Current Postgraduate Research
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Sharon Arissaris7271@usyd.edu.au |
| Biography | Sharon Aris has a BA (Hons) and a MA in Policy and Applied Social Research from Macquarie University. The subject of her Masters thesis was how youth rights were presented in NSW parliamentary legislation.
In a career that has included community work and advocacy, policy development and an extended period working as a journalist and television producer she has returned continually to the themes of social issues, shared values and the ideas and practice of community development. As well as continuing to write, she currently teaches in Sociology at the University of Sydney and Community Services at the Sydney Institute of Technology. Her research interests include education, intimate and family relations, class and governance structures. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Dr Karl Maton; Dr Craig Campbell |
| Commenced | 2009 |
| Full or part time | Part-time |
| Thesis topic | ‘What knowledge? Which knowers? How parents choose a high school for their children’ |
| Abstract | Broadly situated in the sociology of education, the purpose of this study is to examine how parents in Sydney choose a high school for their children. Thus this thesis engages with how families, particularly middle-class families, plan for the next generation and what they consider necessary for their success in the world. Therefore most broadly this study examines how families characterise the individual in the world, the necessary attributes for success and the systems they favour for transmitting such attributes.
The research design and theorising will utilise the tools developed by Pierre Bourdieu, particularly field, capital and habitus; the coding orientations developed by Basil Bernstein; and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to provide a language of description and a series of structuring principles to theorise school choice and the key relations contained within this field: those between families and schools and schools and families; relations within families; and the relationship between each of the former to a family’s SES, ethnicity and gender. The field work follows a broadly ethnographic design, with data being collected using a range of qualitative instruments. |
| Publications | As a journalist for many years specialising in social issues Sharon has contributed articles to Good Weekend, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sunday Life, The Bulletin, Marie Claire, Men’s Health, Australian Good Taste, The Australian Educator and The Independent Monthly. She has written three books: Being Married (2005: Allen and Unwin), It’s My Party and I’ll Knit If I Want To (2002, Allen and Unwin) and Top Jobs (1999, Duffy and Snellgrove). |
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Margaret Boulosmboulos@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | I have been involved in a number of projects undertaken in the spirit of community engagement and the development of public policy including my thesis which was part of a larger ARC-funded project which produced a unique Australian dataset, the results of which formed the only empirically-derived submission to the Legislative Review Committee in 2011.
I am interested in pursuing research about rituals surrounding the circulation of human tissue to examine materiality, circulation and the self. I am equally interested in exploring the community-building capacity of Australian institutions such as the Country Women’s Association. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Catherine Waldby; Ian Kerridge |
| Commenced | 2008 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | "‘Good eggs’: women, altruism and the conduct of research into Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in Australia" |
| Abstract | My thesis discusses the factors that have thus far inhibited the altruistic-donation of oöcytes for this ground-breaking research. I argue contrary to the supposed reliance of anonymised collective endeavour, that much tissue provision to scientific research is done within contexts of a specified benefit or beneficiary (in both positive and negative ways). I claim that the model of the disinterested citizen does not adequately capture the motivations and relationships between individuals and institutions existing in a ‘scientific’ society. |
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Estelle CarpiEstella.carpi@sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Estella worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Office based in Cairo (2008) for the Trade and Human Development Monitor Project, meant to enhance small and medium enterprises in the Arab world. She also worked as a Junior Consultant for the International Development Research Center (IDRC) based in Cairo (2009-2010) for a project aimed at strengthening and supporting social protection systems in Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, Morocco and Algeria. Estella has studied Arabic for 5 years at the University of Milan (2002-2007) and at the University of Damascus (2005 and 2007). She has been a PhD Fellow at the American University of Beirut, while conducting her fieldwork (September 2011-February 2012) at the Social and Behavioral Studies Center (AUB). |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Michael Humphrey; Laura Beth Bugg |
| Commenced | August 2010 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | ‘Local Responsiveness to Humanitarian Intervention in Lebanon. Beirut’s Southern Suburbs and a little village of ‘Akkar: a comparative study.’ |
| Abstract | Estella is currently exploring how the experience of humanitarianism has been experienced from within in the everyday life of people living in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs, stricken by Israeli attacks in the summer 2006; she is also comparing it to the local perception of humanitarian assistance in a northern village of ‘Akkar, North Lebanon, current destination of thousands of Syrian refugees. |
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Magdalena Arias Cubasmari4283@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Originally from Mexico, Magdalena holds a Bachelor degree in Economics & Social Sciences with first class Honours in Political Economy. In addition to her studies, she has worked as a tutor for the Department of Political Economy and as a research assistant for the project ‘Social Transformation and International Migration in the 21st Century’. Recently, she was awarded a 2013 Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Postgraduate Teaching Fellowship with the Department of Political Economy. Her research interests include political economy, migration, labour, indigenous and development studies. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Stephen Castles; Tim Anderson |
| Commenced | 2011 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | Transforming Rural Mexico – Indigenous Migration to the United States |
| Abstract | This project explores the link between social transformation and international migration in rural Mexico since the 1980s to develop a human-centred understanding of the relationship between migration and development. It focuses on analysing the impact of these interconnected processes on the well-being of Mexico’s Indigenous population, in particular that of Indigenous migrants and their relatives, in communities of both origin and destination. The central case study concerns Mixteco migrants from the state of Oaxaca (Mexico) to the state of California (USA). |
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Tristan Enrighttristan.enright@sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Tristan was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Honours Class 1 and University Medal) in Sociology in 2009 by The University of Sydney. He began his PhD in 2010, having been awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award and University Merit Scholarship. His PhD thesis reflects his broader research interests in political, economic, cultural and historical sociology, and his narrower interests in the sociology of knowledge, education, and Australian social policy. Since commencing his PhD, Tristan has also been an active member of the Department of Sociology and Social Policy’s teaching staff, culminating most recently in a joint appointment as Unit Coordinator of SCLG1001 – Introduction to Sociology 1 in the Sydney Summer School 2013. |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Supervisors | Dr Karl Maton; Dr Melinda Cooper |
| Commenced | 2010 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | The Pathosociology of the Competitive University: A genealogy of neoliberal knowledge and its realisation in Australian higher education |
| Abstract | For decades now the international and Australian systems of higher education have been under the powerful, perhaps destructive, sway of the market, with higher education being conceived as the engine room of national (and private) wealth generation and competitive advantage vis-à-vis the production of ‘human capital’ and ‘intellectual property’. Broadly speaking, this turn of affairs has been understood in the social scientific literature as the result of the rise of neoliberalism, a nebulous system of thought extolling the virtues of a competitive, market-conforming social order as the last great line of defence for the protection of individual (economic) freedoms. Ironically, though, it appears that ‘the university’ has occupied a distinctive place in the story of its own attenuation since it has served variously as a key site for the incubation of neoliberal knowledge, a relatively stable conduit for its transmission and, I would argue, one of the principal targets of the neoliberal war on ideas.
Taking this state of affairs as a point of departure, then, the thesis has the aim of deepening our understanding of the process through which ‘neoliberalism’, as a nascent set or cluster of ideas, came to acquire ontological significance in terms of the material organisation and regulation of different facets of social life, in this case the practice of higher education in Australia. Towards this end, the thesis draws inspiration from the historiographical method inaugurated by Michel Foucault, but seeks to extend this in a sociological direction by way of grounding the analysis of both the epistemic and social dimensions of key neoliberal ideas relevant to the ‘reformation’ of the Australian university in an emerging materialist or relational theory of knowledge: Legitimation Code Theory. It is argued that in doing so we come closer to uncovering the ‘genetic code’ of neoliberalism, and as such, move closer yet to confronting head on those ideas in the ascendant for close to four decades with the longer-term aim of claiming the university as a vitally public institution. |
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Mark Gawnemgaw1933@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Mark has a varied, itinerant work history, but since 2008 has taught in Sociology and Political Economy. He did his undergraduate with class 1 honours at the University of Wollongong, and was awarded a scholarship for PhD research at USYD. He has a long-standing interest in Marxist political theory and critique, influenced by the school of Operaismo and class compositionist analysis, or autonomist Marxism. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Melinda Cooper; Craig Browne |
| Commenced | 2008 |
| Full or part time | Part-time |
| Thesis topic | Intimate arrangements of work and class in precarious times: composition, value and affect |
| Abstract | This thesis develops a critical engagement with post-workerist theories of contemporary, namely ‘immaterial’ and ‘affective’, theories of labour. In doing so, it creates a framework through which to understand and analyse contemporary arrangements of class, work and reproduction, or the shifting relations of what is often called post-Fordism, and contributes to contemporary theorisations of labour and work. One of the salient debates concerning a contemporary critique of labour is that which has drawn connections between affect, work and capital. This thesis engages this debate through drawing together the insights of compositionist analysis, or autonomist Marxism, with those of the Marxian value-form theorists, whilst addressing the limitations of each of these respective schools of thought. However, within this thread as well as weaved with it, the analysis throughout also develops a critical reading of affect theory and feminist and queer critiques of political economy. This broader theoretical context allows for a more substantial analysis of the intimate arrangements of the relations of re/-production. |
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Nao Kasainkas3997@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Nao Kasai completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Social Engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Sydney. Before coming to Sydney, she was engaged in a sponsored research project concerning homeless support systems in advanced countries including Australia, UK and US. Her research interests include civic/nonprofit activities, community development, social inequalities and urbanism. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Gyu-Jin Hwang; Greg Martin |
| Commenced | July 2011 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | The Promotion Policy of Civil Society and Its Local Effects and Consequences: Citizen Activities in Addressing Homelessness in Japan |
| Abstract | The study takes a close look at civil society activities to tackle homelessness in Japan and examines roles of civil society in addressing social exclusion. Japan has a distinctive pattern of civil society comprising many small organisations and the case may highlight communitarian functions of civil society. The study draws on in-depth interviews with government agencies and voluntary organisations working with homeless people. Answers to the following questions will be sought: What is the implication of emerging presence of civil society in solving social exclusion? And how can we understand the Japan’s case considering its distinct nature of civil society? |
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Chulhyo Kimckim1306@uni.sydney.edu.auu |
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| Biography | Prior to coming to Sydney, Chulhyo worked with International Organization for Migration for developing research and training projects on labour and marriage migrations. He also worked for MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society as refugee legal service coordinator; and Amnesty International as campaign coordinator. Chulhyo received an MA in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights from the University of Essex and a BA in Sociology from Seoul National University. He currently works as a research assistant for the Social Transformation and International Migration research project. He has worked as a sessional teacher in sociology at the University of Sydney and in NGO studies at Sungkonghoe University, South Korea. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Stephen Castles; Kiran Grewal |
| Commenced | July 2010 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | Social Transformation and International Migration in South Korea: A Human Rights Movement Perspective |
| Abstract | This project first seeks to analyse the links between neo-liberal structural changes in South Korean society and the increased incoming temporary migration. South Korean government introduced the temporary labour migration schemes in the context of the redundancy, the precarisation and casualisation of work, the bankruptcy of small and medium sized industries after 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. The social consequence of the commodification of labour was the destruction of human rights standards at work, public or private spaces. The governments’ responses were highly motivated by ethno-centric, patriarchical and paternalistic approaches. The project also reviews on the countermovement aspect. While the overwhelming trend of civil society groups is the shift to service-provision with benevolent and paternalistic approaches in line with government direction, there are also increasing groups of xenophobic responses. In the mean time, the project’s particular focus is a small group of activists who seek the organisation and empowerment of the temporary migrant workers using the language of rights. Though this process, South Korean social movement rediscovers a possibility to extend its definition of human rights beyond the national boundary. |
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Nu Nguyet Anh Nguyennngu5002@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | During her undergraduate course, she was awarded scholarship to study in Deajeon University, South Korea (2004) and awarded scholarship from Sumitomo Corporation, Japan (2004).
In graduate level, Ms. Nguyen was granted Toshiba Scholarship (2007) and completed Master of Sociology from Ho Chi Minh National University (2010). Besides, she also obtained Scholarship of Academic Exchange Fellowship Program 2009 from ASEAN University Network for her research on Vietnamese women married to Korean men, conducted in South Korea. In 2012, she achieved Australia Scholarship for Development, for her Master of Philosophy and PhD of Sociology. |
| Degree | MPhil |
| Supervisors | Associate Professor Nicola Piper |
| Commenced | March 2012 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | Vietnam – South Korea Transnational Migration: Determinants and Cross-cultural Experiences |
| Abstract | The research is a study of the determinants of migration to South Korea of Vietnamese labourers and their cross-cultural experiences. It aims to explore the decisive factors of mobility as well as the social and cultural impact of cross-cultural experiences for Vietnamese temporary migrant workers. Those two objectives are carried out at three different stages of the migration process: pre-departure, actual migration and return migration. |
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Derya Nizamdniz1191@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Derya holds the University of Sydney International Research Scholarship. She has awarded for Ronald Wimberley Best Graduate Student Paper by the USA Rural Sociological Society in 2012. Derya has a BA (Honours) and M.A. degree in Sociology from Bogazici University, Istanbul. She participated as a researcher in two important research projects on “Globalization and Agriculture” and “Agrarian Change under Globalization” funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Foundation of Turkey (TUBITAK). She conducted various fieldworks and interviews with more than 500 farmers and other rural actors throughout Turkey. Her research experience focused on the effects of market reform legislations implemented in the Turkish agricultural sector beginning in the 2000s. She is further interested in agro-business appropriation and substitution strategies, anti-essentialist eco-feminism, localism and the agro-exceptionalist methodologies in rural sociology. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Salvatore Babones; Elisabeth Valiente-Riedl (assoc. supervisor) |
| Commenced | 2011 March |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | How ‘geographical indicators’ (GIs), as a localist strategy to challenge conventional agricultural practice due to their explicit reference to place or territory, can strengthen the position of local growers in global markets |
| Abstract | An understanding of geographical indicators (GIs) protection has been increasingly confronted with new challenges not only in harmonizing a global policy of GI but also in meeting demands relating to more environmental, cultural and socially equitable agriculture all around the world. This thesis identifies a policy goal of GI to capture more added value derived from local sources by creating resource and policy rents in economic, cultural and environmental terms. For this aim, the thesis presents a case study of Aegean Olive Oils GIs in Turkey using a disarticulation approach based on global commodity chain analysis. The thesis argues that GI can be a means of sustaining the viability of small farming and rural livelihoods only if resource and policy rents are disarticulated from the agro-business strategies of appropriation and substitution. |
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Olga Oleinikovaoole8615@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Olga holds Bachelor and Master degrees with first class Honours in Sociology from KNU (Kiev National Taras Shevchenko University, Ukraine). In 2012 Olga joined the Department of Sociology and Social Policy with the University of Sydney International Research Scholarship. She specializes in social research with a particular interest in international migration, post-socialist social transformations, social change, post-Soviet migration to Australia, life-course and gender. She has experience in quantitative and qualitative research on labour migration in EU (Italy and Poland) and marginalization processes in contemporary Ukrainian society. Her professional experience includes work in social and market research companies. Before coming to Sydney, she worked as a research manager assistant in quantitative and qualitative Ad Hoc research divisions at Taylor Nelson Sofres Ukraine (TNS). |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Catriona Elder; Deirdre Howard-Wagner |
| Commenced | March 2012 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | “Life-Course Strategies and International Migration: Post-Independence Ukrainian Migrants in Australia” |
| Abstract | This research project focuses on post-independence Ukrainian migration to Australia and is centred on Ukrainian migrants’ life-course strategies in Australia with respect to their employment, education or marriage. The focus is on the rationale behind the ‘waves’ of migrants who came to Australia in three periods (since 1990s, since 2000 and 2010). Particularly, research analyses the link between social transformations in post-Soviet Ukraine and international migration of Ukrainians to Australia since the 1990s, by focusing on the impact of socio-economic and political restructuring on the migrants’ life strategies.
This research investigates how individual pathways are changed and adapt under social transformations and which strategies individuals chose to follow to accommodate to changing social conditions, focusing on peculiarities of forming life strategies with the help of international migration. In order to trace the institutional impact and influence on the process of individual’s life-course strategy formation on micro-level of analysis, social transformations in Ukraine will be analysed within 3 dimensions – economic, political and social milieus in combination with the analysis of Australia’s immigration policy according migrants from post-Soviet countries since 1990s. This project aims to provide insights into the following areas: (1) daily life and the socio-cultural problems Ukrainian migrants face in recipient societies, particularly barriers in realizing migrants’ pathways in terms of social inclusion, cultural differentiation, and shifts of national and cultural identities; (2) official migration policies of Ukraine and Australia; and (3) the socio-economic contradictions within Ukrainian society as a migration push factor. This research takes an original approach in that it brings the life-course strategy within migration methodology and deploys it in sociological context rather than its original psychological focus. |
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Derya Ozkulsozk2606@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | I studied my BA degree in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Bogazici in Turkey and my MSc degree in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. Since then I have been involved in various projects on migration-related issues. I contributed to the research conducted at OHCHR, Committee on Migrant Workers and at ILO, MIGRANT Department in Geneva. I also worked as a researcher at the Migration Research Centre at Koc University (MiReKoc) in various EU-funded projects. Currently my doctoral thesis is part of the project called ‘Social Transformation and international Migration in the 21st Century, directed by Prof Stephen Castles. During my candidature I held guest researcher fellowships from the Social Science Research Centre in Berlin (WZB) and the University of Bielefeld in Germany. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Stephen Castles; Christine Inglis |
| Commenced | 2010 |
| Full or part time | Full-time |
| Thesis topic | Turkish Diaspora in Australia and Germany: Their Role in the Political-Institutional Changes in Turkey |
| Abstract | My thesis explores transnational Alevi networks. The motivating questions are 1) In which mechanisms do the migratory processes change the manner in which Alevism is experienced in private, as well as practiced and presented in public? 2) To what extent do the newly emerging forms of Alevism contribute to the political-institutional struggles in Turkey? Although transnational research has revealed extensive empirical findings, it still lacks developed comparative studies exploring the impact of state policies and of distance to the homeland. Departing from these questions, my thesis displays a comparative study of Germany and Australia, the two countries of destination with very different traditions and institutional frameworks. I investigate how distinct migratory processes have provided conditions for Alevis’ transnational struggles. |
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Ly Phanlpha5621@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Ly Phan has a Bachelors Degree in Sociology from the Vietnam National University and a Masters degree in Sociology from the University of Washington. In 2012, she commenced her PhD program at the University of Sydney with an Endeavour scholarship. Before coming to Sydney, Ly worked as a researcher at the Institute of Sociology in Vietnam. Her research interests include demography, population and development issues, gender, migration and urbanization. She is also interested in applying quantitative methods to sociological analysis. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Salvatore Babones; Gyu-Jin Hwang |
| Commenced | Semester 1, 2012 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | Women’s Empowerment and Fertility in Southeast Asia |
| Abstract | The relationship between women’s empowerment and their fertility has been a major theme in studies of gender and development. The improved status of women is considered to increase their educational attainment and economic opportunities, and higher decision-making power. Fertility decline is hypothesized as the result of such progress in women’s empowerment. There have been many different suggestions on how women’s empowerment initiates changes in fertility levels. However, the ways that women’s empowerment affect fertility has not been clearly identified. In my thesis, I will suggest a causal framework of how women’s empowerment leads to fertility changes. I will use indicators of women’s empowerment from country-level data of 5 Southeast Asian countries to fit a regression model of fertility. |
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Bobby Quinnrqui3924@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Bobby Quinn completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) at the University of Western Australia in 2006. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | A/P Catriona Elder; D Greg Martin |
| Commenced | Semester 2 2010 |
| Full or part time | Part-time |
| Thesis topic | The Post-Divorce Child: The Role of the Child as Figural Body |
| Abstract | The objective of this research is to examine the figuration of the post-divorce child and identify its significance in making wider cultural claims. I propose that the dominant way the child appears in representations of divorce is as ‘victim’ and that this figuration is used to construct divorce as a threat to society. By looking at several sites through which the post-divorce child is figured, such as Australian Family Law, I ask how this figuration is utilised in the social construction of divorce. |
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Jessica Richardsjric9567@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Jessica’s research interests broadly focus on the sociology of sport, with a particular emphasis on sport fandom and spatial geography. After graduating from the University of Sydney with a B.A (Hons), she was awarded an Australian Post-Graduate Award to pursue further study in the field of sport sociology. Following work experience at a research agency, Jessica is now working full-time on her PhD, and is currently living between England and Australia. In Australia, she tutors in the Sociology and Social Policy department at the University of Sydney. In England, Jessica works as a Honorary PhD Student in the Management School at the University of Liverpool. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Fiona Gill; David Bray |
| Commenced | March 2012 |
| Full or part time | Full-time |
| Thesis topic | Oh The Places You’ll Go: A Cross Comparative Study of Sport Fandom in Australia and England. |
| Abstract | This project examines the motivations and behaviour of sport fans of four sporting teams in England and Australia. It explores how fan identification takes its form; and the role of the sport stadium and local community in the creation of a sport teams narrative. It seeks to understand how sport fans identify with themselves and others inside sporting locations; and how sporting spaces can both encourage and restrict certain types of spectator behaviour. Data for this study is currently being generated in Australia and England, through the ethnographic methods of participant observation, in-depth interviews and visual mapping. |
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Mohammad Salehinmohammad.salehin@sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Mohammad Salehin completed his Bachelor and Masters Degree in Sociology at the University of Dhaka (Bangladesh). He joined the Department of Rural Sociology at Bangladesh Agricultural University in 2000 as a lecturer and promoted as Assistant professor in 2004. He completed MPhil in Peace and Conflict Transformation (with a thesis on Rise of Islamic Militancy in Bangladesh) from the University of Tromso, Norway in 2006 under QUOTA Fellowship. Currently he is on study leave and joined the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney as a PhD-candidate in March 2009 under Endeavour Postgraduate Awards. He taught Introductory Sociology and Sociology of Terror at the University of Sydney. He specialized in research and teaching in Religion (Islam) and Development, Rural Poverty Studies, Development in South Asia, and Women and Gender Issues. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Stephen Castles; Laura Beth Bugg |
| Commenced | 2009 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | Development, State and Islamic NGOs in Bangladesh |
| Abstract | This project investigates the relationship between religion, the state, development and the Religious NGOs (RNGOs) in general and Islamic NGOs in particular in Bangladesh. Based on the fieldwork with the three Islamic NGOs (Muslim Aid UK, Islami Bank Foundation and MACCA) carried out in Bangladesh over the period of July, 2010 to February 2011 this research has attempted to answer four specific research questions. These are: a. what are the ideological frameworks that inform Islamic NGOs and in what way do these frameworks inform the practice of Islamic NGOs in Bangladesh? b. What are the transnational links that Islamic NGOs utilise and in what ways do these transnational links shape the activities of Islamic NGOs in Bangladesh? c. In what ways do Islamic NGOs shape the local governance of rural villages in Bangladesh, particularly in relation to Islamic NGOs’ activities in disaster relief and Islamic microfinance? d. What is the role of Islamic NGOs in the changing gender ideology around the role of women in Bangladesh? This research has used qualitative interviews, FGDs, participation and observation to collect necessary data from the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of Islamic NGOs (include secular NGO beneficiaries), NGO officials and local key informants in three districts in Bangladesh. Humanitarian aids and shari’a-based microfinance program of Islamic NGOs that falls under the ‘model village program’ of these NGOs have particularly been investigated. A new form of ‘governmentality’—a pious or sacralised governmentality, as this research argues, is emerging in the context of hegemonic neoliberal governmentality. This new form of governmentality revelled through practice and programs of Islamic NGOs, for example through their practice of ‘entrepreneurial Homo Oeconomicus’. Therefore, Islamic NGOs has also changed the ideological structure shaping the lives of rural women, through the issues of empowerment and piety. Islamic NGOs have been successful in mobilizing women to create a ‘sense of guilt’ regarding interest charges by the microcredit program of non-Islamic NGOs, and have advocated an Islamic version of ‘women empowerment’ by enhancing Muslim women’s agency. Hence, a ‘different model of gender relations’ in contrast to the liberal model is emerging that envisages Muslim women’s piety as central to constructing ‘good women’ which informs the way they appear and behave in the public. |
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Richard Schweizerrichardschweizer1980@gmail.com |
| Biography | Graduate of the University of Sydney with Sociology with Honours Class 1 in 2002 and LLB with Honours Class 1 in 2005. Graduate of Masters in Journalism at the University of Technology in 2009. Honours thesis for Sociology involved ethnography of a refugee activist group. Masters thesis involved a discourse analysis of public discussion of indigenous issues following the announcement of the Federal Northern Territory Intervention. Academic interests include mental health and mental illness; Australian politics, policy and economics; American politics; studies of religion and contemporary cultural study. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Fran Collyer; Melinda Cooper |
| Commenced | 2009 |
| Full or part time | Part-time |
| Thesis topic | The effect of diagnosis in schizophrenia |
| Abstract | This thesis aims to explore how people diagnosed with schizophrenia rebuild their sense of self after the experience of diagnosis, treatment and hospitalisation. The thesis will also seek to explore how people maintain their post-diagnostic identities amongst family, friends, and the public. Furthermore, the thesis will explore how relationships of power with psychiatric staff and facilities, as well as broader phenomena such as the psychopharmaceutical complex and deinstitutionalisation, affect these processes.
The thesis will make use of a number of writers and theorists. In particular the thesis will make use of Michael Bury's concept of 'biographical disruption' to help understand the impact of a chronic illness like schizophrenia. The work of George Mead and Herbert Blumer in establishing Symbolic Interactionism will be used to help understand relations between the person diagnosed with schizophrenia and people both within and without the psychiatric system. The work of Erving Goffman will be used to help understand how persons diagnosed with schizophrenia maintain, or project, their post-diagnostic identity. Finally the work of Michel Foucault will be used to explore a number of relationships of power that emerge around the issue of self-formation and self-maintenance in persons diagnosed with schizophrenia. Members for the study will be drawn from the Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank. |
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Jeremy Simpsonjsim9083@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Jeremy Simpson holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences in sociology and philosophy with Honours from the University of Sydney and is currently completing a PhD in sociology by research. He teaches sociology and research methods at the University of Sydney and has assisted with a number of research projects, including research capacity building for the Ministry of Education of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the nationally comparative resilience study 'Personal Resilience, System Resilience, and Educational Opportunity’. His research interests include the sociologies of risk and resilience, the sociology of violence and conflict, the sociologies of Pierre Bourdieu and Niklas Luhmann, qualitative research methodology and the history and culture of Afghanistan and the Central Asian region. He is a member of the Widening Participation Scholars Network and The Australian Sociological Association. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Fran Collyer; Salvatore Babones |
| Commenced | 2010 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | Risk and contemporary conflict in stabilisation operations: the case of Afghanistan |
| Abstract | The thesis examines institutional risk-aversion and enclavisation in Afghanistan, or international intervention practice and local responses in the context of contemporary conflict risk. The case study compares risk-management in the civil-developmental and private security sectors with military force protection and COIN/CT practice, and with the local mine-clearance sector as a divergent risk-management regime. The intention is to develop a model of risk and risk-related practice in this context, integrating elements of systems theory with the field of strategic practice model of Pierre Bourdieu. The approach of the study is qualitative, based on interview research and observation in Afghanistan in late 2011. |
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Ariel Spigelmanaspi2607@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Ariel was born in Sydney and moved to the UK when he was 11, where he completed high school and his undergraduate degree at University College London. In 2008 he returned to Australia to study for a Masters in Cross-cultural Communication at the University of Sydney.
Ariel has over a decade of social and market research industry experience, in particular working with the public and non-profit sectors and using quantitative survey methodology. He is a Full Member of the Australian Market and Social Research Society, as well as a Full Member of the UK Market Research Society. Ariel currently serves as Vice President of the Management Committee of the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS), a leader in non-profit representation and casework management of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia, and also served for three years as a Trustee on the board of Asylum Aid, a charity in the UK providing free legal advice, support and representation to asylum seekers. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Salvatore Babones; Stephen Castles |
| Commenced | 2012 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | Modelling international migration intentions in 21st-Century South America |
| Abstract | The purpose of this study is to account for the structural and individual social, political, cultural and economic correlates of international migration intentions, and attempt to model them in a formal framework. It will do this through a statistical analysis of several waves of repeated cross-section questionnaire data taken from the ‘Latinobarómetro’, an annual household survey programme conducted across Latin America. Due to the pre-existence of a large volume of scholarship on migration in Central America (and in particular, on the Mexico-USA migration corridor, the busiest in the world), this study will focus on the countries of mainland continental South America (excluding the Guianas): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. In addition, building on the statistical insights derived from the survey data, the study will attempt to operationalise a model of macro-level migration intentions through a computational agent-based simulation. |
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Harriet Westcottharriet.westcott@sydney.edu.au |
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| Biography | Harriet is a PhD student and teaches in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, at the University of Sydney. Her research interests include friendships/personal relationships, emotions, surveillance and social media. Harriet has over ten years experience as a social researcher for government and NGOs. She holds a Masters Degree in Culture and Media, and a Bachelors (Honours) of Sociology. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Catriona Elder; Rebecca Scott Bray |
| Commenced | 2008 |
| Full or part time | |
| Thesis topic | Friendship after migration |
| Abstract | Harriet’s research focuses on the friendship experience of skilled migrants to Australia. It explores friendship initiation, maintenance and rupture following migration. Theoretically Harriet is influenced by the micro-order of social life and the rules of social etiquette as presented by Goffman, and the friendship philosophies of Aristotle. |
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Rebecca Williamsonrwil2924@uni.sydney.edu.au |
| Biography | Rebecca received a Master of Arts in Social Anthropology and first class Honours from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She has previously worked for three years as a research administrator and development officer at an international university in London. Prior to that, she was employed as a social researcher for the Ministry of Social Development in New Zealand. Rebecca works as a research assistant for the Social Transformation and International Migration research project at the University of Sydney, led by Professor Stephen Castles. She has worked as a sessional teacher in anthropology at the University of Sydney and Victoria University of Wellington. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Stephen Castles; Robbie Peters |
| Commenced | March 2011 |
| Full or part time | Full time |
| Thesis topic | Migration, Housing and Place-Making Practices in Suburban Sydney |
| Abstract | In Australia, migration is not only integral to the history and demography of the nation, but remains central in ongoing and emotive discourses around identity, belonging and territory. However, little attention has been paid to the ways in which migration transforms cities at an everyday, micro-social level. The research involves a place-based study of the interactions between recent migrants and the built environment in a highly diverse suburban locality in south-western Sydney, Australia. It focuses in particular on migrants’ place-making practices and their role in the transformation of local public space. The thesis examines how the everyday production of space is mediated by a range of actors and discourses across multiple scales, and the extent to which it shapes, or is shaped by, migrants’ urban citizenship claims. |
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Mary Wintermary_winter@bigpond.com |
| Biography | Prior to conducting her PhD Mary Winter was a trend analyst and conducted surveys on many social issues in Australia. She is a social researcher of approximately 20 years experience and has developed a particular interest in qualitative research and the complexity of issues that affect wider social groups in this country. Mary has a BA Hons and MA in Communication and Writing from Murdoch University and The University of Technology, Sydney. She is a full member of the Australian Market and Social Research Society. |
| Degree | PhD |
| Supervisors | Dr Deirdre Howard-Wagner, Dr Brigid Rooney |
| Commenced | 2009 |
| Full or part time | Part-time |
| Thesis topic | Fleeing Neoliberalism: Tree Changing in Tasmania |
| Abstract | The country movement has taken many forms throughout history as people have found ways to deal with social pressures and struggles through the ages. The latest form of the country movement in Australia is known as tree changing. As they struggle with the effects of neoliberal economic policy, some Australians in the city find themselves with intolerably large mortgages, the need for two incomes, reduced parental choices and the inability to live out the Australia dream of home ownership and ‘the good life’. Some of these people have fled to remote rural Tasmania as a way of combating social difficulties and find a better life. This thesis investigates the range of reasons these people fled, the outcomes of their decisions and the conflicts involved in adjusting to new cultures. |
| Publications | Over the years Mary has contributed to many popular publications including BRW, The Financial Review, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and The Herald Sun. She has authored reports on Climate Change, The Digital Age and Australian Social Trends and has presented papers at conferences and given points of view in the media. |