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\u27A Matter of History\u27: Or What to do With an Empty Plinth
Can we engage in the discussion around colonial monuments if we not are prepared to engage in potentially uncomfortable conversations about our shared history? This commentary asks this and questions why we velementally defend colonial monuments? Is it about history or something else
Righting History: Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia
Abstract
In recent years there has been ongoing controversy in the United States regarding monuments and place names commemorating the Confederate cause in the American Civil War. The following discussion focuses on Monument Avenue in the former Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. This was one of the most prominent locations of Confederate commemoration until statues along the avenue began to be removed during 2020. While also needing to be seen in the immediate context of events in mid-2020, these removals followed a process of investigation and consultation carried out by Richmond City Council. This produced a report which is now a useful resource for a case study investigating Monument Avenue and the broader issues its history helps to illustrate.  
Assorted Bastards of Australian History
Cook looms as large in Australian statuary as he does in nomenclature and, perhaps especially, psyche. To those who still deify him as the explorer at the vanguard of white-hatted colonial Enlightenment he remains the Neil Armstrong of his day – he who sailed where dragons be to bring English light and civility to the oldest continuous civilisation on the planet. To others of this continent, he is a sinister bogey man and a monster, the doorman who ushered in later colonisation with all its extreme violence, dispossession and ills with his east coast arrival in 1770 – in which his first act was to personally shoot two Gweagal men at Kamai
Solving Bangkok’s Traffic Problems
Bangkok is reported to have the worst traffic in the world, a situation that has a detrimental effect on the economic, social and financial development of the city. This mixed-methods study of the enforcement of Thailand’s Road Traffic Act, B.E. 2522 (1979) surveyed drivers in Bangkok and interviewed police traffic officers. The results reveal negative perceptions of drivers towards traffic police officers, poor law enforcement and disparity in policing practice. They also show that drivers lack road discipline and do not fear the consequence of any wrongdoing because they perceive that the Act merely prescribes petty offences and traffic police officers only impose light punishments. To support the cultural changes necessary to alter these perceptions, and enhance the economic and social development of the city, a range of strategies will be necessary, including training and development among drivers and law enforcement officers and strengthened legal provisions
Promiscuous Care in Movement-Based Research: Lessons Learned from Collaborations in Manhattan\u27s Chinatown
Decolonial and feminist studies scholars have long recognised the intricate ways in which the personal and academic are deeply interwoven and that the co-production of knowledge is essential for social transformation. This article examines the cultural organising of the Chinatown Art Brigade, an intergenerational collective of artists, activists, writers, educators and practitioners driven by the fundamental belief that cultural, material, and aesthetic modes of production have the power to combat gentrification. Specifically, I situate the collective within a longer lineage of Asian American cultural organising in Manhattan Chinatown and draw from years of movement-based research as a member of the collective. Incorporating personal reflection and interviews conducted with brigade members, this article speaks to how the themes of power, temporality and affectivity show up in movement-based research. How can we think more capaciously about academic and non-academic collaboration, to push the boundaries and explore new possibilities that honour the time, expertise and trauma of directly impacted communities? In reflecting on my work with the Chinatown Art Brigade, I discuss the nuances of intergenerational co-production of knowledge and interrogate how a feminist ethics of promiscuous care can uncover new possibilities for collaboration between cultural workers, organisers and movement-based scholars within and beyond the neoliberal academy
Indigenous peoples’ human rights, self-determination and local governance – Part 2
Part 1 of this article explored the relevance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, particularly the key principles of self-determination and free, prior and informed consent; how the international human rights framework applies in Australia; and Australia’s lack of compliance with it. Part One concluded by discussing the Uluru Statement from the Heart, presented to all the people of Australia in 2017, and how it marked a turning point in the struggle for recognition by Australia’s Indigenous peoples.
Part 2 explores recent developments since the release of the Uluru Statement, especially at sub-national levels, in relation to treaty and truth-telling. It draws some comparisons with Canada and New Zealand, discusses the concept of coexistence, and presents a set of Foundational Principles for Parity and Coexistence between two culturally distinct systems of land ownership, use and tenure
Development of Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) Matrix for Achieving Integrated Lean and Sustainable Construction
Challenges exist across the three dimensions of construction sustainability (economic; social and environmental) due to low productivity, waste, safety, and environmental hazards attributed to existing construction management practices. Lean construction (LC) has been widely accepted as a robust philosophy to enable sustainable construction (SC) practices. However, the existing literature is more inclined toward defining the integration between LC and sustainability through LC practices and techniques. Little research tackles the challenges of achieving sustainable goals within the current practices. Therefore, this paper aims to present a strategy that can help the construction industry overcome the challenges of SC in the traditional construction management practice by using LC. The challenges of SC are identified through a systematic literature review approach with metadata analysis. Compared with LC principles, tools and techniques, the strategy focused on identifying (1) the power and potential of LC principles and (2) the best LC practices/techniques that help in overcoming these SC challenges. The study results showed 20 out of 32 challenges identified can be overcome by using LC integrated with SC. Finally, a Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) matrix is developed to provide guidelines to the construction stakeholders for the selection of LC practices/tools/techniques in overcoming the top 15 most important challenges
Drivers of Applying Ecological Modernization to Construction Waste Minimization in New South Wales Construction Industry
The application of ecological modernization (EM) (to delink industry growth from environmental damage) to minimize construction waste has not been explored within the construction industry in general, and the New South Wales (NSW) construction industry in particular. This study seeks to identify the drivers of applying EM to construction waste minimisation (CWM) in the industry. Also, to determine the CWM measures that are critical for each of the drivers. A survey was adopted in this study to target stakeholders engaged in the delivery of construction projects in NSW from design to completion. The survey was selected to reach a large number of respondents within a manageable period. A pilot study was conducted to ensure the reliability of the research design before a full-scale data collection was launched. The data from 240 valid responses was analysed using factor analysis, relative importance index and descriptive statistics. The results revealed five important drivers for EM’s application to CWM. These are agents of change, government policies, supply chain dynamics, skill-building and technological innovations. The CWM measures that are critical for each of these drivers were also identified. The study provides insights into the application of EM to address the construction industry problem of waste generation as by-product of its growth. It also shows the ability to protect the environment while enabling continuous economic growth. Furthermore, it demonstrates the applicability of EM to minimize the construction waste of NSW construction industry
Considering Power in Community-Based Research: Shifting Toward New Pedagogical Approaches with a \u27Public Work for Public Things\u27 Framework
One of the fundamental questions of power in the pedagogy of community-based research (CBR) is who gets to decide what is research worthy and what is the focus of CBR questions? The reality of the power imbalance in community-based research and learning is often reflective of a systemic disengagement with the broader community. Even when instructors and administrators are intentional in how they solicit feedback or think through the impact of their work, they may not know the neighbourhood. Prioritising the voice of community partners does not provide a simple solution, as the individuals we work with to organise community-based learning opportunities may not be residents of the neighbourhood.
This article adopts a theory-building approach to this crucial question. Building on the work of Boyte (2014) and Honig (2017), community-based research is reoriented as ‘public work for public things’ (Haarman 2020). After establishing the ‘public work for public things’ framework, the article explores how this new framework impacts collaborative research by addressing the power differential and creating new lines of inquiry – specifically the practice of ‘elicitation of concerns’. Through the lens of critical service-learning pedagogy (Mitchell 2008) and a practitioner-scholar framework (Lytle 2008; Ravitch 2013; Salipante & Aram 2003), we then interrogate two community-based research courses we have recently taught, examining how a ‘public work for public things’ approach would have altered the course and its methods
Bonsai in the time of COVID: The miniature, the social and the solitary
The study sought to find out to what extent engagement with serious leisure, in this case, bonsai growing, can help people deal with challenging times, such as a global pandemic. In particular, how bonsai enthusiasts use their hobbies to manage uncertainty and stress during the lockdown and how they have shared their lived experiences on this topic via social media. The researcher employed a user-generated contents analysis approach to address the questions and explored a collection of comments from a sample of the most visited bonsai videos posted during the pandemic. The serious leisure perspective has been used as a theoretical framework to conceptualise the data based on the qualities that differentiate serious leisure from casual leisure. The findings showed that engagement in this hobby helps bonsai enthusiasts to develop social connectedness and cope with their stress caused by the pandemic