Domestic Subversions: maternalism and cross-cultural histories. This project will assist in the processes of reconciliation, by fostering a sense of a shared history, and increasing public awareness of the complexity of race relations histories in Australia. It will redress a significant gap in Australian knowledge and literature. Very little is known about the history of Aboriginal domestic workers and their relationships with their white employers in Australia, despite growing awareness of the ....Domestic Subversions: maternalism and cross-cultural histories. This project will assist in the processes of reconciliation, by fostering a sense of a shared history, and increasing public awareness of the complexity of race relations histories in Australia. It will redress a significant gap in Australian knowledge and literature. Very little is known about the history of Aboriginal domestic workers and their relationships with their white employers in Australia, despite growing awareness of the significance of domestic service in Aboriginal child removal policies. The project will also assist in establishing Australian historical scholarship at the forefront of leading international research initiatives in gender, race and colonialism studies. Read moreRead less
The Just-in-Time Self: Young Men, Skill and Narratives of Aspiration in the New Economy. Employers and policy-makers frequently lament the 'skills gap': the shortage of workers with the skills required to perform the available jobs. This cannot be solved simply by funding more vocational training courses. To improve participation in training it is important to understand how vocational aspirations are formed. This research will demonstrate how, through their involvement in collective creative pr ....The Just-in-Time Self: Young Men, Skill and Narratives of Aspiration in the New Economy. Employers and policy-makers frequently lament the 'skills gap': the shortage of workers with the skills required to perform the available jobs. This cannot be solved simply by funding more vocational training courses. To improve participation in training it is important to understand how vocational aspirations are formed. This research will demonstrate how, through their involvement in collective creative projects, young men from poor backgrounds, develop skills and inclinations that might move them beyond the traditional model of manual labour to develop the flexibility required of workers in the 'new economy'.Read moreRead less
The changing meanings of human eggs in fertility, assisted reproduction and stem cell research. Australian women are faced with difficult choices regarding when to have children. Assisted reproductive technologies for donating and banking fertile oocytes (eggs) are becoming important elements in these choices. This research will improve public and professional understanding of the changing meanings oocytes have for various groups of women.
Partner choice and sexual behaviour among gay and bisexual men. Current social and political debate about what constitutes legitimate relationships hinge on the status of same-sex relationships. Partner choice is key to understanding individuals' sexual behaviour and the relationships they develop in response. Yet gay and bisexual men's (GBM) sexual partner choices have not been researched. The project aims to describe types of partner choices among GBM and how these affect the specific sex prac ....Partner choice and sexual behaviour among gay and bisexual men. Current social and political debate about what constitutes legitimate relationships hinge on the status of same-sex relationships. Partner choice is key to understanding individuals' sexual behaviour and the relationships they develop in response. Yet gay and bisexual men's (GBM) sexual partner choices have not been researched. The project aims to describe types of partner choices among GBM and how these affect the specific sex practices, including risk behaviours, in which they engage and their style and pattern of relationships. It also aims to identify the contextual and individual factors associated with these choices. This evidence is expected to inform current debate and help improve health promotion and relationship support work among GBM.Read moreRead less
Muscling Up: Australian men, sexualisation and body image enhancment. Australian men are under increasing pressure to appear fit, with psychologists and others identifying body dissatisfaction, depression, and illegal supplement use as evidence of a 'crisis'. However, no research has explored men's emotional and physical investments in injunctions to be 'healthy', or relatively new opportunities in consumer culture for men to style the body. This qualitative project aims to explore men's motivat ....Muscling Up: Australian men, sexualisation and body image enhancment. Australian men are under increasing pressure to appear fit, with psychologists and others identifying body dissatisfaction, depression, and illegal supplement use as evidence of a 'crisis'. However, no research has explored men's emotional and physical investments in injunctions to be 'healthy', or relatively new opportunities in consumer culture for men to style the body. This qualitative project aims to explore men's motivations for engaging in body image-enhancing practices. It expects to provide insight that will benefit those engaged in advocating healthy lifestyles to men.Read moreRead less
The International History of Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism, 1814-1822. We cannot understand our entrapment in nationalism until we unravel the history of its complex inter-relationship with cosmopolitanism. This project excavates an understanding of politics and community that offers alternatives to the current global impasse. The moment in the past I will study was the origin of our present predicament, namely the inescapability of nationalism for the cosmopolitan and of cosmopolitanism for t ....The International History of Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism, 1814-1822. We cannot understand our entrapment in nationalism until we unravel the history of its complex inter-relationship with cosmopolitanism. This project excavates an understanding of politics and community that offers alternatives to the current global impasse. The moment in the past I will study was the origin of our present predicament, namely the inescapability of nationalism for the cosmopolitan and of cosmopolitanism for the nationalist. This project will consolidate the significance of Australian scholarship to a field that is critical to understanding our choices and destinies in a global society. It will make Australia the headquarters of a new international history that investigates the relevance of the past to policy-making.Read moreRead less
Women's NGOs, the United Nations and expanding civil society: a feminist critique, with reference to four UN member countries. Feminist non-governmental organisations have placed women's human rights concerns on the international agenda, but they are also increasingly expected to tailor themselves both to international bureaucracy and a domestic political role by becoming primary providers of what has become known as "social capital". Human rights remain important for women, but new strategies ....Women's NGOs, the United Nations and expanding civil society: a feminist critique, with reference to four UN member countries. Feminist non-governmental organisations have placed women's human rights concerns on the international agenda, but they are also increasingly expected to tailor themselves both to international bureaucracy and a domestic political role by becoming primary providers of what has become known as "social capital". Human rights remain important for women, but new strategies are needed to ensure government accountability for transforming the rhetoric of women's rights into reality. This project will examine these issues as faced by feminist NGOs in Australia, France, Pakistan and Haïti, to identify issues in common and suggest strategies for furthering the international feminist human rights project.Read moreRead less
North Korea's quiet transformation: women in the rise of the informal market. This project examines the role of women in the emergence of a market economy and also assesses the social, economic and political impact of the spread of market relations in North Korea.
The time of our lives: Time equity and the balancing of market and non-market production in the modern Australian population. This project will yield new information relevant to the national social inclusion agenda and the research priority goal of understanding and strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric to help families and individuals live healthy, productive, fulfilling lives. Through a multilayered analysis of gender, class, life course stage, time allocation and the connection ....The time of our lives: Time equity and the balancing of market and non-market production in the modern Australian population. This project will yield new information relevant to the national social inclusion agenda and the research priority goal of understanding and strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric to help families and individuals live healthy, productive, fulfilling lives. Through a multilayered analysis of gender, class, life course stage, time allocation and the connections between them, it will demonstrate links between various forms of social and economic participation and identify how they could be distributed more evenly. This knowledge is important to inform policy to better enable young people to become independent, families to both earn a living and care well for their children, and older people to be productive and socially engaged.Read moreRead less
If men did more housework, would women have more babies? Cross-national fertility rates and the gender division of labour. This project could contribute to the future well being of Australian society and its citizens by addressing the increasingly pressing social issue of fertility decline, and its consequence, population aging. The Treasury Intergenerational Report 2002-3 has identified structural aging of the population as a major social challenge because it threatens labour supply, social sta ....If men did more housework, would women have more babies? Cross-national fertility rates and the gender division of labour. This project could contribute to the future well being of Australian society and its citizens by addressing the increasingly pressing social issue of fertility decline, and its consequence, population aging. The Treasury Intergenerational Report 2002-3 has identified structural aging of the population as a major social challenge because it threatens labour supply, social stability and economic growth. The taxes of a shrinking work force may have to support a mounting number of dependent elderly. The proposed research could identify practical social interventions to facilitate higher birth rates, which would slow population aging by increasing the ratio of young people to elderly. Read moreRead less