Realising the unique value of indigenous knowledge

A university’s core role is knowledge creation, but Australian universities are still missing out on genuine two-way learning with local Indigenous knowledge.

The last climb of Uluru

Tourists have flocked to climb Uluru before a permanent ban on scaling the rock comes into force. They might have spent their time more productively by considering the symbolic importance of the move, and the need to do more to support indigenous rights.

Selling surfing’s soul

The corporate high-performance, merchandise-heavy, social media-driven vision of modern surfing won’t be one shared by most wave riders on Australia’s beaches this summer.

The vegans are coming!

Between the rise of plant-based sausages and veggie burgers that “bleed”, vegan protesters at supermarkets, and Disney adding hundreds of vegan items to its theme park menus, veganism is in the news.

Conserving Australia’s cultural record

Our cultural record is the history of Australia’s identity, but, unless care is taken to conserve it with a clear cultural understanding, we risk the loss of those parts of our heritage that tell us the story of what it is to be Australian.

We don’t like Fridays

It’s Friday the 13th today, just another date on the calendar, so why are we worried? It’s a mixture of history, superstition, human nature and the influence of pop culture.

What do musical conductors do?

The conductor in a classical orchestra may not play an instrument, but communicates all the same with the performers and their audience. Their role is part artistic, part mathematical and always highly theatrical.

Knowledge and power – Understanding Foucault

Michel Foucault was one of the most famous thinkers of the late 20th century, achieving celebrity-like status before his untimely death in 1984. He is still a mainstay of social science dissertations, but how much do you really know about his work?

In praise of the library

If books are the basic data of civilisation, then nations’ libraries provide windows on national souls. They remain precious places in which to seek traces of the past, and reassurance about the future.

Joining the dots

The ‘key player’ concept devised by Professor Yves Zenou offers a window into how social networks influence behaviour.

Power, politics and art

James Arvanitakis and Alix Beattie of Western Sydney University argue that the hostile reaction to a controversial Bondi mural highlights the rise of a new conservative political correctness.

Australian Gothic

The term “Gothic” evokes images of grim, crumbling castles, wild moors and jagged mountain peaks, but the genre has long been used to explore the dark side of the Australian experience.