[csaa-forum] early career academics and cult stud

[Shane Homan]

Hi,

Just a quick response to Anna's post, which was helpful in illuminating
the problems students face in the 'badging' wars that universities
undertake. I got to Newcastle Uni in 2001, where a cultural studies
strand of courses has been available within media and arts degrees for a
considerable time. Newcastle also has a pretty energetic cultural
studies research centre headed by David Rowe. It seems to me that
Newcastle administrators do not know what cultural studies is, or what
we do; and this has had effects upon understandings for both students
and staff. But then again, Newcastle is an institution where my efforts
to include new popular music studies courses was met with a response
from our faculty PVC that I might contemplate running one course and
calling it 'Popular Music Appreciation' (presumably eternal playings of
old Dylan & Leadbelly albums, accompanied by a good red wine and
crackers).

cheers
shane

Dr Shane Homan
Cultural Industries & Practices Research Centre
School of Social Sciences
University of Newcastle
Callaghan NSW 2308
Australia
Ph: 61 - 2 - 4921 6787
Shane.Homan at newcastle.edu.au
fax: 61 - 2 - 4921 7402

Reviews Editor, Perfect Beat:
the pacific journal of research into contemporary music & popular
culture


>>> anna poletti <anna_poletti at yahoo.com.au> 29/08/05 1:11:56 pm >>>
I'm going to have a bash at responding to the original post, and offer
a
rumination on what it might mean to do cultural studies in an
Australian
institution at the moment from my perspective as an 'early career
academic'.

To be honest, I'm not even sure if I'm 'doing' cultural studies, or
have
ever done it, given that I've never attended an Australian university
which
actually has a cultural studies dept or defined cult stud stream. I did
a
wonderful buffet style BA at La Trobe, which included a good smattering
of
challenging teaching in gender studies, philosophy and the English
dept.
Suvendrini Perera nearly blew my head off with an exceptionally
rigorous
course on representations of Asia in Australian literature. Chris
Palmer
taught a great subject on postmodernism through science fiction. I
graduated
with honours in English, with an accompanying major in Philosophy.
There was
no mention of cultural studies as a discipline throughout my undergrad
-
which ended in 2002.

I've been a PhD candidate in the School of Language and Media (perhaps
that's cultural studies?) at the University of Newcastle for nearly
four
years, and am about to submit a thesis which is part empirical research
into
a little theorised site of Australian life writing (zine culture) and
part
close reading of how those texts deploy narrative, materiality and
specific,
idiosyncratic modes of textual distribution. This research has been
conducted within the context of the English program, and under the
primary
supervision of a publisher/researcher dedicated to Australian
literature. My
peers in the dept. at Newcastle are predominantly creative writing
postgrads, and researchers working on established genres and fields
such as
poetry, published novels and film. Perhaps in response to this, I've
styled
myself as an autobiography researcher. Although this doesn't seem to
quite
fit with how any of supervisors think of the project. Last year I
delivered
a paper on my work at an international autobiography conference which
was
dominated by Australians. I didn't find any talk of Australian
cultural
studies there either. 

I _think_ I'm about to have my first definable (and defined) moment of
cultural studies next week, when I give a guest lecture in a course on
Australian Popular Culture at my university. The lecture is to be on
Australian zine culture and notions of the cultural underground, and to
be
honest, I'm finding it really difficult to write.

I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions from this little narrative I've
posted
here; except to say that development of my career (and I am most
definitively an 'early career academic', with few teaching
opportunities,
under the pressure of four year candidature, and attached to a
financially
troubled institution who will cut me loose upon submission) seems to
have
been shaped by factors other than cultural studies. Yet the distinct
lack of
a discrete 'field' where my research really 'fits' leads to me feel
some
affiliation with it, hence my lurking subscription to this list.

It's difficult then, for me to contribute to a discussion regarding
the
status of Australian Cultural Studies, and given that I am a recent
graduate
and current research student, I suspect that my alienation from any
sense of
that field may not be unique. I do wonder whether only certain
institutions
are producing and developing 'cultural studies thinkers', and whether
one's
'coming to cultural studies' is partly a matter of early-development
fate,
when your path is to an extent set on your form for university
application,
and disciplines and fields of study are almost irrelevant for those
approaching a BA.

Anna Poletti. 

    

Send instant messages to your online friends
http://au.messenger.yahoo.com 
_______________________________________

csaa-forum
discussion list of the cultural studies association of australasia

www.csaa.asn.au 

change your subscription details at
http://lists.cdu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/csaa-forum