Review: Orientations To the Social: S. Wilson, G. Meagher, R. Gibson, D. Denemark and M. Western, eds, Australian Social Attitudes: The First Report. Sydney: University of New South Wales, 2005, 281 pp., ISBN 0868406716, AUS$59.95

Anti-homosexual harassment and violence are often described as ‘hate’ crimes perpetrated by homophobic people who act on an extreme and irrational contempt for the sexual identity of victims, and killings are regarded as the most typical form of these incidents. But there is little detailed international research evidence about the victims, perpetrators and the social aspects of such fatal violent incidents. The author's ongoing study in New South Wales, Australia, has filled some of these gaps. It has drawn evidence from 74 homicides with male victims that occurred in New South Wales between 1980–2000. Information sources were press records, police interviews with suspects, Coroner's court files and documents from the criminal trials of accused perpetrators. Analysis of the social characteristics of victims and perpetrators and the fatal scenarios reflect the significance of situational factors (such as alcohol, illicit drugs and anonymous sexual cruising) as well as the ‘hate’ motive in this fatal violence. Some perpetrators have serious drug use or psychological problems, whereas most killers are young men and boys from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The major scenarios of killing indicate that these crimes are linked to commonplace issues of male honour and masculine identity that are sharpened in the perpetrators’ situations by their marginal social status.

Download Full-text

Lively cities made in sound: A study of the sonic sensibilities of listening and hearing in Wollongong, New South Wales

Urban Studies ◽

10.1177/0042098019871170 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 57 (10) ◽

pp. 2131-2146

Author(s):

Gordon Waitt ◽

Ian Buchanan ◽

Michelle Duffy

Keyword(s):

New South ◽

New South Wales ◽

Urban Life ◽

City Centre ◽

Recent Analysis ◽

Cultural Norms ◽

Theoretical Approaches ◽

South Wales ◽

The Social ◽

The City

This paper seeks to better understand the lively city with reference to recent analysis of sonic affects, bodily sensations and emotions. The notion of ‘hearing contacts’, as it is usually deployed in discussion of the lively city, emphasises the social interactions with other people in a rather narrow anthropocentric way. Yet, it overlooks the diversity of felt and affective dimensions of city sounds. This paper takes up this challenge by bringing Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of territory into conversation with Greimas’s semiotic square. In doing so, this paper offers a compelling theoretical framework to better understand the sonic sensibilities of listening and hearing to provide a clearer sense of how people decide to attach specific meanings to sound, and which ones they do not. The paper first reviews various theoretical approaches to sound and the city. Next, the paper turns to an ethnographic account of sound and city-centre urban life recently conducted in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. This research seeks to better understand the ways bodily dispositions to sonic affects, materials and cultural norms helped participants territorialise the city centre, distinguishing ‘energetic buzz’, ‘dead noise’, ‘dead quiet’ and ‘quiet calm’.

Download Full-text

Book Review: David Denemark, Gabrielle Meagher, Shaun Wilson, Mark Western and Timothy. Philips (eds) Australian Social Attitudes 2: Citizenship, Work and Aspirations Sydney: UNSW Press, University of New South Wales, 2007, £37.50 pbk, (ISBN: 9780868408613), 320 pp

Work Employment and Society ◽

10.1177/09500170090230011406 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 201-202

Author(s):

Antje Bednarek

Keyword(s):

New South ◽

New South Wales ◽

Social Attitudes ◽

South Wales

Download Full-text

To Free the Spirit? Motivation and Engagement of Indigenous Students

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education ◽

10.1017/s1326011100016148 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 98-107 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Geoff Munns ◽

Andrew Martin ◽

Rhonda Craven

Keyword(s):

New South ◽

New South Wales ◽

Department Of Education ◽

Aboriginal Education ◽

Indigenous Students ◽

South Wales ◽

The Social ◽

Motivation And Engagement ◽

And Training ◽

Consultative Group

AbstractThis article directly responds to issues impacting on the social and academic outcomes of Indigenous students that were identified in the recent review of Aboriginal Education conducted by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training (NSW DET) in partnership with New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (NSW AECG). Not surprisingly, a common theme emerging from the review was the importance of student motivation and engagement for Indigenous students of all ages. The article reports on current research into the motivation, engagement and classroom pedagogies for a sample of senior primary Indigenous students. What is of particular interest is the cultural interplay of the lived experiences of these Indigenous students with schools, teachers and classroom pedagogies. Important questions arise from an analysis of this interplay about what might “free the spirit” for these and other Indigenous students.

Download Full-text