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What’s your research area? [BJ] My PhD focuses on the two fields of development communication and public relations to explore how they can be used to refine communication research and practice in development. I aim to offer new methods, approaches, and categories for theorising and conceptualising communication in development. [VB] I conduct research on the application of Communication for Development in Peacebuilding with a focus on realities affected by violent conflict. I explore and evaluate new communication for development approaches that employ different media and communication channels to contribute to social change and sustainable peace in the aftermath of (or

Bill Walker This is the second post in a three-part series on the pedagogy and praxis of Paulo Freire. Part 1 https://www.developmentstudies.asn.au/2021/09/21/paulo-freire-marking-the-100th-anniversary-of-his-birth/ marked the 100th anniversary of his birth with a brief outline of his life and thinking. Lifelong learning is important not only in development studies but for people living in poverty and illiteracy. For the latter, who included Freire himself (see my blog Part 1), lifelong learning is essential. Freire’s own commitment to lifelong learning enabled him to escape poverty – as it has done for millions of other people. This commitment was evident in his continued quest

Tahmina Rashid In Australia many international students (particularly students from South East Asia) will introduce themselves with an English name instead of using their birth name; migrants are also often asked for their nicknames for ease of pronouncing; and many are given an English name by their employer for the same reason. Such stripping of identity by renaming an individual, though not unique to Australia, is not as banal as many would have us believe. Naming practices are reflective of prevailing power structures and hierarchies; creating new identities by erasing previous identities; creating new relationships and histories by maintaining colonial

Bill Walker One hundred years ago this week, Paulo Freire was born into a middle-class family in north-east Brazil. At the age of eight, global economic depression struck his family, forcing them to move into a marginalised rural community. Then at thirteen, his father died, plunging his family even deeper into poverty. Later, he suffered exile – not once, but twice. Freire’s own lived experience of multi-faceted impoverishment and marginalisation deeply influenced the remaining decades of his thinking, praxis, and faith. This piece offers a very brief overview of Paulo Freire’s legacy. Future pieces contain reflections on how and why

Dr Philippa Smales and Anna Noonan Research and evaluation across the international development sector is increasingly moving away from the traditional paradigm of researchers as the expert knowledge-holders and participants as the ‘researched’, the passive subjects of the research. Contemporary research methodologies and research ethics demand a recalibration of power dynamics between researchers and ethical committee, as well as researchers and their ‘subjects’. There are many Codes and frameworks that set the benchmark for ethical research across Universities, industry and government in Australia, but these are still heavily derived from historical biomedical research ethics, not from a contemporary development context.

Repost from OpenForum 'Arvanitakis on Education: Covid, technology and the importance of face-to-face teaching' by James Arvanitakis. In this blog post, Arvanitakis discusses the impact of Covid on higher learning education. Discussing the importance of face-to-face teaching and the ways online learning has affected student experiences of 'on-campus' learning. Arvanitakis on Education: Covid, technology and the importance of face-to-face teaching Ever since I entered higher education two decades ago, the sector has been in a state of flux and subject to disruption. This disruption includes technological changes that many argued would result in the end of face-to-face instruction. The impact

As an ally and supporter of Charles’ PhD (aka ‘Supervisor’), I was requested to prepare a small creative contribution to celebrate his PhD journey. I turned to the Australian genre of the bush ballad popular in the late 1800s. These ballads would regale with stories of colourful characters in the bush setting about life on the frontier, hardship, and relations between White settler and Indigenous Australians. When the Spencers (my kinfolk) gather from the rural parts of Queensland and NSW, it is not unusual—in the traditional fashion for ballads to be composed and read by men—for an old fella or

A new feature of the DSAA newsletter and blog, ‘HDRs in Development’ showcases the research of HDRs students and their supervisors. We’d love to profile your research! Please email lauren.tynan@hdr.mq.edu.au. We begin this new feature by chatting with Lauren Tynan and Associate Professor Fiona Miller. Lauren Tynan [LT] is a Trawlwulwuy woman from tebrakunna country. She is undertaking a PhD in Geography and Planning at Macquarie University Associate Professor Fiona Miller [FM] is her supervisor, and is located within the Discipline of Geography and Planning, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University.   ‘Women who write’ retreat, 2018. L-R Fiona Miller, Jen

James Arvanitakis   It is now a cliché to describe the way COVID-19 has disrupted higher education: from the pivot to online delivery and the need for budget repair, to re-imagining how we engage with our global partners. For Australian higher education institutions, the lack of student mobility, the tensions with China and a hostile federal government have also highlighted the financial vulnerabilities in the sector. Globally, the re-emergence of the Black Live Matter protests that began with a focus on police brutality towards minority communities in the United States, have expanded to the raise awareness regarding the underlying histories