bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multi-Resolution Salient Region Detection in Frequency Domain
Authors: Guo Yingchun , Feng Yanhong , Yan Gang , Shi Shuo
Published: September 2014

Salient region detection is a challenge problem in computer vision, which is useful in image segmentation, region-based image retrieval, and so on. In this paper we present a multi-resolution salient region detection method in frequency domain which can highlight salient regions with well-defined boundaries of object. The original image is sub-sampled into three multi-resolution layers, and for each layer the luminance and color salient features are extracted in frequency domain. Then, the significant values are calculated by using invariant laws of Euclidean distance in Lab space and the normal distribution function is used to specify the salient map in each layer in order to remove noise and enhance the correlation among the vicinity pixels. The final saliency map is obtained by normalizing and merging the multi-resolution salient maps. Experimental evaluation depicts the promising results from the proposed model by outperforming the state-of-art frequency-tuned model.
Disclosure and Privacy Settings on Social Networking Sites
Authors: Archer Karin , Wood Eileen , Nosko Amanda , De Pasquale Domenica , Molema Seija , Christofides Emily
Published: September 2014

The present study evaluated a video-based intervention designed to permit users of social networking to make informed decisions about the information they disclosed online. The videos provided information regarding potential risks of disclosure and well as step-by-step instructions on privacy setting use. Novice (n=40) and experienced (n=40). FacebookTM users were randomly assigned to either the video intervention condition, or given the choice to watch the video intervention then were asked to construct a new FacebookTM account or work on their existing account. Viewing the video encouraged greater use of privacy settings as well as use of more restrictive privacy settings. Gender differences revealed greater use of privacy settings among women. Experienced users continued to disclose more than novice users, however, they increased their use of privacy settings which restricted the availability of the disclosed information. This study shows promising use of direct and explicit instruction in the teaching of privacy online.
The New Light
Authors: Quintas Rudolfo
Published: September 2014

This article describes The New Light, a site-specific light mapping intervention in the altar of the Museu Paroquial in Óbidos, Portugal – a church converted into a sacred art museum. The work suggests a reflection on our religious heritage and raises the question on churches as the true satisfying place to our spiritual needs. What are we missing? Is spirituality not important anymore? Can we be fulfilled as human beings if we are not conscious of a spiritual dimension? The New Light talks about the light in its spiritual dimension and this paper introduces the context of the work, discusses its motivation, describes the creative process from conceptualization to materialization and details the technical process for its construction. The article ends with a conclusion on both the creative process and the audience experience with written materials from the artist statement.
From The City Of Bits to E-Topia
Authors: Deakin Mark
Published: September 2014

Mitchell's book on the City of Bits, sets out a vision of urban life literally done to bits. His next book e-topia, provides the counter-point to this vision of urban life and scenario where the city is no longer left in bits and pieces, but a place where it ‘all comes together'. As Mitchell states in Me++: the Cyborg Self and the Networked City, all this ‘coming together' becomes possible because the trial separation of bits and atoms is over and the dissolution of the boundaries between virtual and physical space now makes citizenship worth playing for. The landscape which this paper uncovers is different. For it reveals the middle ground between the ‘high-level' issues surrounding e-topia and those lying at the ‘grass roots' level of me ++ and the cyborg-self. This is because it is here and with the likes of Laclau and Mouffe and Zizek, that matters which concern the ‘city of bits' and notion of ‘e-topia' as the ‘me++ of the cyborg self', get ‘bottomed out' as the space, citizenship and community of global strategy.
A Perspective of Adoption of Mobile Applications in Rural India
Authors: Roy Debasish
Published: September 2014

Rural mobile application are designed for various purposes, ranging from reaching information regarding government schemes, agricultural best practices, market prices, fishing zones and weather forecasts, to facilitating money transfer, opening and operating a bank account for saving money and to receive money directly to the bank account for various government schemes and subsidies. This paper examines the critical success factors and inhibitors that affect adoption of the mobile applications and the effect on continued usage. A questionnaire survey was done to gather data for this study. Results indicate that last mile barriers act as inhibitors to adoption. Adoption behavior of rural people do not exhibit a correlation with the ease of use of the application. Social influence has a strong influence on adoption behavior, which will enable policy makers and practitioners to evolve the right penetration strategy. Perceived usefulness has a strong influence on adoption. The results reiterate the increasing positive impact of rural mobile applications on day to day working of rural people.
Occupiers as the Critical Stakeholders in a Sustainable Building
Authors: Reed Richard , Jailani Junaidah
Published: September 2014

There is an established body of knowledge about technical aspects of sustainable buildings however little research conducted into the post-occupancy relationship between sustainable buildings and occupiers based on the ‘form vs function' argument (Reed & Bole 2009). There has been limited attention placed on the relationship between technological advances and how occupiers interact and behave with these buildings (Wener & Carmalt 2006). Therefore this is a preliminary study into differences (if any) between (a) the expectation of occupiers and (b) their actual experiences. The data was provided by a survey of occupiers/tenants of sustainable buildings in Melbourne, Australia in 2012. The findings demonstrated (a) occupants of sustainable buildings are primarily interested in their own personal comfort levels, (b) occupiers of 5 star sustainable buildings have the highest expectations of how their buildings operate however there also exists the largest gap between their expectations and actual experiences, and (c) the communication channels available to occupiers about the operation of their sustainable office building and how they address problems are very limited. There is an urgent need to ensure future efforts to incorporate sustainability into new and existing office buildings meet the needs of present and future occupiers without compromising short and long-term occupier satisfaction levels.
Pattern Based Feature Construction in Semantic Data Mining
Authors: Ławrynowicz Agnieszka , Potoniec Jędrzej
Published: September 2014

The authors propose a new method for mining sets of patterns for classification, where patterns are represented as SPARQL queries over RDFS. The method contributes to so-called semantic data mining, a data mining approach where domain ontologies are used as background knowledge, and where the new challenge is to mine knowledge encoded in domain ontologies, rather than only purely empirical data. The authors have developed a tool that implements this approach. Using this the authors have conducted an experimental evaluation including comparison of our method to state-of-the-art approaches to classification of semantic data and an experimental study within emerging subfield of meta-learning called semantic meta-mining. The most important research contributions of the paper to the state-of-art are as follows. For pattern mining research or relational learning in general, the paper contributes a new algorithm for discovery of new type of patterns. For Semantic Web research, it theoretically and empirically illustrates how semantic, structured data can be used in traditional machine learning methods through a pattern-based approach for constructing semantic features.
TUBERCULOSIS IN HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL TRANSPLANT PATIENTS.
Authors: Costa Silvia F , Ramos Jessica , Batista Marjorie Vieira
Published: September 2014

Description of tuberculosis (TB) among Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT) recipients is scanty in the literature even in countries where TB is common. Most of reports of TB in HSCT patients were from ASIA, with TB incidence varying from 0.0014 (USA) to 16% (Pakistan). There are few reports of diagnosis of TB during the first two weeks after HSCT, most of cases described in the literature occurred after 90 days of HSCT, and the lung was the organ most often involved. The mortality varied from 0 to 50% and is higher among allogeneic HSCT. There is no consensus regarding the screening with tuberculin skin test or QuantiFERON-TB gold, and primary prophylaxis for latent TB, and whether in developing country with high prevalence of TB the epidemiologic query should be emphasized.
Ethnicity and Public Space in the City: Ethnic Precincts in Sydney
Authors: Collins Jock , Kunz Patrick
Published: September 2014

Ethnic precincts are one example of the way that cultural diversity shapes public spaces in the postmodern metropolis. Ethnic precincts are essentially clusters of ethnic or immigrant entrepreneurs in areas that are designated as ethnic precincts by place marketers and government officials and display iconography related to that ethnicity in the build environment of the precinct. They are characterized by the presence of a substantial number of immigrant entrepreneurs of the same ethnicity as the precinct who line the streets of the precinct selling food, goods or services to many co-ethnics and non co-ethnics alike. Ethnic precincts are thus a key site of the production and consumption of the ethnic economy, a commodification of place where the symbolic economy of space (Zukin 1995:23-4) is constructed on representations of ethnicity and ‘immigrantness’. To explore some dimensions of the way that ethnic diversity shapes public space we present the findings of recent fieldwork in four Sydney ethnic precincts: Chinatown, Little Italy, Auburn (“Little Turkey”) and Cabramatta (“Vietnamatta”). This fieldwork explores the complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between immigrant entrepreneurs, local government authorities, and ethnic community representatives in shaping the emergence of, and development of, ethnic precincts. It demonstrates how perceptions of the authenticity of precincts as ethnic places and spaces varies in the eyes of consumers or customers according to whether they are ‘co-ethnic’, ‘co-cultural’ or ‘Others”. It explores relations of production and consumption within the ethnic precinct and how these are embedded within the domain of regulation in the daily life of these four Sydney ethnic precincts.
Cities of race hatred? The spheres of racism and anti-racism in contemporary Australian cities
Authors: Dunn Kevin M , Forrest James , Pe-Pua Rogelia , Hynes Maria , Maeder-Han Karin
Published: September 2014

Cities are indeed places of everyday racism, experienced as ethnocentrism, prejudice and ethnic-based hatred. Drawing on an Australia-wide telephone survey of respondents' experiences of 'everyday' racism in various contexts, conducted in 2006, we examine forms of racist experience, as well as the contexts and responses to those experiences for Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, Australia’s main immigrant-receiving cities. Results show that between 1 in 10, and 1 in 3 respondents, depending on their background and situation, experience some form of 'everyday' racism. However, this particular aspect of urban incivility is shadowed by everyday good relations. There is what might be called a ‘geography of cultural repair’ and cultural maintenance within the cosmopolitan city. There is strong support for anti-racism policy. Where action is taken in response racism it is determined by everyday confrontations and attempts at direct reconciliation. Formal complaints and reports are much rarer forms of anti-racism. In this paper we advocate a pragmatic on-going, agonistic politics of cultural exchange and tolerance.
Thinking and theorising about activism: who and how?
Authors: Humphrys Elizabeth
Published: September 2014

This article overviews the following three articles in the journal, which arise from the 2008 conference Other Worlds 2: After the Neo-Con Men. The article responds to an issue raised across the papers regarding social movement knowledge and theory: what is the tension between analysis produced inside the academy and that which arises from within movements. And how can theory can be developed in a way that both takes into account the viewpoint and needs of the historical players whose activity is shaping the future (social movement actors) and the wider social forces that give rise to and shape the struggles those players are involved in. It is argued that the new movements around globalisation and global justice have reasserted 'activism' as a key component of social movement analysis, challenging academics to engage with social movements in a more direct way and to ensure their output is relevant to that audience. It is argued that the concept of the ‘organic intellectuals’, outlined by Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, has particular utility.
Organising, movements and political parties
Authors: Rhiannon Lee
Published: September 2014

The paper outlines historical and contemporary relationships between political parties and social movements, with a focus on the Australian Greens. It posits some of the limitations and possibilities of this relationship, drawing on Australia-based experience. It argues the relationship is a necessary one, both to social movements seeking to pursue their agendas through the political system, and to political parties needing to be open to broad public participation and to maintain strong links to on-the-ground issues. It concludes that the Australian Greens have sought to strike a balance between party and movement, recognising the limits of both.
The 'Your Rights at Work' Campaign: 2005-2007
Authors: McManus Sally
Published: September 2014

In 2007 the Howard Government was swept aside in a landslide at a Federal Election. On that day, many hundreds of Your Rights At Work activists were on polling booths around the country - frequently outnumbering the major parties - in what was the key phase of the campaign.

The previous years had seen the largest trade union campaign for industrial rights in decades. This paper looks at how that campaign was organised, and asserts that the victory of the campaign in defeating the Howard Government was not the result of a silver bullet strategy, but a mix of campaign components in a specific context. While certain strategies were new, in many ways the Your Rights At Work campaign was a back to basic initiative that had its success on the back of local organising across the nation.
The Politics of Remembering and Forgetting: Native Title Law and Reconciliation in Australia
Authors: Dominello Francesca Giorgia
Published: September 2014

The post-Mabo era was to be the age of reconciliation and the end of unjust dispossession of indigenous peoples’ lands. However, as the more recent cases in native title show this vision did not become the reality. In this paper, I will examine Mabo in its historical context. In particular I will examine the claim that Mabo was a product of the “new history” movement in Australia. This movement developed in response to the silence that had shrouded the history of colonial relations between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Through the writing of these histories, new historians have raised awareness of the history of colonization in Australia and the impact it has had on indigenous peoples in particular. In the paper I will outline the ways in which Mabo is a product of this history. However, if Mabo did not bring to an end to the injustice and inequality facing indigenous peoples in the context of land law in Australia, it is because of the traces of another history informing that decision and the events that followed it. In this paper I will refer to this history as the “old history” of Australia. In this history indigenous peoples are placed in a paradoxical position: they are inferior, but still seen as threat to the colonial enterprise. The paper will explore how this “history” is repeated in Mabo and continues to inform the High Court’s approach to native title law.
Social Inclusion and Local Practices of Belonging
Authors: Garbutt Rob
Published: September 2014

Social inclusion has been conceptualised as having two key aspects: distributional aspects relating to access to resources including employment, and relational aspects which concern the connections between people and the wider society. While both are important, the emphasis in Australian social inclusion policy has been on distributional aspects. This paper focuses on the relational aspects of social inclusion, and argues that it is critically important to include relational considerations in social inclusion policy.

Central to the relational aspects of social inclusion is achieving a sense of belonging, particularly at the everyday, local level. Belonging in this everyday sense can be thought of as an ongoing project achieved through everyday practices, rather than solely in terms of membership of a group. While many such practices, for example regularly engaging in team sports, are accepted ways of establishing and maintaining belonging, for others in a community practices of belonging may necessitate disrupting or at least broadening the established norms of how one belongs.

To ground this discussion of inclusion and belonging, this paper draws on practices of belonging in a regional community. Established norms of belonging are examined through the idea of ‘being a local’, a way of belonging that appears to be based on membership. The paper then turns to two local projects which disrupt the exclusive bounds of local membership and establish new and inclusive practices of belonging. To conclude, parallels are drawn between the boundaries which define ‘the social’ in social inclusion and ‘the local community’ in being a local, to argue for the importance of including relational aspects of social inclusion within social inclusion policy debates and program formulation.
Indigenous Rights and the 1991-2000 Australian Reconciliation Process
Authors: Gunstone Andrew
Published: September 2014

The formal reconciliation process in Australia was conducted between 1991 and 2000 and aimed to reconcile Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples by 2001. In this paper, I detail the failure of both this reconciliation process and governments, in particular the Howard Government, to recognise Indigenous rights, such as sovereignty, a treaty, self-determination and land rights.
The 2Rs – Respect and Responsibility: The Case of Australian Muslim Girls
Authors: Kabir Nahid Afrose
Published: September 2014

The citizenship debate involves respect and responsibility. In this paper I discuss the case of Australian Muslims girls who in their home environment respect the family values and carry out certain responsibilities assigned to them. In the wider society, they attend schools, do part-time jobs and obey the values of the institutions. However, I question in this paper, whether the family and the wider society are fulfilling their responsibility towards these girls.

I discuss the interview responses of 39 Muslim girls (15-18 years) living in Sydney and Perth. I examine pertinent cases within the framework of relevant academic literature, and argue within the social, religious and cultural context. The issues within the family domain are inter-twined within Islamic religious-cultural arguments, whereas the issues in the public domain are argued on cultural conflict between the Muslims and the wider society. With both arguments I show how some Muslim girls negotiate their identity, and suggest their bicultural identity is assisting them to keep a positive attitude in their everyday life.
Community Networks and the Nature of Emergence in Civil Society
Authors: Onyx Jenny , Edwards Melissa
Published: September 2014

Our research challenges the limitations of extant knowledge of social formation by its focus on the ordinary, everyday lived reality of maintaining community and on identifying its operations from the internal perspective of civil society. We aim to explore the actual mobilising processes and structures that underpin the formation of social capital in the community. We examine how networks emerge and operate.
Social Disorder as a Social Good
Authors: Marshall Jon
Published: September 2014

In complex systems, disorder and order are interrelated, so that disorder can be an inevitable consequence of ordering. Often this disorder can be disruptive, but sometimes it can be beneficial. Different social groups will argue over what they consider to be disordered, so that naming of something as ‘disorder’ is often a political action. However, although people may not agree on what disorder is, almost everyone agrees that it is bad. This primarily theoretical sketch explores the inevitability of disorder arising from ordering systems and argues that a representative democracy has to tolerate disorder so as to function.
Sporting Chance: Indigenous Participation in Australian Sport History
Authors: Gorman Sean
Published: September 2014

For many non-Indigenous Australians the only time they have any engagement with Indigenous peoples, history or issues is through watching sport on television or being at a football match at the MCG. This general myopia and indifference by settler Australians with Indigenous Australians manifests itself in many ways but perhaps most obscenely in the simple fact that Indigenous Australians die nearly 20 years younger than the rest of Australias citizens. Many non-Indigenous Australians do not know this. Sport in many ways has offered Indigenous Australians a platform from which to begin the slow, hard process for social justice and equity to be actualised. This paper will discuss the participation of Indigenous Australians in sport and show how sport has enabled Indigenous Australians to create a space so that they can speak out against the injustices they have experienced and to further improve on relations going into the future. The central contention is that through sport all Australians can begin a process of engaging with Indigenous history as a means to improve race relations between the two groups.
Moving Beyond the “Lump-Sum”: A Case Study of Partnership for Positive Social Change
Authors: Bunde-Birouste Anne , Bull Nicholas , McCarroll Brad
Published: September 2014

Based on a foundation of an integrated sport program for positive social change and health promotion, this paper presents a case study of the relationship between a corporate sponsor (JP Morgan), and a community-based health promotion/social change organization (Football United). The paper articulates the various issues that arise in management of such a program, and the involvement of sponsors in its operation.

Illustrated through the JP Morgan - Football United case study, the paper explores: the difficulties of maintaining a program that remains faithful to the expectations and demands of each stakeholder group involved; the challenges involved in harnessing support for a program when moving beyond the one-dimensional transfer of funds; the different needs and expectations of/for volunteers this type of complex health promotion intervention.

This case study has been written to propose that an “integrated partnership” between a corporate body and a social change organization can produce significant advantages beyond the scope of uncomplicated financial contribution

The key feature documented is that corporate investment can move beyond abstract “lump-sum” social responsibility, towards targeted contributions to detailed outcomes through sustainable and meaningful involvement in a health promotion framework. This in turn equates to funding stability and a more empowering partnership for the health promotion/social change organization.
Living on the Outside: cultural diversity and the transformation of public space in Melbourne
Authors: Jakubowicz Andrew , Moustafine Mara
Published: September 2014

Melbourne has been described as Australia’s most liveable and most multicultural city. What relation do these descriptions have to each other? How has the public culture of Victoria been influenced by the cultural diversity of the state? The political class in Victoria has tended to be more in favour of multiculturalism as a policy, more resistant to populist racism and more positive about immigration than elsewhere in Australia. How has this orientation been affected by the institutional embedding of ethnic power during the past four decades? The organization of ethnic groups into political lobbies, which have collaborated across ethnic borders, has brought about cultural transformations in the “mainstream”. Often the public experiences these transformations through changing uses of public spaces. This paper offers an historical sociology of this process, and argues for a view of public space as a physical representation of the relative power of social forces. It is based on research for the Making Multicultural Australia (Victoria) project. (http://multiculturalaustralia.edu.au). An online version of the paper inviting user-generated comments can be found at http://mmav1.wordpress.com.
Move On, Move On! What it is to be Chinese in Australia today
Authors: Ling Chek
Published: September 2014

The Chinese are all right now. On the whole the mainstream population is quite relaxed about the Chinese presence in their midst. That of course was not the case for the 100 years to the end of WWII. And so it should come as no surprise that now and again old scars will resurface. Yet the Chinese have metamorphosed in the psyche of mainstream Australia: honorary whites like Li Cunxin, lionized professionals like Victor Chang, are neon-lit signs of this change. All the same, as a huayi (overseas Chinese) immigrant, my observations over the last 50 years have compelled me to conclude that there is one last gate for the present-day Chinese to walk through, and that it is time for the remaining rearguards of White Australia to consciously remove themselves from that gate.
Empires of the Sun
Authors: Jakubowicz Andrew
Published: September 2014

“The Chinese” have been Australia’s Other since before Federation, and a major driver behind both the creation and abolition of White Australia. The complex and multiple layers of engagement of the Chinese (an omnibus term with many strands and contested perspectives which the paper will explicate) in the Australian political system, from the government to government machinations, to their involvement in a wide range of political parties, indicates something important occurring that transcends the problematic of multiculturalism. The paper argues they help us understand the challenges of globalised post-multicultural politics.
Stakeholder collaboration in a prospective World Heritage Area: The case of Kokoda and the Owen Stanley Ranges
Authors: Bott Amy Louise , Grabowski Simone Maria , Wearing Stephen
Published: September 2014

The process of listing a World Heritage Area (WHA)c in developing countries is often much more complex than in the West. Often all stakeholders are not taken into consideration and there is a lack of understanding of the concept of World Heritage and what it entails. This is particularly true for stakeholders who live in or adjacent to the proposed WHA, such as local communities. This paper presents a case study of Kokoda and the Owen Stanley Ranges, currently a tentative World Heritage site, to show the complexities in stakeholder collaboration and attribution in the process of World Heritage designation. Six key stakeholders were identified in the study. Upon examination of four attributes of stakeholders: power; legitimacy; urgency; and proximity, it was found that all stakeholders in this case study have a high legitimacy in the listing process however only the local community holds high levels of power, urgency and proximity. Additionally it was found that several stakeholders, like the private sector, have too many weak relationships with other stakeholders, resulting in a lack of communication. These findings present the first step in understanding how it might be possible to improve the listing process of World Heritage Sites in developing countries through effective stakeholder collaboration.
Serious Play, Serious Problems: Issues with eBook Applications
Authors: Baird Catherine , Henninger Maureen
Published: September 2014

This paper is an investigation into the accessibility of emerging interactive, multi-touch narratives, which are designed and developed to be used on Apple’s iPad device. Universal access to technology culturally, physically, mentally and socially is vital to the ethical and moral sustainability of society. The importance of this is particularly vital to the development of a child’s development of basic literacy, numeracy and reading skills, as technology becomes a predominant mode in their lives. Narratives designed and developed for the iPad device offer a multimodal, interactive environment of text, image, sound, animation and touch; yet they render the accessibility tools and functions, embedded within the iPad for users with disabilities, useless. Whilst some narratives counter this in a variety of ways in their design, there are still major areas where the concept of “universal access for all” is neglected, leaving a significant portion of users in the dark.
Redefining the political moment
Authors: Arvanitakis James
Published: September 2014

On 16 February 2003, more than half a million people gathered in Sydney, Australia, as part of a global anti-war protest aimed at stopping the impending invasion of Iraq by the then US Administration. It is difficult to estimate how many millions marched on the coordinated protest, but it was by far the largest mobilization of a generation. Walking and chanting on the streets of Sydney that day, it seemed that a political moment was upon us. In a culture that rarely embraces large scale activism, millions around Australian demanded to be heard. The message was clear: if you do not hear us, we would be willing to bring down a government. The invasion went ahead, however, with the then Australian government, under the leadership of John Howard, being one of the loudest and staunchest supporters of the Bush Administrations drive to war. Within 18 months, anti-war activists struggled to have a few hundred participants take part in anti-Iraq war rallies, and the Howard Government was comfortably re-elected for another term. The political moment had come and gone, with both social commentators and many members of the public looking for a reason. While the conservative media was often the focus of analysis, this paper argues that in a time of late capitalism, the political moment is hollowed out by ‘Politics’ itself. That is to say, that formal political processes (or ‘Politics’) undermine the political practices that people participate in everyday (or ‘politics’). Drawing on an ongoing research project focusing on democracy and young people, I discuss how the concept of ’politics‘ has been destabilised and subsequently, the political moment has been displaced. This displacement has led to a re-definition of ‘political action’ and, I argue, the emergence of a different type of everyday politics.
Inclusion, Identity and the Capacity to Act
Authors: Yerbury Hilary
Published: September 2014

Introduction to vol.3 no.2
Cosmopolitanism With a Twist
Authors: Baruti Armanda
Published: September 2014

The smaller the world due to mass migration and new technology, the bigger the conflicts due to perceiving ourselves as more different from one-another than ever. There is new hope, however, because cosmopolitanism has made a spectacular comeback to save the day. Unfortunately, everyone seems to be so caught up arguing whether the glass of cosmopolitanism is half full or half empty, that cosmopolitanism is, in fact, causing quite a stir, thus defeating its harmonious purpose. This paper calls for a time-out and proposes a cosmopolitan-approach to cosmopolitanism.
I-Witnessing; Reflections on Cosmopolitanism in Kigali
Authors: Yerbury Hilary
Published: September 2014

Starting from the classic view of cosmopolitanism, this paper uses personal experiences gained during a six-week stay in Rwanda with a family affected by the genocide to explore the disjuncts which emerge in trying to understand the concept. In this process of exploration, it considers conceptions of the guest, the stranger and what Geertz terms the ‘cosmopolite’. Taking a reflexive position, it explores what it means to be a witness to events in someone else’s life, with a focus on post-genocide reconciliation that took place in the family in January and February 2011. In this context, it introduces the notions of cosmopolitan curiosity (Appiah) and cosmopolitan tolerance (Beck) and finds each of them affected by structural imbalances which render them potentially inadequate in practice. The paper concludes that, from a reflexive point of view, an understanding of cosmopolitanism is a work in progress, and that it is much more difficult to sustain as a lived reality than it is as an abstraction.
Displacing Androcracy: Cosmopolitan Partnerships in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Water
Authors: Mercanti Stefano
Published: September 2014

Set against the backdrop of Gandhi’s Freedom Movement, Water pushes the boundaries of India’s male-dominant cultural narratives beyond patriarchal predicaments by questioning the religious tradition and the oppressive constraints imposed on Hindu widows. This paper aims to show how Sidhwa’s characters move toward more caring and life-enhancing scenarios by portraying relationships of mutual support in which human beings give evidence of ‘other’ possible patterns of construction of the self and forms of co-existence, thus overcoming the rigid discourses imposed by dominator hierarchies.
Finding the Limits of Aid/Watch
Authors: Harding Matthew
Published: September 2014

Commissioner of Taxation v Aid/Watch Incorporated is the latest of a series of recent cases in which the High Court of Australia has exhibited what might be described as a ‘generosity of spirit’ to would-be taxpayers whose charitable status has been called into question. In Aid/Watch, the Court ruled that an organisation formed to monitor and evaluate the delivery of foreign aid by Australian government agencies was a charity even though it was engaged, consistently with its objects, in the sorts of political activities that traditionally have been regarded as anathema to charity. This article considers where we might feasibly locate the boundaries of the High Court’s reasoning in Aid/Watch, in light of charity law as a whole. In other words, as a matter of charity law, what are the limits of Aid/Watch? Thinking about this question demands: (a) some understanding of what the High Court in Aid/Watch said with certainty; and (b) a wider review of charity law to see which of its rules and principles may bear upon cases about political purposes now that Aid/Watch has been decided.
Inside the Aid/Watch Case: Translating across Political and Legal Activism
Authors: Goodman James
Published: September 2014

The article explores the interaction between legal and political strategy in producing social change. It centres on a long-running dispute in Australia over whether charities can have a dominant political purpose. The focus is on the strategising of the small activist charity that successfully pursued the case over a five-year period. As an 'insider' account, the article charts the in-practice process of translating activisms across legal and political fields. With a stress on contingency and agency, the account affirms a 'politics of rights' approach to legal activism. It shows how the case opened-up new grounds for political contestation, and as such offered prospects for 'non-reformist reform'. It also demonstrates how this occurred more by strategic engagement with unintended effects, than necessarily by design.
Development, Environmental and Indigenous People’s Movements in Australia: Issues of Autonomy and Identity
Authors: Singharoy Debal
Published: September 2014

Indigenous movements in Australia are at a crossroad in their efforts to protect their intrinsic relations with land, nature and culture on the one hand and engaging with the reconciliatory and developmental dynamics of the state on the other. This paper examines the process of articulation and rejuvenation of indigenous identities that negotiate across culture, environment, sustainable livelihood and the developmental needs of the community. Locating these movements within wider socio-historical contexts it focuses on the tensions between a pro-conservation and a pro-development approach in grass roots indigenous movements. Three case studies are presented – drawn from the Sydney region. One indigenous group’s struggle against a housing development, defined as a threat to indigenous and environmental heritage, is contrasted with an indigenous group that is internally divided over an agreement with a mining developer, and a third group that has engaged in constructing housing and welfare projects, and in part has itself become a developer. The article thereby addresses the reformulation of indigenous identities in Australian society as indigenous peoples’ movements have renegotiated the contending pressures of environment and development.
The Social Construction of the Microfinance Industry: a comparison of donor and recipient perspectives
Authors: Bisen Arjun , Dalton Bronwen , Wilson Rachel
Published: September 2014

Microfinance has been one of the fastest growing “industries” of the new millennium, with the sector now containing over 10,000 microfinance institutions (MFIs) worth an estimated USD with over $60 billion in assets (Microfinance Information Exchange 2011). This expansion has stimulated interest from both scholars and the mainstream media. There is a growing volume of academic research which broadly centres on two approaches: an “institutionalist perspective” that highlights microfinance as an innovation in applying market solutions to social problems; and the other approach, often described as welfarist, that questions the capacity of an increasingly commericalised sector to realize a mission of poverty reduction. But do these themes and concerns permeate academic boundaries? Specifically, does media coverage in key donor and recipient countries confirm or challenge or even engage with these debates? To date much of this academic literature has overlooked how “microfinance” has been socially constructed in the public sphere through the mass media. Through its interpretation of events, the media can influence the way an issue is discussed and evaluated and in this way influence individual perceptions (Gamson 1988). In this article we present an analysis of recent media coverage of microfinance in one key donor country, the United States and one major recipient country, India. By conducting a media content analysis of 100 newspaper articles (sorted by level of relevance) that appeared in the top 10 highest circulating English language newspapers in India and the US over a 12 month period January-December 2008 we discuss how media coverage in these two countries differed in significant ways. The Indian media sample tended to focus on operational issues and report on specific business activity within the microfinance industry, in general treating it as a ‘regular’ part of the financial and banking system. While the US media sample made broader generalizations about the industry, linking it to meta narratives and broader themes – peculiarly microfinance as an innovation due to its harnessing of market forces to realize positive social outcomes. This finding contributes to understanding of the interpretations, and the differences in interpretations, of microfinance between donor and recipient countries and offers insights into the power relations at play within the microfinance industry and the broader development and business community.
Strengthening Aboriginal community wellbeing
Authors: Batten Bronwyn , Stanford Kellyanne
Published: September 2014

Since 2008 the NSW Government has been investigating the concept of ‘wellbeing’ as it relates to Aboriginal communities. Adopting a focus on wellbeing has meant delving into questions about what makes communities strong, and what factors are unique to creating strong Aboriginal communities, as well as considering the government’s role (if any) in supporting Aboriginal community wellbeing. This paper seeks to convey the essence of the journey into wellbeing to date. It details the positions and assumptions that this work started with, and analyses why this has shifted over time. It examines what worked and was feasible, and what didn’t. In particular, the paper overviews the creation of the Strengthening Aboriginal Community Wellbeing Framework (the policy context), and the development of a resource in the form of a user friendly software program for communities wishing to holistically assess their wellbeing – the ‘toolkit’ (the practical outcome of the work to date).
Social Capital, Local Communities and Culture-led Urban Regeneration Processes: The Sydney Olympic Park Experience
Authors: Prior Jason Hugh , Blessi Giorgio Tavano
Published: September 2014

Culture has become increasingly important in regeneration processes designed to deal with urban futures. Urban regeneration processes in which culture has played a prominent role range from large-scale public investments in cultural facilities and artefacts as ‘hallmarks’ of urban regeneration projects (e.g. Guggenheim Bilbao), through to the use of ‘one shot’ cultural events such as the Olympic Games as a catalyst and engine for regenerating urban areas. The aim of this paper is to examine the association between social capital (SC), local communities and the culture-led regeneration process at Sydney Olympic Park (SOP), New South Wales, Australia. The catalyst for the transformation of an industrial wasteland into SOP was the awarding of the Olympics to Sydney in 1993. A convenience sample of 47 professional reports associated with the regeneration process at SOP between 1993 and 2010 were analyzed, the aim being to understand how local communities had been linked to the regeneration process through SC. Results from the analysis identified three principal associations between SC, local communities and the ongoing SOP regeneration process. The first association related to how, during the early years of the regeneration process, SC was used as a means of expressing concern about how governance mechanisms implemented at SOP might adversely impact the ability of local communities to engage in decision making that affected their local environment. The second related to the use of community development programs to build SC in local communities through the SOP development. The third related to a call for the development of measures to understand how the development of SOP impacts on the SC in local communities. Eight in-depth interviews with professionals involved in the regeneration process were used to provide further insights into the three principal associations. The paper discusses findings through reference to broader arguments surrounding the potential, capacity and nature of SC.
An Alternative Home? ASEAN and Pacific Environmental Migration
Authors: TABUCANON GIL MARVEL PIANO
Published: September 2014

An Alternative Home? ASEAN and Pacific Environmental Migration

ASEAN is in a unique position to push for heightened global awareness and action for the vulnerable Pacific populations facing the possibility of relocation. Yet, it is strangely silent on the issue. ASEAN has both moral and legal obligation to not to turn its back on its Pacific neighbours. Morally, ASEAN – or at least most of it – is part of the western fringes of the Pacific region. It is proximate to many Pacific nations, and it has both the resources and landmass to help: two of the world’s largest archipelagos are ASEAN members. The obligations of humanity and justice require larger and more developed states aid and assist their more vulnerable neighbours. Legally, ASEAN may learn from the African Union (AU) experience. While AU accepted the UN Refugee Convention definition of ‘refugee,’ it expanded it to include those compelled to leave their country owing to ‘events seriously disturbing public order.’ Many scholars believe this includes the environmentally displaced.

ASEAN can choose to take on the easy path of insularity and parochialism as regards the looming issue on environmental migration, or it can take the high road by transforming itself into a dynamic regional actor pushing for clear policies on how to address it. Displacements are by nature traumatic and carry with them the impoverishments of landlessness, joblessness, homelessness, marginalization, increased morbidity and mortality, food insecurity, loss of access to common property resources, and social disarticulation. ASEAN can do much to help its vulnerable neighbors. As a bloc, it is a strong voice that can speak to the larger international community asking it to help address the issue.
Social Capital Formation among Turkish Women
Authors: Arat Gizem , Icagasıoglu-Coban Arzu , Polat Gonca
Published: September 2014

The purpose of the current study was to identify Turkish women’s social capital formation. This study consisted of 170 women with low SES residing closer to shantytowns. The authors performed the Logistic regression analysis to examine the social capital formation (civic engagement, trust, social participation, and social networks) of women in terms of six variables (age, educational level, employment and marital status, homeownership, community centers, and the length of stay in the same neighborhood) in four different community centers in Ankara, Turkey. Logistic regression results suggest that the length of stay in the same neighborhood was associated both with staying in touch with neighbors (social networks) and trust in municipal service provision (trust), and women’s educational level was associated with voting (civic engagement) and the utilization of municipal services (social participation). Further research should be conducted by comparing men’s and women’s social capital creation by adding other variables.