School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemState, trauma, subjectivity and the Port Arthur massacre( 1999)The role of government in the field of disaster response and recovery has expanded in recent years to incorporate the social and emotional recovery of individuals and communities. This paper reflects on the many players and processes inherent in an event such as a disaster and draws upon theories of subjectivity that further inform the process of recovery. A consideration of the different conceptualisations of the subject in psychology and social theory highlights the inadequacy of the psychological model in attending to the trauma of disaster victims. This paper draws on general disaster research, and anecdotal material from the experiences of individuals affected by the Port Arthur Massacre, to argue that it is 'social' rather than 'psychological' responses that generate for affected subjects, more successful integration of traumatic events. Anthony Giddens' theory of structuration with its duality of individual and society, and an emphasis on social order, ontological security, routine and the knowledgeable and active agent informed by practical consciousness, provides a useful theory of human subjectivity and social relations from which to undertake a psychosocial consideration of disaster response and recovery. This is further enriched through the theories of subjectivity offered by Cash and Weinstein that account for the role of unconscious processes in the maintenance of social order through the influences of ideology.
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ItemEthics and survival( 1999)
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ItemThe myth of "One Nation" in multicultural Australia : an analysis of contemporary discourse and nationalism( 1999)The primary aim of this thesis is to examine discourses of multicultural politics in contemporary Australia and to analyze how these discourses impact upon the definition of national identity. Through an analysis of nations and nationalism, and the ways in which political discourse shapes these concepts, this thesis discusses how `one nation' discourse in Australia attempts to bind the nation together; at the same time the growing call to promote diversity and recognize difference unsettles the notion of being `one nation' and questions traditional, homogenous definitions of national unity. Drawing on the rhetoric of former Prime Minister Paul Keating, current Prime Minister John Howard, and MP Pauline Hanson, various perceptions of what it means for Australia to be 'one nation' are explored in this thesis. While each of these public figures conceive of national identity in different ways, each of them maintains that a shared, collective identity is possible. However, alternative definitions of difference destabilize this possibility, and suggest that the aim of national unity, as it has conventionally been defined, is inappropriate in a world where nations are becoming increasingly multicultural in nature. This thesis does not assert that nationalism as an ideology should be abandoned; indeed, this may not even be possible. However, nationalisms which seek to eradicate difference and sustain a homogenous culture are at odds with developing global trends. The active recognition and promotion of difference should be central to the contemporary nation-state, and political philosophy and rhetoric should reflect this. In furthering such a change, however, it is critical to understand that the recognition of difference furthers the state of permanent tension in which the nation finds itself. The promotion of a 'unity through sameness' framework will ultimately point to the reality of diversity, while a framework of 'unity through diversity' will ultimately recall nostalgic notions of a homogenous, collective community. A polarity of unity and separation emerges, and the two continually unsettle one another. In promoting a discourse of difference within the public sphere, the possibility for a 'detached we identity' emerges to allow a shared national identity that also allows individual and cultural differences to exist uneasily with one another.
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ItemCompensatory justice and land claims by Australian aborigines( 1998)In this thesis, I delineate the general structure of the theory of Compensatory Justice. The various issues addressed in this work are resolved via the reflective equilibrium technique so closely associated with the work of John Rawls, though I do not proceed by way of an original position story. The scope of Compensatory Justice is defined such that compensation is a response only to certain sorts of harms, where harm is defined in terms of setbacks to interests. Compensable harms are distinguished from non-compensable harms; and I establish when a person can rightly be held liable to provide another's compensation, and how proper compensation is be determined in any given instance. In the course of resolving these general issues, a number of further issues are brought to light and settled, e.g. what should be done when there is no-one on whom liability can rightly be imposed for another's compensation. Numerous cases are considered which extend and test the conclusions reached about the precepts of Compensatory Justice. Once the delineation of the general structure is complete, the conclusions reached are applied to the issue of Australian Aborigines' land claims. Since those claims are, in essence, claims about the suffering of harm, they also may be claims about the suffering of compensable harm. Although determinations of compensable harm must be made on a case by case basis, in the expectation that at least some land claims made by Aborigines will involve compensable harms I consider some general issues which will be relevant to the determination of proper compensation for them. The major conclusions reached are: that compensable harm is harm which is not in a person's interest (i.e. which affords them a net loss in well-being); that the person who intentionally or negligently causes a given compensable harm can rightly be held liable for the compensation due to the harmed person, and that a person should not be chosen at random to bear such liability; that proper compensation counterbalances a harm by providing the harmed person with a relevant good equivalent to the extent of the harm they have suffered; that the only relevant compensatory good for Aborigines who have suffered harms in respect of land to which they have ties based on Traditional Law or long association will be the land which was the original object of their set back interest; and that where Aborigines have a prima facie valid entitlement to a given area of land qua compensation and that land is currently the object of another's equally prima facie valid entitlement, neither entitlement should be allowed to predominate if the two can coexist (in the event that the two cannot coexist, I determine ways of resolving the question of which entitlement should prevail).
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ItemWriting about women in the history of science : a study of women workers at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in the 1930s and 1940s( 1993)This thesis is both an historiographical discussion of the position of women in the history of science, and an exercise in the writing of the history of women in Australian science. It considers some broad questions about writing the history of science in an Australian context such as: What limitations might there be in the kinds of accounts which celebrate the national growth of science in Australia? Are any groups excluded from these accounts? If so why? What construction of the scientist and of the institution of science dominate such histories? Parallel to these questions the thesis is also concerned with historiographical questions about contemporary feminist approaches to the writing of the history of science, and what contradictions and challenges lie in these accounts, and how these differences can be explained. The study explores which approach appears the most helpful in elucidating the reasons why women are absent both from the history and apparently the institution of science in Australia. Through an examination of women workers at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), during the 1930s and 40s, prior to the Council's transformation to an organisation (CSIRO), the thesis highlights the contradictions in the way women were perceived by the Council, the ways in which their working lives were negotiated and compromised due to their gender, and the ways the women adapted to these limitations. As a full examination of every aspect of the working lives of women at the CSIR would be too large a project, the work concentrates on two points of conflict which help to reveal the various issues faced by women working at the Council, and, more significantly, help to broaden the way in which the women themselves are perceived by the historian. The two sites of conflict around which the discussion in this thesis is based are the marriage bar, which was in force under the Public Service Act from 1922 to 1966, and its impact on the careers of women scientists at the CSIR, and the application for equal pay by women employed in the professional and the assistant classifications at the CSIR during the Second World War which was presided over by the Women's Employment Board (WEB). Both these conflicts, one long-term, the other influenced by the specific conditions of the war, highlight not only how women workers at the CSIR were treated but also the fact that the women were not a homogenous group. The marriage bar certainly affected the lives of all women workers at the Council, but this account will concentrate on the impact it had on the working lives of the women in professional classifications. The WEB case on the other hand reveals that to concentrate only on those women is to ignore an important aspect of the debate about the role and participation of women in science. The WEB case highlights the concerns of that part of the CSIR workforce which is not only ignored in 'great men accounts of the history of science, but also in some feminist histories as well. By looking at the broad spectrum of women working at the Council, this study hopes to challenge some of the ways in which the history of science of organisations such as the CSIR have been written and to add to feminist historical discourse about science and women working in science.
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ItemA timely visit: the role of the Great White Fleet, naval defence and the press in the British-Australian relationship( 1995-09)When the Great White Fleet visited Australia in 1908 it became the focal point of an on-going test of wills between Britain and Australia. Relations between the two countries had become increasingly strained since Britain’s decision in the mid-nineteenth century to establish a new kind of relationship with its colonies. For the Australian colonies this meant moving towards independence within the Empire framework and assuming more responsibility for their own defence. This change had serious repercussions for the Australian colonies and British-Australian relations. Politically and psychologically the Australian colonies had developed an image of themselves as the inferior daughters of the superior and protective Mother Country. By changing the nature of the British-Australian colonial relationship, Britain not only challenged this Australian colonial self-image, it also heightened existing divisions among the Australian colonists. Anglo- Australian loyalists, enamoured of things British, clung to the established colonial image and remained subservient to Imperial wishes. Australian nationalists, on the other hand, tried to establish a new relationship with Britain, one in which Australian colonial concerns would have a greater voice. (For complete abstract open document)
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ItemPauline, politics and psychoanalysis: theorising racism in Australia( 1999)This thesis uses a psychoanalytic approach to examine the phenomenon of the rise of the Pauline Hanson and the One Nation political party. Psychoanalysis, as the discipline concerned with developing an understanding of irrationality and the human emotions, is well-placed to tackle issues such as insecurity, resentment and racism. By reviewing the works of a number of psychoanalytic theorists, this thesis suggests ways that they may help us to understand the success of One Nation in Australia. Through this approach, I aim to bring new insights to the study of racism in contemporary Australia. The first part of this thesis consists of a survey of the contentions of six key psychoanalytic theorists. This analysis shows that psychoanalysis affords us an understanding of the subject as a complex being; attached to, and even constituted by, certain images and ideals. In the second section, I suggest ways in which psychoanalytic theory may assist us to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the Pauline Hanson phenomenon. This analysis deals with only a few selected aspects of Hansonism, but to the extent that this can be seen as a synecdoche of the whole, it suggests that the attainment of a full understanding of racism and the human emotions is more complex and difficult task than we often acknowledge.
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ItemJourneys to war: experiences of Australian recruits in the Great War( 1999-09)Debates over 'the' experience of Australians in the Great War have attempted to characterise the way that Australians approached and experienced this war. This thesis is concerned with the experiences of recruits for the Australian Imperial Force from the point of enlistment, to their first experiences of battle. Those Australians who enlisted between 1914 and 1918 imagined their war before they experienced it. Recruits expected to pass through certain defining moments on their way to the front, moments by which they could chart and later recount their war. Recruits anticipated a quick passage through these stages, but the reality was a consistent rising and falling of expectations as they encountered extended periods of inactivity that did not accord with their imagined narrative of war. With battle essential to any war experience, recruits pictured themselves at the height of battle, perhaps in the midst of the old world in Europe, but more importantly, their vision was only made complete by imagining their homecoming. Under the illusions of previous wars, early recruits envisaged returning after a short conflict to a welcoming society. This vision suffered under the realities of a protracted war, and a growing awareness of the real conditions at the front. As this knowledge found its way back to Australia, recruits found themselves between two worlds of war, one constructed through newspapers and propaganda, the other becoming more apparent in attitudes gleaned from returned men and letters from those at the front. Both claimed to know the war, yet recruits knew neither world to be entirely true. Increasingly, recruits came to a closer understanding of the war, the corollary of which was that their vision of home changed in its emphasis. Men continued to be drawn by the war, but by 1917 and 1918, sought to return to homes they came to regard as a haven. They no longer anticipated that the war would enhance their social status after they returned. What they retained was a desire to reach the war and see battle, in order that they might earn the right to return home.
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ItemRegional Victorian arts festivals: from community arts to an industry based model( 1999-06)This thesis will investigate the way in which the growth and direction of festivals have been influenced by the introduction of state and Commonwealth festival policies in 1973 until the present. Although a large number of policy documents examined in this thesis are relevant to the arts festivals sector as a while, it will primarily be concerned with the development of regional festivals in Victoria which have a specific arts focus or a strong arts component. State and Commonwealth government festival policies have undergone considerable change since 1973 which in turn caused significant developments in the evolution of festivals. From 1973 to 1983 festival policy was concerned with fostering community participation in and access to the arts, spawning a marked increase in arts festivals, statewide. During the 1980s the policies continued to encourage festival growth but with an additional interest in promoting the tourism potential of these events. The new commercial dimension acknowledged that arts festivals had significant economic potential and paved the way for the introduction of the industry based model in the 1990s. This model reflected the growing concern with efficiency, sustainability and viability across all state and Commonwealth government sectors. The resulting emphasis on good business practice and accountability came at a time when other significant influences, like local government reform and increased audience expectations were also affecting the development of festivals. (For complete abstract open document)