Researching Cultures in Sydney’s West

Elaine LallyCentre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney

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Greater Western Sydney

• 45% of Sydney’s population

• Nearly 10% of national population

• 14 local government areas

• 6 campuses of UWS

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University of Western Sydney

• Third largest economy nationally

• Culturally diverse, more than 100 nationalities

• World Heritage Blue Mountains region, Olympic venues, sitesof indigenous and colonial heritage

• Mission linked to the development of the region -- a ‘university of the people’

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Centre for Cultural Research

• Flagship university research centre within the College of Arts

• aims to address the cultural challenges and contradictions of a 21st century world that is increasingly globalised, diverse and technologically mediated.

• Key to research mission is collaboration -- with (not on) communities and organisations, generating new knowledge in context, focussing on problem-solving.

• Intersection of Cultural Studies with Anthropology, Geography, History, Sociology

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Profile

• over 50 research projects during the last three years

• many funded by highly competitive grants from the Australian Research Council

• Research training through conventional thesis-based Masters and Doctorates, plus professional Doctor of Cultural Research and Doctor of Creative Arts degrees

• Regularly hosts visiting international scholars for seminars and conferences as well as longer visits

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Framing contexts

• culture as a vital dimension of social, political and economic life in:– communities - intercultural and intercommunal relations, global

movements, transnational experiences, and diasporic identities– environments - natural and human worlds, politics of

sustainability, new technologies– media - contemporary communications and forms of

representation, new modes of mediated citizenship– institutions - governance, policy and practice, esp. in cultural

and creative organisations, cultural labour & economy– cities - local-global relations in urban environments, cultural

planning and development, social & political dynamics of everyday life.

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Current and recent projects• Hot Science, Global Citizens: The agency of the museum sector in climate

change debates• City After Dark: Governance & lived experience of urban night-time culture• Struggling for Possession: Control and use of online media sport• Digital Storytelling: Urban narratives of migration and sustainability of

community media in western Sydney• Universal Design and Cultural Context: Accessibility, diversity and

recreational space in Penrith• Cross-cultural 'larrikins' in a Neo-liberal world: ideology and myth in

postmodern Australia, Mexico and Brazil • Culture Circuits: Exploring the international networks and institutions shaping

contemporary cultural policy• Cultural Research for the 21st Century: Building cultural intelligence for a

complex world • Complexity in the interface between telecommunications service providers

and consumers

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People

• Five professors:– David Rowe (Director)– Ien Ang (Distinguished

Professor, Founding Director)– Kay Anderson– Bob Hodge– Meaghan Morris

(half-yearly)– From 2010, Tony Bennett

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School-based researchers

• School of Humanities and Languages– Brett Neilson, Greg Noble, George Morgan, James

Arvanitakis, Judith Snodgrass, Adrian Carton

• School of Communication Arts– Juan Salazar, Hart Cohen, Kaye Shumack, Virginia

Nightingale

• School of Education– Megan Watkins

• School of Social Sciences– Deborah Stevenson, Robyn Bushell, Russell Staiff,

Stephen Tomsen

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Research fellows, project staff, others

• Research fellows – Elaine Lally (SRF & Assistant Director), Fiona

Cameron, Fiona Allon (APDI), Cristina Rocha (APD), Cameron McAuliffe, Greg Young

• Project based staff – casual and contract appointments, approx. 20-30 (?)

• Adjunct fellows– Helen Armstrong, Ned Rossiter, Zoë Sofoulis, Andre

Frankovits

• Administrative team– Maree O’Neill, Tulika Dubey, Wayne Peake, Christy

Nguy, Victor Rahman

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Elaine Lally

• With UWS since 1997

• Assistant Director of CCR since 2001

• Background in IT, Anthropology, Cultural Studies

• PhD on computers in the home (At Home with Computers, Berg 2002)

• Current research across cultural aspects of IT, cultural policy and administration

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http://www.culturalatlas.net.au

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Collaborative approach

• Not a centralised repository• An infrastructure to ‘plug in to’• Not just one point of view -- ‘official’ and

‘alternative’ perspectives• Story-telling as a local policy and cultural

development tool• Attribution of origin always clear• Development of partnerships -- ICE, WSROC,

local councils, other community-based organisations

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Art of Engagement -- arts-business collaboration

• Partnership between MCA, Casula Powerhouse, Penrith Regional Gallery

• Customised arts activities through cultural brokerage (Jock McQueenie)

• Three commercial partners -- Panthers, SITA, Hammond Care

• Nine artists -- international, national, regional

• 3Cs -- culture, community, commerce

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Our research project

• Ethnography of the C3 West initiative

• Focussing on:– Collaboration– Multi-disciplinarity and brokerage– Inter-institutional negotiations and

temporalities– Contemporary visual artists and innovation– Networks and assemblages

Thank you