[csaa-forum] News + Issues in CS

[Mark Gibson]

Just further to this thread, Graeme Turner has pointed out to me that what I
was talking up as a pragmatic turn in Australian cultural studies could
actually be seen as a fair bit older ‹ eg. the work of people like Susan
Dermody and Liz Jacka on film and media studies in the 1980s which was very
much engaged with policy agencies. I¹m sometimes a bit wary of arguments
that Œit¹s always been so¹. I¹m sure there are differences in contexts and
in qualities of engagement which it is useful to reflect on. And there does
seem to be something reasonably specific about Œlinkage logics¹ and the
whole grant regime. Your point, Fiona, about the team-based nature of a lot
of new projects may be part of it. But historical comparisons clearly do
need to be made with caution.

And I take your earlier point too, Mel, about some parallels with things
going on in the States. Yes, Paula Treichler¹s paper at CSAA/UTS on the
medical scholars program at Illinois. Still, from what I could see, there
are important differences there too, particularly in material contexts. It
seemed to be very much driven by Œunattached¹ intellectual interest (which
is not at all to deride it), rather than embeddedness in institutions
outside the university. Graeme¹s view is that the latter just doesn¹t happen
much in the US ‹ not in cultural studies, not in education, not nowhwere.

-- Mg


On 4/5/06 10:34 AM, "Fiona Allon" <F.Allon at uws.edu.au> wrote:

> Hi Mel,
> 
> Apologies for being so late with this, but I thought I should add a couple of
> things to Mark's suggestions.
> 
> Many of the projects which Mark mentions are collaborative research
> partnership projects based at the Centre for Cultural Research (CCR). A number
> of these projects will be presented and discussed in an upcoming Special Issue
> of Cultural Studies Review (12.2), which is due out in September 2006.
> 
> The theme of this Special Issue of Cultural Studies Review is 'Cultural
> Research' and it will explore what is involved in precisely this kind of
> engaged, collaborative, Industry/Community 'Linkage' work. The Special Issue
> will present examples of projects from both the CCR and the Department of
> Cultural Studies at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. The editors of this special
> issue are: Fiona Allon and Meaghan Morris.
> 
> Another important question/issue, which I think would be worth raising in the
> forums you describe, is how the trend towards collaborative team-based
> projects affects early career researchers. These researchers frequently work
> on team-based projects and at the same time must also try and carve out a
> highly individualised career-path trajectory. I'm sure this is quite complex
> and at times quite fraught. I think it would be worth putting this question up
> for discussion.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Fiona
> 
> 
> **************************************************
> Dr Fiona Allon
> Research Fellow
> Centre for Cultural Research
> University of Western Sydney
> Locked Bag 1797 Penrith South DC
> NSW 1797 Australia
> Tel: +61 2 9685 9646
> Fax: +61 2 9685 9610
> Mob: 0409 901 039
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: csaa-forum-bounces at lists.cdu.edu.au on behalf of Melissa Gregg
> Sent: Sat 4/29/2006 11:19 AM
> To: csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
> Subject: Re: [csaa-forum] News + Issues in CS
>  
> thanks Mark. that's exactly the timbre of reflection i was hoping
> for. i got the same sense at CSAA conferences over the past few
> years, that linkages are creating a positive and engaged style of
> cultural studies practice here - one that may have overcome the
> policy/theory distinction of an earlier moment. although as paula
> treichler's work showed in sydney last year, these linkages and
> consultancy roles are not new or unique to us here. but, this is why
> i was seeing these issues as related to government and funding
> policies somewhat, because unlike the US, we are dependent on
> government funding a whole lot.
> 
> i'd also like to know how australia differs from the UK in linkage
> work, and given that there has been an assessment exercise in the UK,
> whether linkages do well or not so well on that scale. will the RQF
> recognise linkages, or publications, or both, and how differently?
> cheers
> mel
> 
> On 28/04/2006, at 5:27 PM, Mark Gibson wrote:
> 
>> Hi Melissa,
>> 
>> Just a suggestion for something to raise on the Crossroads panel.
>> It seems to me Australian cultural studies has taken quite a
>> distinctive turn over the last decade in developing a
>> 'practical' (problem solving) focus and in working closely with non-
>> academic institutions and agencies (the emphasis being on
>> institutions and agencies, not just constituencies).
>> 
>> There are different models of this -- eg. the ICR at UWS (eg.
>> 'Driving Cultures', the work with Sydney Water), the work of
>> Elspeth Probyn, Catharine Lumby, Kath Albury and others at USyd
>> (the work with the Aust Rugby League, with health agencies etc.),
>> the Creative Industries initiative at QUT. But they do share
>> something. I'd be quite interested in seeing this floated in an
>> international context.
>> 
>> Just how distinctive are these new emphases in Aust CS? Or is
>> something similar happening in other places too? From talking
>> recently to Lawrence Grossberg, I think there may be a particular
>> divergence from CS in the States -- an issue raised a while ago in
>> the robust exchange between Simon During and contributors to this
>> list. The pressures to find 'linkage partners' are not nearly as
>> strong there. Not sure that we need more flaming on the subject :),
>> but other kinds of reflection may be worthwhile. There are probably
>> also implications for younger academics -- eg. the increasing
>> number who get their start through 'linkage' style post-docs or PhDs.
>> 
>> -- Mark
>> 
>> ----------
>> From:   csaa-forum-bounces at lists.cdu.edu.au on behalf of Melissa Gregg
>> Sent:   Thursday, April 27, 2006 10:30 AM
>> To:     csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
>> Subject:        [csaa-forum] News + Issues in CS
>> Message Flag:   Follow up
>> Flag Status:    Flagged
>> 
>> Hi list,
>> 
>> The Association for Cultural Studies newsletter is due to publish
>> its next
>> online edition shortly. The newsletter is much like the CSAA one
>> but global,
>> featuring news, events, book reviews, conference reports or ads, short
>> debates and provocations about the state of the field in different
>> regional
>> locations. The newsletter is a widely read resource and obviously
>> with the
>> Crossroads conference coming up in July there will be plenty of new
>> ACS
>> members reading too. It's a good publicity opportunity, basically.
>> So if you
>> would like to send short pieces to me to pass on as Australia and New
>> Zealand rep, please do - I'll accept them until the end of next
>> week (May 5)
>> and then bundle them up for the editor.
>> 
>> On another matter, I am also participating in a panel discussion as
>> part of
>> the Crossroads conference on current trends in cultural studies'
>> institutional practice. I'll be speaking with two hats on: as
>> regional rep
>> but also as a younger academic. As it's been a bit quiet here
>> lately, I'd
>> like to hear the views of people on this list on what you'd like me
>> to say,
>> as it is important in such a public setting that I represent the
>> situation
>> here with as much information and accuracy as I can. Things I
>> envisage being
>> of interest to an international audience include:
>> 
>> -emerging strengths in Australian cultural studies research, eg.
>> new centres
>> for funded research & new projects
>> -the effect of government funding and/or rhetoric on cultural studies
>> research
>> -changing employment trends post- 'work choices' and pre-RQF
>> -what the RQF will actually involve
>> -what all of these things mean for younger academics - from their
>> perspective, right now, and from those who are good at reading tea
>> leaves
>> 
>> Hopefully if people are interested in talking about this issues
>> more we
>> could also take them up in Canberra at the end of the year. At
>> recent CSAA
>> conferences I have noticed a regular lament that there aren't enough
>> opportunities to discuss industrial issues amongst our colleagues
>> nationally
>> and regionally.
>> 
>> Happy to receive thoughts on this on or off list.
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Melissa
>> 
>> Dr. Melissa Gregg
>> Postdoctoral Research Fellow
>> Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies
>> and
>> Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies
>> School of English, Media Studies and Art History
>> The University of Queensland QLD 4072
>> CRICOS provider number: 00025B
>> 
>> phone    61 7 3346 9762
>> mobile   61 4 1116 5706
>> fax    61 7 3365 7184
>> 
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> 
> Dr. Melissa Gregg
> Postdoctoral Research Fellow
> Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies
> and
> Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies
> School of English, Media Studies and Art History
> University of Queensland 4072
> CRICOS provider number: 00025B
> 
> ph     61 7 3346 9762
> mob  61 4 1116 5706
> fax    61 7 3365 7184
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________
> 
> csaa-forum
> discussion list of the cultural studies association of australasia
> 
> www.csaa.asn.au
> 
> change your subscription details at
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