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Dolly Parton’s Mythologised Persona, Collective Life Writing, and Building a Home for LGBTQ+ Listeners in Country Music
Get PDF This article conceptualises persona and life writing as being collectively constituted to explore multiplicity in the way country artist Dolly Parton’s persona can be constructed by LGBTQ+ audiences. I use the idea of mythmaking, where myths are neither true nor false, to explore how Parton’s persona and life writing challenge dominant narratives and assumptions around LGBTQ+ belonging in country music, a genre that is increasingly being re-evaluated in terms of its LGBTQ+ representation and queer resonances. Parton’s persona is deeply invested in her constructed life story that represents a collective mythology around the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, Appalachia, and country music. This paper uses close readings of Parton’s songs ‘Coat of Many Colors’ and ‘My Tennessee Mountain Home’ to explore how these texts enable LGBTQ+ listeners to anchor themselves within the life-writing practices of her country music and Appalachia. ‘Coat of Many Colors’ uses an episode from Parton’s life story to work through class and regional representations that also have the potential to resonate with LGBTQ+ experiences through the renegotiation of narratives of shame that become reworked into pride and acceptance. My reading of ‘My Tennessee Mountain Home’ expands on this using the idea of home and the affective role this has within queer narratives to explore how Parton situates LGBTQ+ experiences within the genre of country music. The final part of this article considers the importance of anti-racism and intersectional critiques of overly romanticised narratives around Parton to ensure multiplicity when conceptualising the role of persona in Parton’s work
Mothers as First Teachers: Exploring the Features of Motherchild Interactions That Support Young Aboriginal Children’s Multilingual Learning at Playgroup
Get PDFFor many Indigenous children living in remote communities, the prerequisites to achieving strong language and learning outcomes include the maintenance of their first languages and progress in learning English as an additional language. This paper reports on data from a Linkage study conducted with families at two Families as First Teachers (FaFT) playgroups in two remote Northern Territory communities. The data highlight the ways parents and carers encouraged very young children to engage in home languages as a foundation on which to develop skills in English during play and book reading activities. Transcripts of mother-child book reading and play sessions and reflections of FaFT Family Liaison Officers are examined to explore the language interactions and the strategies used by mothers to support children’s multilingual learning. The data highlight the importance of early childhood teaching and learning that honours children’s linguistic and cultural resources and prioritises families’ aspirations for children’s multilingual language learning
Knowing Who You Are: Heritage Language, Identity and Safe Space in a Bilingual Kindergarten
Get PDFEvidence shows that when young children’s diverse language heritages are valued and supported, there are benefits for their linguistic and conceptual development, their sense of identity and their learning. However, there are few early learning settings in Australia which nurture young children’s bilingual repertoires. And, while it is well established that early childhood is a critical period for first and second language acquisition, there is a lack of empirical research available on children’s bilingual development in institutional early childhood education and care. Against this backdrop, our article reports on a study of a bilingual Samoan community kindergarten (a’oga amata) in southeast Queensland. In this paper, we focus on how the a’oga amata supported the maintenance of the children’s heritage language and culture. We explore language use in the a’oga amata, the cultural values underpinning the educators’ practices, and the positive responses of the children and parents in the study. We also examine the constraints on the community leaders and educators’ efforts to create an authentic bilingual experience in this English-dominant environment. Finally, we revisit the notion of safe spaces for young bilingual learners (Conteh & Brock, 2011) and rearticulate the need for clear language policies that support heritage language education
Defining Magical Realism in Children’s Literature: Voices in Contemporary Fugue, Texts that Speak from the Margins
Get PDFDuring the latter half of the twentieth century authors of children's fictions have explored boundary transgressions between fantastic and mimetic genres. While contemporary narrative texts continue this heritage, magical realist texts are differentiated by an extensive merging of realistic and uncanny events. These magical transgressions infuse and inform textual interpretations that not only record the perspectives of child subjects, but also expose mimetic representations as concomitant fictions with those of more obvious fantasy realms. This paper will examine issues relating to the emergence of Magical Realism in children's literary texts. Magical Realism is identified as a narrative mode because it is a discourse style that infiltrates realistic genres with an associated capacity to redirect textual interpretation. To facilitate the identification of magical realist strategies that are significant to this discussion, two narratives have been selected: David Almond's Secret Heart (2001); and Isabelle Allende's translated children's fiction, City of the Beasts (2003)
Employability readiness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students: Yarning Circles as a methodological approach to illuminate student voice
Get PDFThis paper describes the current situation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates entering the workforce and compares this with personal reflections from current Indigenous students engaged in the tertiary setting. The purpose is twofold: first, to promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student voice; and second, to provide an avenue for this voice to contribute to and influence the design of employability programs in higher education. This study examines how the use of Indigenous research methods, such as yarning/yarning circles, can effectively and ethically collect data to amplify and promote the student voice in ways that conventional Western research methods currently fail to do. This amplified voice can create a platform for researchers and practitioners to understand students’ views and implement informed and tailored approaches to planning programs and delivering curriculum; in this case, employability-readiness skill sets for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education. The findings are analysed thematically, and recommendations presented for higher-education institutions to consider when creating pedagogical approaches for the employability readiness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates
Study on employability of mechanical engineering graduates from Sunyani Technical University of Ghana
Get PDFAlthough the Government of Ghana gives considerable attention to technical education to accelerate national development, some graduates remain unemployed for years after graduation. In this study, employability of mechanical engineering graduates from Sunyani Technical University of Ghana is presented. It assessed the employment status and duration of unemployment of the graduates, identified the factors that hinder their employability and the challenges that require attention prior to graduation of students, and made suggestions for improvement. Respondents of the study were 131 graduates from 2014-2017 graduation years, comprising 50% of graduates from each of the Program options in the department. The sampling techniques used were purposive and stratified random sampling techniques. A questionnaire was the research instrument used for data collection and it was administered using e-mails, WhatsApp and phone calls. The results revealed that the employment status of the graduates was about 84% with the duration of unemployment about 29%, 41% and 19% for one, two and three years after their national service respectively. The main factor hindering employability of the graduates was inadequate practical skills since more attention was given to theory at the expense of practical work. The main challenge which requires attention prior to graduation of students was the lack of job-seeking skills. The Department should therefore, focus more on the practical element of the Programs by increasing the practical hours and partner with industry for curriculum development, more internship opportunities and industrial tours, and organise seminars on job acquisition processes prior to graduation of students to enhance employability of the graduates
Enhancing graduate employability through targeting ePortfolios to employer expectations: A systematic scoping review
Get PDFElectronic portfolios (ePortfolios) are increasingly being used in university degrees to showcase graduate employability. However, evidence on employers’ views and use of ePortfolios has not been synthesised. This study aimed to systematically review the evidence on employer, industry representative and university educator views on the use of ePortfolios in recruiting graduates, including recommended ePortfolio content. Six databases were searched to identify original research on views and utilisation of ePortfolios published since 2000. Studies were screened in duplicate, and the full texts of 163 articles reviewed. Included studies were synthesised to reveal common themes. The 17 included studies represented a range of industries and most were conducted in the USA (n=10). Awareness of ePortfolios was low, as was use within recruitment. Perceived advantages of ePortfolios in recruitment included showcasing key skills/work; ability to comprehensively assess and differentiate between candidates quickly; and accessibility. The main disadvantages were the time taken to review, excessive information and establishing authenticity. Recommended ePortfolios content included samples of professional work, reflections, videos and photos. Inclusion of typical resume content, work experience, skills, transcripts, certificates, references, supervisor evaluations were important, as was a clear and concise structure
Humanitarian innovation: The next step for greater impact
Get PDFSince 2010, the aid sector has invested significant funds in innovation practice, implementing pilots and other practices borrowed from Silicon Valley. While this has supported some impact, the aid sector has now hit a plateau with innovation, struggling to scale what works, frustrated by ‘digital litter’ (unsustainable technology projects), trying to overcome the small innovation trap, and ‘pilotitis’ (fatigue from implementing small-scale projects that never scale up). Many innovation leaders in the social and development sectors are realising that the ‘lean’ innovation approaches commonly used do not work well for the complex challenges in their sector.
To create the change and impact that our work demands, organisations must be able to work with real and messy challenges, and create large-scale innovative solutions. The sector is beginning to use system innovation to move past simplifying challenges in lean experiments and hackathons. This paper discusses how system innovation can support humanitarians to take the next step to innovation effectiveness, to create real impact in communities
Community-led disaster resilience in Nauiyu Aboriginal community
Get PDFThere is a need for emergency management systems in Australia to shift to a more collaborative model that involves working with communities rather than simply delivering to communities. This research paper argues that in order to address this, emergency services organisations in Australia need to continue to shift from a service delivery approach to a more localised, participatory and consultative model that acknowledges and harnesses local leadership, knowledge, skills and experience creating opportunities for community driven and fit-for-purpose emergency management. The paper makes the case for why localised approaches are important in places with diverse populations such as the Northern Territory (NT). The NT Aboriginal community of Nauiyu’s experience of evacuations due to flooding in 2015 and 2018 will be used as a case study to offer an example of locally led approaches to disaster resilience