2022
Qatar World Cup: Socceroos’ best ever performance, and what it means for the game in Australia ahead of hosting the Women’s World Cup
07 Dec 2022
Before the men’s FIFA World Cup commenced, the Socceroos’ most noteworthy contribution seemed likely to be their pre-emptive video campaign on human rights in host country Qatar. The political debate receded somewhat once the action on the field kicked off. After losing their opening game heavily to world champions France, the focus was....Read more.
‘You have to beg for help’: how our welfare system pressures people to perform vulnerability
07 Dec 2022
People who rely on welfare payments to survive are often required to repeatedly tell stories of their personal hardships. In a conditional welfare system, many must regularly attend compulsory appointments, job search training courses, and self-development and treatment programs simply to receive their payments. People in extreme hardship often tell their stories....Read more.
You’ve got a friend: young people help each other with their mental health for 3.5 hours every week
30 Nov 2022
Young people experience mental health difficulties at a higher rate than any other age group. While there’s an ongoing discussion about the formal supports they need, young people say they’re most likely to speak with peers and friends – particularly when mental health care is difficult to access.....Read more.
A Vietnam veteran anthropologist and an Arnhem Land community have worked together for over 40 years. Don Watson tells their story.
24 Nov 2022
With The Passion of Private White, Don Watson has written a witty and compassionate book about friendship, Indigenous self-determination and people under stress.“Private White” is Neville White, an anthropologist and Vietnam veteran who has spent two months a year....Read more.
ICS Researchers Feature in Future-Makers
18 Nov 2022
The sixth edition of Future-Makers is now available to read online. This issue focuses on the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities and features three articles on the collaborative and impactful research taking place at the ICS.....Read more.
First Nations women are 69 times more likely to have a head injury after being assaulted. We show how hard it is to get help
11 Nov 2022
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 69 times more likely than non-First Nations women to go to hospital with a head injury because of an assault. But not all First Nations women get the support they need. Our new study shows how health....Read more.
Moving beyond the media’s ‘deficit lens’ is essential for racialised peoples to claim belonging. Here’s how they’re doing it
09 Nov 2022
Australia’s mainstream media has long viewed refugees, migrants and Indigenous communities through a “deficit lens”. That’s where these populations – in all their glorious complexity – are framed simply as a “problem” that needs to be “fixed”. Never achieving enough.....Read more.
The Right Stuff: the new conservative dating app which has unsurprisingly, failed to attract women
14 Oct 2022
The Right Stuff is a new conservative dating app, recently launched in the US. Not yet available in Australia, the app was apparently created “for conservatives to connect in authentic and meaningful ways.” It offers to bring people together with shared values and similar passions,....Read more.
The retirement of Roger Federer is the abdication of tennis royalty
20 Sep 2022
This is a time of endings. In the midst of the all-consuming media spectacle surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II, “tennis royalty” in the form of Roger Federer will retire in the same week and in the same city that she is laid to rest.When the career of a sporting celebrity concludes, it is widely represented as if they have died, in what journalists call “sports obituaries”.....Read more.
Submission to the National Cultural Policy
04 Sep 2022
Recently the Federal Government put out a call for submissions to the National Cultural Policy, which will shape Australia’s arts, entertainment and cultural sector for the next decade. As an academic institution which works consistently in areas of cultural policy, ICS has submitted two responses to the call.....Read more.
The Qatar Men’s FIFA World Cup 2022: Free Kick or Body Check for Human Rights?
22 Jul 2022
The Qatar men’s FIFA World Cup 2022 will take place in November. There will be plenty of enjoyable football on show, but we should all keep our eyes on the human rights ball.
The men’s FIFA World Cup 2022 was controversial from the moment that FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced Qatar had won the right to host it.....Read more.
Census data shows we’re more culturally diverse than ever. Our institutions must reflect this
29 Jun 2022
Initial data from the 2021 census released this week shows Australia continues to become more culturally diverse.
Almost half of us have at least one parent born overseas (48.2%), and almost a quarter of us (24.8%) speak a language other than English at home.....Read more.
Paul Daley’s Jesustown: a novel of lurid, postcolonial truth-telling
29 Jun 2022
How can fiction contribute to the “truth” that the Uluru Statement asks us to tell? Allen and Unwin’s answer to that question is, in part, one of paratext. By composing a book’s paratext, a publisher addresses the reader about how to experience the book. The paratext of Paul Daley’s Jesustown includes 12 signed commendations on the first four pages and a four-page “Author Note” at the end of the story.....Read more.
Climate change hits low-income earners harder – and poor housing in hotter cities is a disastrous combination
16 May 2022
Cost of living is a major focus in this election campaign, and yet political leaders have been unacceptably silent on the disproportionate impact of climate change on Australians with low incomes. This is particularly true for Western Sydney, home to around 2.5 million people. Over the last half century, the balance of Sydney’s social housing has....Read more.
‘It’s not work-life balance, it’s work-work balance’ Politicians tell us what it’s like to be an MP
16 May 2022
We are currently watching candidates battle night and day to win a spot in federal parliament. Many put their lives on hold trying to become an MP. What is it like when they get there? In recent years, Australian politicians have been under immense pressure, responding to COVID-19, floods, fires and international war. Yet, research repeatedly shows Australians’ trust of political leaders is at an all-time low.....Read more.
Now we know the flaws of carbon offsets, it’s time to get real about climate change
02 May 2022
Last month former carbon market watchdog Andrew MacIntosh blew the whistle on Australia’s carbon offset market. He described the scheme as a “rort” with up to 80% of carbon offsets “markedly low in integrity”.While these allegations reignited debate over carbon offsets, the issues are not new. Integrity issues have plagued carbon trading....Read more.
‘I always have trouble with forms’: homeless people on how poor literacy affects them – and what would help
14 Apr 2022
Homelessness remains a huge problem in Australia and an important contributing factor is low literacy levels. We interviewed 23 people who were homeless or had experienced homelessness to find out how they viewed literacy and participation in literacy classes. We wanted to know what would help or hinder them in attending literacy classes. Our report found low literacy levels....Read more.
Preselection and parachuting candidates: 3 reasons parties override their local branch members, despite the costs
06 Apr 2022
Allegations emerged over the weekend that Prime Minister Scott Morrison used a racist slur in a preselection battle in 2007. Morrison strongly denies the allegations, which were detailed in two statutory declarations and have been backed by Michael Towke, who was his rival for the seat of Cook at the time. The issue has brought into focus preselection processes and minority representation in Australian politics.....Read more.
Distance, dispassion and the remaking of Australian History
06 Apr 2022
Anna Clark could have titled her book “Remaking Australian History”, for that is its narrative arc. She celebrates a change in the stories Australians can tell of their nation: from a heroic tale of white male achievements (populating and fructifying an empty land, establishing a variant of western civilisation) to stories that acknowledge the continent’s ancient human past, the brutalities of colonisation, and the diversity and increasing self-doubts of the usurping newcomers.....Read more.
Under-resourced and undermined: as floods hit south-west Sydney, our research shows councils aren’t prepared
10 Mar 2022
Thousands of people in south-western Sydney have been ordered to evacuate as extreme rain pummels the region and floodwaters rise rapidly. The downpour is expected to continue for days. This region, particularly Western Sydney, is no stranger to climate-related disasters. Rain is falling on catchments already sodden from severe floods in March last year.....Read more.
Vale Shane Warne: a cricketing genius who lived a life of ‘no regrets’
10 Mar 2022
When the news broke it was tempting to conclude swiftly that Shane Warne died as he had lived. On holiday in Thailand, nudge nudge. The tabloids, especially in Britain where he lived much of his life, had luridly chronicled his life. Many may have speculated that he died living life to the fullest. As it turned out, Warne, who was just 52, had declared he was on....Read more.
From ‘Vladdy daddy’ to fake TikToks: how to guide your child through Ukraine news online
02 Mar 2022
Much of what tweens and teenagers know about the Russia-Ukraine conflict comes from TikTok, Snapchat or Instagram.Their social media feeds contain images of tanks, bombs and propaganda. Our kids could stumble across extreme footage and we’ll likely never know. They will also have seen spam and memes about “Vladdy daddy” – the nickname of Russian president Vladimir Putin....Read more.
What is a ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ relationship launch? Explaining the celebrity-led trend
21 Feb 2022
The days of speedily updating your Facebook status the moment a new relationship is made official are long gone. In fact, the Facebook relationship update could be described as somewhat passé, replaced instead by a new form of social media relationship documentation....Read more.
Here Out West: a film that centres Western Sydney through tales of marginality
09 Feb 2022
Produced by Western Sydney-based company Co-Curious and Emerald Productions, Here Out West doesn’t follow the traditional anthology film formula, and it doesn’t showcase the glamorous post codes of Sydney, or assemble the works of big name creatives and cast. Nonetheless Here out West, a film that intertwines eight distinct interconnected scenarios set in Western Sydney, is as....Read more.
What the Ash Barty and ‘Special K’ tennis triumphs say about Australia and the buttoned-up sport industry
02 Feb 2022
The lead-up to the 2022 Australian Open was dominated by the unvaccinated top-ranked male tennis player Novak Djokovic’s ignominious deportation from Australia.Djokovic’s absence prompted claims this would be an inferior Grand Slam. Enter the contrasting Australian tennis characters of Ash Barty and her supporting cast of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis to fill the vacuum.....Read more.
‘Disappointment and disbelief’ after Morrison government vetoes research into student climate activism’
19 Jan 2022
Between 2019 and early 2021, we developed a research proposal asking for funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC). The project was to investigate the mass student climate action movement and its relationship to democracy. A few weeks ago, on Christmas Eve, we learnt via Twitter that the ARC had recommended our research proposal for funding, but....Read more.
A statement on political interference in grant schemes
18 Jan 2022
We join others in expressing our disappointment at the Education Minister’s decision on 24 December 2021 to withhold funding for a grant by Associate Professor Philippa Collin and colleagues to study Australian young people’s leadership and participation in the climate action movement and the implications of this for contemporary democracy.....Read more.