Community Celebrations

Chief Investigators:
Prof. Paul James, Mr Douglas McQueen-Thomson and
Dr Martin Mulligan

Funding Body:
VicHealth

Timeline:
June 2003 – June 2004

Description:
Like the Cultures of Wellbeing project in 2002, this project involves a literature review and the production of a report on existing material available on the impact of community celebrations on health and wellbeing. The VicHealth community celebrations project involves a literature review examining recent research into community-based arts festivals, celebrations and other large-scale events. The review aims to examine the current state of knowledge about the health impacts of these community events. This involves consideration of broad social indicators that are related to health, such as social inclusion, social capital, self-esteem, and strength of association. This review will help reveal what areas require further investigation and research to allow government bodies and health promotion agencies to know what funding programs will have the greatest health benefits.

Funding Body:
VicHealth

Timeline:
November 2003 – May 2004

Description:
This project will assess the ways in which the increasing global integration of Victorian communities has impacted on social connectedness over the past 10 to 20 years and identify the trajectory of trends into the future. Communities are caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, the intensification of abstract social processes (summarized in the term ‘globalisation’) tend to undermine the importance of face-to-face interaction as the dominant level of integration into communities. On the other hand, restricted access to the technologies and resources of abstraction such as the Internet are causing new forms of social exclusion for sectors of the population. The current rhetorical gestures towards the need for a sense of place do not tend to recognize this dilemma. A more reflexively developed ‘sense of place’ is becoming increasingly important method for helping people to retain a sense of belonging to communities as they have been traditionally understood. Increased mobility and participation in abstract social processes can mitigate against the sustaining of an immediate sense of place, but we would argue that more complex understandings of places can be consciously developed and applied to a range of places.

The project will describe the ways in which various globalising trends affect the major forms of social connectedness for the Victorian population and how these may vary between various socio-demographic groups and localities. We will assess the extent to which the literature on social connection and health distinguishes between face-to-face connection and other, more abstracted, forms of connection. We will consider the positive and detrimental impacts of different forms of social connection. The project will involve a critical reassessment of the general literature and case studies on the impacts of globalisation on local place relationships. It will then carry out a pilot study to compare ways of working with a ‘reflexive sense of place’ in two differing Victorian communities. The aim of the study will be to assess the relevance of sense of place-work for enhancing social connectedness in the light of the impacts of globalisation on forms of integration and exclusion.

Some Outcomes:
1) Dr Martin Mulligan presented a report on The Globalism Institute’s research into social connectedness and community wellbeing in Daylesford and Broadmeadows to a seminar sponsored by the Institute, VicHealth, and the Neighbourhood Renewal project of the Department of Human Services on Monday March 22. Held at RMIT, the seminar also featured papers by Mandy Press of the Port Phillip City Council and Harald Klein, research co-ordination officer for Neighbourhood Renewal. Press spoke about a process that has been developed in Port Phillip for negotiating between different sectors of the community around the revitalisation of public places and Klein discussed the experiences of Neighbourhood Renewal in working to empower place-based, disadvantaged communities in Victoria. Anne Kershaw, the cultural projects co-ordinator for Hume City Council, and Peter O’Mara, youth health worker at Hepburn Health Services in Daylesford, responded to points made in Dr Mulligan’s report on the ‘creation of resilient communities’. Both Kershaw and O’Mara said that the draft report of the Globalism Institute’s comparative study of Broadmeadows and Daylesford had made them think more deeply about their own roles in those communities and both liked the emphasis on the nurturing of resilience. A copy of Dr Mulligan’s paper to the research seminar can be obtained from him at martin.mulligan@rmit.edu.au. The full report will be submitted to VicHealth by the end of April 2004.

2) Dr Mulligan also presented a talk based on the research into Daylesford and Broadmeadows to a forum on gentrification at St Kilda Town Hall on Wednesday March 24. This was the second of three public forums hosted by Port Phillip Council on major issues facing the community and it was attended by well over 100 people. Dr Mulligan focused on ways in which stories embedded in places can create a variety of place attachments (senses of place) that can create more resilient communities. He argued that resilient communities need to work hard to retain social and cultural diversity – sometimes against the homogenising impacts of ‘gentrification’ – and he presented 10 insights that came out of the research into Daylesford on how to work with the paradoxes of major social and economic changes that are sweeping through local communities. A copy of the paper Dr Mulligan presented to the St Kilda forum is available from him.




Sustainable Community-Based Vocational Education

Chief Investigators:
Dr Leanne Reinke and Ms Helen Smith
Partner Investigators:
Banduk Marika and Colin Lane from Gamarrwa Nuwul Land Care Yirrkala in North-East Arnhem Land.

Funding Body:
National Council of Vocational Education and Research (NCVER)

Timeline:
June 2002 - December 2002

Description:
In November 2002 the Globalism Institute, in collaboration with Helen Smith from SACS and Yirrkala Landcare, was successful in securing a funding grant from the National Council of Vocational Education and Research (NCVER). This project has already had outcomes in a research paper on a 'Collaborative model to deliver sustainable, community-based vocational education and training'. The Globalism Institute in collaboration with Yirrkala Land Care, was successful in securing a funding grant to work on developing on a collaborative model to deliver sustainable, community-based vocational education and training. The outcome of the grant will be included in a series of papers relevant to equity issues in vocational education and training. These papers will contribute to the National Strategy for VET 2004–2010 currently being developed by the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA). Publications Banduk Marika, Colin Lane, Helen Smith and Leanne Reinke - 'Working Towards an Indigenous Model of Delivery' in Equity in Vocational Education and Training: Research Readings (2003) National Council of Vocational Education and Research, Adelaide.




Cultures of Wellbeing

Chief Investigators:
Prof. Paul James, Mr Douglas McQueen-Thomson and Dr Christopher Ziguras

Funding Body:
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation

Timeline:
February – June 2002

Description:
The research project reviewed existing evidence for the health benefits of community arts involvement. It assessed the methodological rigour of existing studies, examined the strength of evidence for associations between community arts promotion and social health, and suggested future lines of fruitful research. The research project reviewed existing evidence for the health benefits of community arts involvement. It assessed the methodological rigour of existing studies, examined the strength of evidence for associations between community arts promotion and social health, and suggested future lines of fruitful research. The project report will soon be available online.




Indigenous Peoples and Racism Research Project

Chief Investigators:
Prof. Mary Kalantzis, Mr Peter Phipps, Prof. Michael Singh

Funding Body:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission

Timeline:
December 2000 – May 2001

Description:
The indigenous peoples and racism project involved RMIT coordinating a conference on contemporary manifestations of racism towards indigenous people, and publishing a report stemming from this gathering. This project involved RMIT coordinating a conference on contemporary manifestations of racism towards indigenous people, and publishing a report stemming from this gathering. Publications Martin Nakata (ed) (2001) Indigenous Peoples and Racism: Report of the Regional Meeting of the World Conference on Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Common Ground, Melbourne.