Monday, 17 August 2009

NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR

The UWA campus seems to be the place to go for information and action. In the past fortnight we have had an excellent talk about an NGO working to improve health outcomes in Timor-Leste (see below for information about the talk by Robyn Pickrell); a Global Poverty Project presentation by Hugh Evans; and the Global Health lectures (see the Global Health Short Course tab at https://interhealth.org.au/ for links to lectures and PowerPoints). Tomorrow, a panel discussion on the topic “ Debating the free market in an age of insecurity” will be held at the Business School. Details are below. And if you haven’t cottoned on to the Institute of Advanced Studies, you don’t know what you’re missing!  See their website https://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/ for a full rundown of their free lectures. Of course you won’t want to miss our own seminars either.  Thanks to all who are braving the chilly evenings for the current series – we know you agree the speakers and topics make it well worthwhile. Finally, if you are a student and willing to participate in some educational research, please see the note in this newsletter, “Student volunteers needed”.

Professor Neville Bruce
Director, Centre for Integrated Human Studies

NEXT SEMINAR: TELLING OUR STORY, AUGUST 26

Our national story has often omitted Indigenous experience.  How can the balance be redressed – and who can frame the stories of invasion and dispossession? What can history and literature contribute to our sense of ourselves as Australians? Historian Aileen Marwung Walsh will speak about the intersection of history and fiction; Prof Terri-Ann White of UWA Press addresses the obligations of publishers; and David Milroy reflects on his experience as a playwright and theatre practitioner with Yirra Yaakin. Chaired by Prof Carmen Lawrence .

The seminar is in Seminar room 1.81 at the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, UWA, at the usual time of 530 – 7 pm.

GETTING HERE

T he School of Anatomy and Human Biology is two doors south of Shenton House on the eastern (Matilda Bay) side of the UWA campus, opposite the Matilda Bay kiosk. There is a map on our website. Bus routes Nos 23, 79, 98, 99,102 and 107 pass UWA on Stirling Highway; after alighting you will enjoy a five-minute stroll through the campus. Go past the Guild Village and turn left immediately after the Psychology building. You’ll be facing the School of Anatomy and Human Biology and will see the lift to the left of the glass doors. The seminar room is on the first floor opposite the lift door.

Bus route No 97 also loops around the campus, with stops on Hackett Drive. It starts at Subiaco Station.

If you are driving , we are closest to Hackett Entry No 2 to Carpark No 4. Free parking is available after 5 pm in ticket parking areas in UWA, and after 6 pm in Council ticket parking areas. When you arrive at the School, go to the rear and use the lift to come to the first floor.

STUDENT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – 15 MINUTES ONLY!

Graduate student Kate O’Toole is conducting a study into students’ engagement with world futures.  If you are a university student in Western Australia (not necessarily at UWA) and are willing to spend 15 minutes completing an anonymous survey, please follow the “More information” link under the News and Events heading on the home page of our Education for World Futures website: https://learning.ewfi.org/

HIAM-HEALTH CASE STUDY

On August 3 Robyn Pickrell, from the Perth group Friends of HIAM-Health, gave a fascinating insight into creating an NGO whose mission is to improve the health of the people of Timor-Leste (TL). While there are many aid agencies working in TL, HIAM is one of the few staffed by East Timorese people. Their name (Hamutuk ita ajuda malu: “together we help each other”) and logo both show solidarity with the people of TL and reinforce the message of self determination.

Robyn painted a picture of a nation whose people have been traumatised by invasion, whose education has been disrupted by changes in the language of delivery (from Portuguese to Indonesian in 1975, then back to Portuguese in 1999 – while 93% of people speak Tetun at home, and English is the language of the bureaucracy) and whose children suffer from malnutrition in massive numbers.

HIAM-Health, working from a facility in the grounds of Dili Hospital, used to deliver education in healthcare to 200 people per day before the 2006 violence.  They realised they needed an inpatient facility to break through some cultural patterns and reinforce messages about healthy diet, reproductive health and family spacing, and childcare.  Now, with a new facility built and ready to go, they need funding to make it operational and resume their mission to empower East Timorese people to work together to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates and improve health and social conditions.

Robyn noted the need for interdisciplinary, broad perspectives on aid.  She gave the example of a water supply brought to a village in an engineering project: it was not used by the women, who enjoyed their daily water carrying time as a chance to be away from their husbands. Robyn can be contacted on 0448 876 749.

NOTES FROM THE LAST SEMINAR, MATESHIP

Neville said that the Integrated Human Studies seminars aim to investigate a topic from a number of perspectives.  The concept of mateship is one that is deeply ingrained in the Australian mystique, and while some found it dated or clichéd, he was inclined to think it both relevant to our understanding of ourselves and a good thing overall.

Asst Professor Debra Judge explained that she was approaching the topic from the “outside” of the human species, and Australian culture, and perhaps gender. Mateship may be viewed generally as an affiliative socially affirming activity. A mate may be a reproductive partner, or a friend who displays qualities of understanding and reliability.  While an “official” definition of mateship (given on www.culture.gov.au ) refers to Australia’s colonial past, mateship has a long history in primate behaviour that pre-dates the First Fleet. To understand human behaviour, it is often instructive to look at other species and consider how humans may be similar or different.

In baboons, friendships, expressed in grooming, companionship and service behaviours, are more enduring bonds than sexual relationships.  Chimpanzees and dolphins also form strong mateship alliances that confer benefits of various kinds.  Such alliances, based in altruism, are most common in kin groups but may also develop in stable social circumstances to reciprocal altruism, where an altruistic act is repaid.  Mateship in super groups such as our modern societies may be considered to be left over from prior times, but also has different functions beyond survival and genetic longevity, such as cultural benefits. Expressions of service may spill into remunerated activities, and service and mateship can also be manipulated or turned around in certain circumstances – so, for example, a subordinate male may turn on his superior.

Debra offered some personal observations: that the word “mate” is used differently in daily usage from the concept of mateship. “Mate” may be used when someone wants something; in situations of conflict; to minimise differences in status; or to emphasise group solidarity.

Dockers tragic and author of Origin of the Speccies Nathan Jarvis acknowledged that he was talking from a peculiarly male perspective and that women were largely excluded from his observations. He said sport looms large in the Australian consciousness and is a good lens through which to examine mateship.  Little boys become friends for a variety of reasons, but sporting prowess defines the pecking order.  Attributes of coordination, courage and speed have been long prized and are especially valuable on the football field.  Mateship can be expressed as sacrifice on behalf of another, and while this often is a gift of time or expertise (giving a mate a hand, or advice), the supreme sacrifice of dying in battle is mirrored in sport: specifically in AFL in such practices as shepherding, where players protect the ball carrier from attack, often at considerable risk to themselves.  The frontier imperative to protect kin, in the Australian situation, where men outnumbered women two to one, translated into an ideal of protecting mates – shepherding is the realisation of this ideal.

Games are like stories, that follow a narrative arc from the beginning to a clear outcome at the end, and sporting commentators – usually old sportsmen – interpret the story to convey a message of loyalty and heroism.  Players make themselves vulnerable when they are tested in the sporting arena, and this shared test and emotional experience – which can also occur in other collaborative activities such as music – creates strong bonds.

The opposite side of this coin is contempt for weakness and the danger of groups of young men chosen for strength and aggression straying into bad behaviour.  Mateship means loyalty – but unthinking loyalty is not a good thing.  Young men may find themselves standing by their misbehaving mate or even participating in the behaviour because their mateship ethic overrides their morals.

Dr Mark Edwards mused that while a mate could be a reproductive partner biologically, male mates might reproduce or reinforce culture.

He quoted Henry Lawson and John Howard, and acknowledged that the commonly used word terms “mate” and “mateship” are loaded and highly evocative.

Teaching business ethics – not an oxymoron! – is not so much about ethical theories that may be applied in business, but about enabling students to express their own values in business situations, rather than ignoring ethical dilemmas.

Essentially, ethics are about our values, and our values can be expressed positively or negatively. Thus mateship may enhance or conflict with business ethics.  Mark gave a case study example of a company that promoted mateship bonds in its employees through team building and sporting activities.  This was a good thing – but when an employee was requested by a superior to do a job he considered unethical, it was very difficult to refuse his “mate”. However, mateship can also have positive outcomes, such as the egalitarian ethic.

Questions and comments included:

  • Mateship is positive in situations of adversity
  • The US has parallels (“bro”).
  • Is the AFL particularly prone to mateship excesses?
  • Other cultures have similar concepts – for example Russia has different levels or depths of friendship.
  • Can we realistically expect people to obey laws (e.g. insider trading) that conflict with our values of mateship?

UWA BUSINESS SCHOOL FREE PUBLIC LECTURE “Debating the free market in an age of insecurity”

Tuesday, 18 Aug 2009 5pm – 7 pm, Ernst & Young Lecture Theatre, UWA Business School.

The UWA Business School, in partnership with The Australian Global Studies Research Centre invites you to attend a debate which will be sure to produce some lively discussion. There are those who would argue that the current global financial crisis and the social destruction which it has produced is yet another confirmation of the deeply flawed nature of the free market model. The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, provoked considerable reactions when he criticised the rise of ‘market fundamentalism’ in Australia in the magazine Monthly Review.

Panellists will include Professor Alan Robson , Vice-Chancellor UWA, Professor Tracey Horton , Dean of The Business School, Professor Carmen Lawrence , former Premier of Western Australia and Professorial Fellow of UWA’s Institute of Advanced Studies, and Professor Rob Lambert and Professor Edward Webster , award winning authors (with Andries Bezuidenhout) of the book Grounding Globalization: Labour in the Age of Insecurity (Blackwell Publishing, 2008).

RSVP required; for more information contact Kylie Weston on 6488 5825.

GLOBAL HEALTH

The Global Health Short Course continues as follows:

  • August 17: Access to essential medicines (Patent law and how this affects patients)
  • August 24: It’s getting hot in here + When disaster strikes (Climate change and health + Emergency humanitarian relief)
  • August 31: Closing the gap (Aboriginal health)
  • September 7: Mums and Bubs (Women’s and children’s health)
  • September 14: AIDS (The AIDS epidemic)

The lectures are at the Tattersall Lecture Theatre , UWA, and begin at 5:30pm .  There is no charge to attend – everyone is welcome to come along and learn about some of the important health issues affecting people around the world.

ABOUT THE CENTRE FOR INTEGRATED HUMAN STUDIES

You can find out more about the Centre and about IHS at our web site https://www.ihs.uwa.edu.au/
blocked::https://www.ihs.uwa.edu.au/"> www.ihs.uwa.edu.au . If you are interested in enrolling in postgraduate courses in IHS, please contact the Director, Prof Neville Bruce on 6488 3292 or email mailto: [email protected]
blocked::mailto: [email protected] "> [email protected]

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

Please feel free to give us your comments, thoughts or suggestions for future seminar topics by emailing Karen on mailto: [email protected]
blocked::mailto: [email protected] "> [email protected]

Tags

Groups
Integrated Human Studies