In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Spiritualist claims that the dead survive in another world and communicate with the living became a subject of heated debate within English society. Originating in America in the eighteen-forties, Spiritualism found ready converts in England. By 1870, many periodicals were devoted to chronicling the activities of believers, while newspaper articles, church sermons and scientific reports issued a stream of diverse interpretations to a fascinated audience. Spiritualism has become a subject of lively historical interest in recent times, but most historians assume that it was a Victorian and Edwardian phenomenon, with little relevance in post World War I Britain. I began this study with similar assumptions, but as my research progressed, it became clear that the number of people who identified as Spiritualists grew in the interwar years and that Spiritualism was as controversial during this period as in the previous century. In sketching its passage and growth between the wars, I emphasise Spiritualism's ability to absorb and organise both modem and ancient tropes. As the movement continued to gain in popularity the debate over its meaning and possibilities for humankind grew apace. At the centre of these controversies stood the figure of the medium. The mediumistic persona was constructed inside and outside the Spiritualist movement as feminine. This project engages with issues of gender, subjectivity and power in relation to the development of the mediumistic identity. In doing so I stress the profound ambiguity of that identity. The medium, as represented through diverse narratives, appeared as both subject and object, the source of truth and lies, and the mother of life and death. It was always unclear whether she was psychically gifted or demented, or whether she intended to harm or heal. Confronted with opposing narratives, a coherent sense of "self' was not easily achieved by a medium. Ultimately, this study attempts to show that the mediumistic "self' was never a stable result of private conviction, but a deeply unstable and continually shifting production that developed within particular historical circumstances
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ItemHistory as science : Michael White and his contributions to cytogenetics and evolutionary theory( 1994)Michael White (1910-1983) was foundation professor of the Department of Genetics at the University of Melbourne and one of the world's leading cytogeneticists. He made fundamental contributions to general cytogenetics and evolutionary cytogenetics. In 1945 White published Animal Cytology and Evolution which integrated an enormous amount of previously disparate data on cytogenetics into an evolutionary framework. This book was praised by his colleagues as a primary contribution to the emerging Neo-Darwinian evolutionary synthesis. Yet since then his status in the history of the evolutionary synthesis has become ambiguous. Some recent commentators omit him from their accounts. In this thesis it is argued that White's disappearance from history is not accidental but the result of a successful strategy by competing scientists to construct a version of evolutionary biology that legitimates their own discipline, research program and world view. This study takes the form of a biography but with an emphasis on the social and cultural context of science. A social constructivist conflict model has been employed, specifically Bourdieu's 'struggle for scientific authority' metaphor, as articulated by Sapp (1987). It is suggested that unless social factors are included in any account of the production of scientific knowledge then the analysis is incomplete. It is further claimed that the 'internal politics of science' can be an important determinant in scientific knowledge construction. Competition between scientists can be both interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary. It will be shown that White was engaged in just such a struggle for scientific authority with several scientists and that this competition stimulated and informed his own research. A major theme of the thesis is that history itself is a resource which scientists can deploy in support of their knowledge claims and/or to enhance their own standing in the field. It is argued that White's place in the history of science has been determined (and is being re-determined) not only by the quantity and quality of his scientific work but also by the way this work had been interpreted (or ignored) by his colleagues and competitors. It is not simply a question of the 'factual' basis of the scientists' research but whether that work supports, or does not support, currently accepted views and whether or not it serves the social and technical interests of others within or outside the field. Scientific knowledge is thus both negotiated and constructed.
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