title: Surfing life: surface, substructure and the commodification of the sublime

authors: lisahunter

subjects: book review

abstract: Mark Stranger’s first words of his book Surfing Life dedicate the work to his father saying ‘He started this whole thing with the sea for me’. Flicking through the book to get the flavour of ‘this thing with the sea’, I was struck by the appendices*one listing Australian surfing places I know*such as Torquay in Victoria and Lennox Heads in New South Wales and another listing people involved in his extensive empirical material that included a year of ‘travelling around Australia living in a tent’ (xi), while he conducted fieldwork. Some of the names I know and in others I recognize the characters I’ve met. There are significant names from the public surfing world, like Pam Burridge and Gail Austen, which are famous in the competitive world. There are also pseudonymed characters such as Blue, a ‘female less than 26, desert location, long-term resident of the desert camp, bodyboarder’ (257). I recognized such characters in my own research and my own experience of surfing and could relate to some of his ‘insider’ perspectives. These locations, interview material and his own experiences act as the water for his sea washing through his book. This water mixes with contemporary social theory to finish in an argument that subcultures, such as surfing, are ‘integral to the broader dialectical processes of postmodernization’ (253) or if you like ‘an early agent of postmodernization’ (254).

text: Surfing life: surface, substructure and the commodification of the sublime Mark Stranger’s first words of his book Surfing Life dedicate the work to his father saying ‘He started this whole thing with the sea for me’. Flicking through the book to get the flavour of ‘this thing with the sea’, I was struck by the appendices*one listing Australian surfing places I know*such as Torquay in Victoria and Lennox Heads in New South Wales and another listing people involved in his extensive empirical material that included a year of ‘travelling around Australia living in a tent’ (xi), while he conducted fieldwork. Some of the names I know and in others I recognize the characters I’ve met. There are significant names from the public surfing world, like Pam Burridge and Gail Austen, which are famous in the competitive world. There are also pseudonymed characters such as Blue, a ‘female less than 26, desert location, long-term resident of the desert camp, bodyboarder’ (257). I recognized such characters in my own research and my own experience of surfing and could relate to some of his ‘insider’ perspectives. These locations, interview material and his own experiences act as the water for his sea washing through his book. This water mixes with contemporary social theory to finish in an argument that subcultures, such as surfing, are ‘integral to the broader dialectical processes of postmodernization’ (253) or if you like ‘an early agent of postmodernization’ (254).

year: 2012

title: They're not doing bad for their age: ageing, leisure and active living.

authors: Grant, Bevan C.

subjects: education

abstract: The article focuses on the life of elderly people. The majority of older people are fit and well, live independently and are actively engaged in their community. However, the time has come to view ageing in a more constructive way and in so doing liberate people in their last 10, 20 or 30 years of life from the negative effects of the labels--ageing, aged and old. In addition to personal characteristics, the positive ageing experience is also influenced by the way older people themselves interact with and negotiate the many forces in relationships, stereotypes and prejudices, economic conditions, social and cultural expectations, living arrangements and job opportunities. The evidence suggests that these forces take on greater significance with age because related inequalities experienced in earlier life tend to be accentuated in the later years , particularly for women.

text: They're not doing bad for their age: ageing, leisure and active living. The article focuses on the life of elderly people. The majority of older people are fit and well, live independently and are actively engaged in their community. However, the time has come to view ageing in a more constructive way and in so doing liberate people in their last 10, 20 or 30 years of life from the negative effects of the labels--ageing, aged and old. In addition to personal characteristics, the positive ageing experience is also influenced by the way older people themselves interact with and negotiate the many forces in relationships, stereotypes and prejudices, economic conditions, social and cultural expectations, living arrangements and job opportunities. The evidence suggests that these forces take on greater significance with age because related inequalities experienced in earlier life tend to be accentuated in the later years , particularly for women.

year: 2004

title: Putting it in there: "PSYC575 Indigenous Psychologies" as a for-credit university paper in New Zealand

authors: Waitoki, Waikaremoana

abstract: Over the past 30 years, scholar advocates have sparked the emergence of indigenous psychology as an important contribution to understanding the experiences and challenges faced by indigenous peoples. Part of this exercise is to also bring indigenous knowledges to the learning table as critical information for meaning making and resolving psychological challenges. Increasingly, academics are writing and teaching papers in the fledgling field as important and legitimate contributions for undergraduate and graduate degree credit. Previously, students and academics were confined to the more flexible research driven, directed-learning, study options rather than papers explicitly advertised and institutionally promoted. In this paper, we discuss how we are going about writing the curricula for a graduate level paper called "Indigenous Psychologies" to be offered in 2016 at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. We discuss a) principles that guide curricula decision-making; b) the programme of lecture topics developed; and c) finding and developing supporting resources. We welcome conversation and resource sharing.

text: Putting it in there: "PSYC575 Indigenous Psychologies" as a for-credit university paper in New Zealand Over the past 30 years, scholar advocates have sparked the emergence of indigenous psychology as an important contribution to understanding the experiences and challenges faced by indigenous peoples. Part of this exercise is to also bring indigenous knowledges to the learning table as critical information for meaning making and resolving psychological challenges. Increasingly, academics are writing and teaching papers in the fledgling field as important and legitimate contributions for undergraduate and graduate degree credit. Previously, students and academics were confined to the more flexible research driven, directed-learning, study options rather than papers explicitly advertised and institutionally promoted. In this paper, we discuss how we are going about writing the curricula for a graduate level paper called "Indigenous Psychologies" to be offered in 2016 at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. We discuss a) principles that guide curricula decision-making; b) the programme of lecture topics developed; and c) finding and developing supporting resources. We welcome conversation and resource sharing.

year: 2015