Australian Literature Research Articles

Don’t forget institutions: a review essay of The Economics of Prosperity

AbstractExchange, division of labor, technology, capital accumulation, and entrepreneurship all contribute to economic growth. In The Economics of Prosperity, Ritenour explains how each of these concepts allow countries to develop and flourish. This book attempts to provide an extensive survey of Austrian literature surrounding development, while still preserving the author’s opinions around debated issues such as the person and function of the entrepreneur. Ritenour also takes the institution of secure private property rights as a given. This paper argues that strong private property rights must precede any discussion of exchange and specialization, particularly because exchange presupposes ownership. The ruler or ruling elites have to concede some power and uphold a strict rule of law to protect private property rights. Additionally, this paper also extends the discussion to cultural and institutional factors behind innovation and economic development, instead of relying on the Weberian work ethic to explain the Industrial Revolution. In short, economic growth requires good economic principles.

Banging My Head Against a Brick Wall! Enablers and Barriers to Nurse Practitioners Delivering Opioid Agonist Treatments in Regional/Rural Victoria, Australia.

The Victorian government's Alcohol and other drugs (AOD) workforce policy calls for greater recruitment of alcohol and other drugs nurse practitioners (AODNPs). However, frontline organisations in Victoria report several systemic barriers to their recruitment and retention. Additionally, there is scant Australian literature that examines the experiences of AODNP in opioid agonist treatment (OAT) provision in regional/rural areas. This research aims to address this gap by examining the AODNP workforce issues in delivering pharmacotherapy treatments in regional/rural areas of Victoria. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, we conducted qualitative, in-depth interviews with 11 OAT prescribing AODNP's working in regional or rural Victoria. We analysed transcripts using reflective thematic analysis and generated three themes: (1) Professional motivations and values, (2) Enablers to professional role and (3) Barriers to professional role. The findings suggest that AODNPs in regional/rural areas are a dedicated workforce who provide holistic and integrated care for OAT clients. AODNPs play an important role in reducing and providing timely and subsidised health care for OAT clients living in regional/rural locations. AODNPs face many systemic and organisational barriers. These include inadequate funding for AODNP positions to prescribe pharmacotherapy treatments, lack of understanding of the AODNP professional role at the executive/management level within organisations and irregular access to supervision, mentoring, training and education. Also, endemic stigma in the health system acts as a barrier in recruiting and supporting AODNP positions that focus on care for OAT clients.

Representation of Concept MYTH in Austrian Literature (Works of Elias Canetti and Barbara Frischmuth)

This article explores the works of Austrian writers Elias Canetti (1905—1994) including the novel “Auto-da-Fé” (“Die Blendung”, 1935) and the autobiographical book “The Tongue Set Free: Remembrance of a European Childhood” (“Die gerettete Zunge. Geschichte einer Jugend”, 1977), as well as Barbara Frischmuth (born 1941) with works such as “Queen of the Animals” (“Herrin der Tiere”, 1986), “Beyond Measure” (“Über die Verhältnisse”, 1987), and “Children to Each Other” (“Einander Kind”, 1990) within the context of 20th-century Austrian literature. The article identifies and analyzes mythological images present in these works, focusing on the concept of ‘personal myth’ (interpreted by Elias Canetti as ‘Privatmythos’). Through a genre-based analysis, the article delves into the artistic realization of the authors’ personal myths and the motives behind myth-making. It is established that the personal myth encompasses aspects of both the “mythical” and the “mythological”. The authors suggest a distinction between these terms, which have ambiguous interpretations. It is argued that Canetti viewed the ‘personal myth’ as an individual’s unique dream or fixation, representing their aspirations. Canetti’s autobiography allows for a synthesis of existing and constructed facts. In her “Demeter Trilogy”, Barbara Frischmuth constructs a comprehensive worldview where archaic mythology interacts with modernity, offering insights into contemporary cultural realities.

Process Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia: A Systematic Literature Review

AbstractThis review examines the extant Australian literature on process quality in ECEC, which is understood as children’s actual experience within a childcare setting such as interactions between educators and children. A thematic analysis of empirical evidence from the 21 qualified articles reveals key characteristics of ECEC process quality studies, the benefits of process quality to child outcomes, and some factors influencing process quality. The review highlights the increasing interest in ECEC process quality in Australia and that process quality can be linked to children’s outcomes in the early years. It also underscores that outdoor environments and educators’ attributes such as personal experiences and qualifications stood out as the key supporting factors of process quality. More importantly, the review found that most of the process quality studies in Australia were conducted in metropolitan areas, and there were only two studies focused on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The paper calls for more actions to combine process quality with equity across types of ECEC services.

Unveiling the Structural Layers: An Interpretation of Kath Walker's 'A Song of Hope

This research analyzes "A Song of Hope," a poem by Kath Walker, through a structural approach that meticulously examines each element of the poem to serve as a benchmark for interpretation. The study delves into the intricate structure, language, and stylistic devices employed by Walker, highlighting how these components collectively convey profound themes of freedom and hope. The researcher, acting as the primary instrument, uncovers the poem's deeper meanings and implications, particularly for the Aboriginal people of Australia. The poem eloquently expresses their enduring hopes for a brighter future, encapsulated in Walker's poetic style that subtly yet powerfully communicates their struggles and aspirations. Kath Walker, known for her career as a poet, political activist, and environmentalist, infuses her personal experiences and perspectives into her literary work. Her expertise and background as an Aboriginal woman lend authenticity and depth to "A Song of Hope," making it not just a piece of literature but a realistic and compelling narrative that resonates with readers. Through this structural analysis, the research underscores Walker's ability to craft a vivid portrayal of the Aboriginal experience, bringing to life their collective yearning for freedom and a hopeful future. The poem's realistic impression is a testament to Walker's skillful blending of her cultural heritage with her literary talent, making "A Song of Hope" a significant and impactful piece of Australian literature.

Settler Colonial Classifications of Edibility

The pastoral economies introduced during the colonial invasion have radically transformed Australian diets, cultures, and ecosystems. Stolen land was tenured to settlers and emancipated convicts to develop profitable and productive enterprises for the British Empire. Land rights and animal care are intrinsically linked to modern food systems, yet there is a gap in Australian literature regarding the legacy of colonial pastoralism and its connection to current food systems. This essay questions how introduced species evolved to command the Australian diet. Wallabies and kangaroos were legally relegated to national emblems, and thus inedible. Their conditions of being, whether edible, iconic, or wild, were dictated by the Commonwealth Government. The taboo nature of these native marsupials leaves them largely unconsumed, and therefore, unprotected. Modern conditions of edibility are less concerned with physical metabolic matters, instead driven by historic cultural attitudes and political and economic motives. Nourishment was commodified. My research uses Tasmanian legal archives in conjunction with cookbooks and popular iconography to trace the historical legacies of foodways since the invasion. Scholarship around waste, sociology, ecology, and food justice and sovereignty are incorporated to consider how modern agricultural practices perpetuate violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and ecosystems. Modern agriculture affects every being on the planet, both human and more-than-human. My research goal is to encourage people to question their metabolic practices to ascertain how everyday acts of consumption implicate them within unjust systems. Though consumptive wallaby culling is legal, the industry remains privatized, and Indigenous Australians have little agency to influence how their native species are used, and who profits from their utility. By sharing these concerns with researchers from a broad range of disciplines, I hope to connect with individuals who can help to make future metabolic matters more inclusive, more ethical, and more sustainable.

TEXT Reviews April 2024

Dominique Hecq reviews Julia Prendergast, Eileen Herbert-Goodall and Jen Webb’s (eds.) The Writing Mind: Creative Writing Responses to Images of the Living Brain; Verity Oswin reviews John Kinsellas’ Legibility: An Antifascist Poetics; Amelia Walker reviews Mathelinda Nabugodi’s Shelley with Benjamin: A critical mosaic; Aidan Coleman reviews Ada Calhoun’s Also a Poet; and Verity Oswin reviews Adelle Sefton-Rowston’s Polities and Poetics – Race Relations and Reconciliation in Australian Literature.

Moving between worlds: Creativity, disability and storytelling

In this essay, the author, using second person, considers the path her deaf body has taken to become a writer and an academic. She contrasts the strictures of the neoliberal university with the creativity that comes from deafness; a creativity that has fostered a generative movement between the disciplines of literary studies and creative writing. She considers the importance of combining the study of Australian literature with the study of creative writing and concludes by dwelling upon an architectural ethos that is predicated upon the care of deaf learners – DeafSpace.

Works of R. Edelbauer in Context of Contemporary Austrian Literature of Early 21st Century

This study explores the novels of contemporary Austrian writer Raphaela Edelbauer (Raphaela Edelbauer, b. 1990) “The Fluid Land” (Das flüssige Land, 2019), “DAVE” (DAVE, 2021), “The Incommensurables” (Die Inkommensurablen, 2023) in the context of contemporary Austrian literature of the early third millennium. The relevance of the research is driven by the necessity to comprehend the trends in Austrian literature during an era of global changes. It is revealed that, on one hand, the author continues the traditions of Austrian literature of the second half of the 20th century, particularly on a thematic level (Austrian identity, overcoming the past, the false idyll of provincial Austria, conflicts between fathers and children, etc.), while on the other hand, delving into pressing contemporary issues (transhumanism, artificial intelligence, etc.). The concept of fictionality is central to the analysis, exploring the ways and specifics of its implementation in the artistic text in alignment with the author’s communicative intentions. Special attention is given to Edelbauer’s individual style, the uniqueness of narrative organization in the examined genre varieties (parable novel, science fiction novel, historical novel), and the quest for a “personal” language. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that Edelbauer’s work, distinguished by prestigious literary awards in Austria and Germany, has not been a subject of study in Russian literary studies.

Privatisation of government services in Australia: what is known about health and equity impacts

BackgroundHistorically in Australia, all levels of government created collective wealth by owning and operating infrastructure, and managing natural assets, key public goods and essential services while being answerable to the public. This strong state tradition was challenged in the 1980s when privatisation became a widespread government approach globally. Privatisation involves displacing the public sector through modes of financing, ownership, management and product or service delivery. The Australian literature shows that negative effects from privatisation are not spread equitably, and the health and equity impacts appear to be under-researched. This narrative overview aims to address a gap in the literature by answering research questions on what evidence exists for positive and negative outcomes of privatisation; how well societal impacts are evaluated, and the implications for health and equity.MethodsDatabase and grey literature were searched by keywords, with inclusion criteria of items limited to Australia, published between 1990 and 2022, relating to any industry or government sector, including an evaluative aspect, or identifying positive or negative aspects from privatisation, contracting out, or outsourcing. Thematic analysis was aided by NVivo qualitative data software and guided by an a-priori coding frame.ResultsNo items explicitly reflected on the relationship between privatisation and health. Main themes identified were the public cost of privatisation, loss of government control and expertise, lack of accountability and transparency, constraints to accessing social determinants of health, and benefits accruing to the private sector.DiscussionOur results supported the view that privatisation is more than asset-stripping the public sector. It is a comprehensive strategy for restructuring public services in the interests of capital, with privatisation therefore both a political and commercial determinant of health. There is growing discussion on the need for re-nationalisation of certain public assets, including by the Victorian government.ConclusionPrivatisation of public services is likely to have had an adverse impact on population health and contributed to the increase in inequities. This review suggests that there is little evidence for the benefits of privatisation, with a need for greater attention to political and commercial determinants of health in policy formation and in research.

Towards unsettling the racial nation-state: affective interventions in an Australian literature classroom

ABSTRACT As the adoption of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (otherwise known as the White Australia policy) reveals, whiteness has always been fundamental to the Australian nation-state. White sovereignty is constitutive of the Australian nation, making it a racial state. But the devastating impact of whiteness on those deemed ‘not-white’ remains largely unacknowledged. Drawing on framing of affective economies and an empirical study tracing how secondary school students in a Literature class negotiate their identities amidst structures of colonialism, I explore the affective dynamics of these negotiations with attention to how emotions align some bodies with particular communities and situate some outside of nation. Within a pedagogic intervention aiming to disrupt canonical assumptions, I collected written responses, recorded group discussions from all class members, and interviewed a selection of these students. Data analysis demonstrates that many in the class were oriented to whiteness as ‘Australianness’ at the expense of other possible cultural identities offered by their biographies, often resulting in emotions of shame or disorientation. It invites us to think beyond national borders to avert the deleterious effects ‘nation-ness’ can have on those it excludes and to work towards implementing pedagogic interventions that might unsettle the racial nation-state.

From the Three Rs to the “Culture Wars”? How Australians Perceive Local Government Action on Climate Change, Indigenous Reconciliation, and LGBTQIA + Advocacy

Australian local government has rarely been the domain where entrenched and polarising cultural disputes play out, and is instead most often associated with the “3Rs”: roads, rates, and rubbish. However, in recent years, a growing number of local councils from across Australia have taken exceptional and unprecedented steps, sometimes in defiance of state and federal governments, to address some of the country's most ideologically contentious issues. Drawing on long-established American urban politics literature on local politics and culture war conflicts, this research note offers an empirical account of the public understandings and perceptions of local government roles in the realm of contentious politics, an area that has not yet been addressed in the emerging Australian literature. Our findings from a representative nation-wide survey (n = 1,350) indicate that a majority of Australians believe that local governments should be involved in matters relating to climate change, Indigenous reconciliation, and LGBTQIA + advocacy.

Trends and Patterns in Electronic Health Record Research (1991-2022): A Bibliometric Analysis of Australian Literature.

Electronic Heath Records (EHRs) play vital roles in facilitating streamlined service provision and governance across the Australian health system. Given the recent challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an ageing population, health workforce silos, and growing inefficiencies in traditional systems, a detailed historical analysis of the use of EHR research in Australia is necessary. The aim of this study is to examine the trends and patterns in EHR research in Australia over the past three decades by employing bibliometric methods. A total of 951 articles published in 443 sources were included in the bibliometric analysis. The annual growth rate of EHR research in Australia was about 17.1%. Since 2022, the main trending topics in EHR research were COVID-19, opioid usage, and natural language processing. A thematic analysis indicated aged care, clinical decision support systems, cardiovascular disease, drug allergy, and adverse drug reaction as the "hot" themes in EHR research in Australia. This study reveals a significant uptrend in EHR research in Australia, highlighting the evolving intellectual and collaborative landscape of this interdisciplinary field. The data also provide guidance for policymakers and funding institutions in terms of the most significant contributions and key fields of research while also holding public interest.

Living review framework for better policy design and management of hazardous waste in Australia

The significant increase in hazardous waste generation in Australia has led to the discussion over the incorporation of artificial intelligence into the hazardous waste management system. Recent studies explored the potential applications of artificial intelligence in various processes of managing waste. However, no study has examined the use of text mining in the hazardous waste management sector for the purpose of informing policymakers. This study developed a living review framework which applied supervised text classification and text mining techniques to extract knowledge using the domain literature data between 2022 and 2023. The framework employed statistical classification models trained using iterative training and the best model XGBoost achieved an F1 score of 0.87. Using a small set of 126 manually labelled global articles, XGBoost automatically predicted the labels of 678 Australian articles with high confidence. Then, keyword extraction and unsupervised topic modelling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) were performed. Results indicated that there were 2 main research themes in Australian literature: (1) the key waste streams and (2) the resource recovery and recycling of waste. The implication of this framework would benefit the policymakers, researchers, and hazardous waste management organisations by serving as a real time guideline of the current key waste streams and research themes in the literature which allow robust knowledge to be applied to waste management and highlight where the gap in research remains.

NovoSorb® biodegradable temporising matrix (BTM) in the reconstruction of cutaneous malignancies in a major cancer centre: a case series.

Non-graftable or composite defect reconstruction represents a major challenge to the reconstructive surgeon, with many wounds requiring local flap or free microvascular tissue transfer approaches. The recent advent of synthetic skin substitutes such as Biodegradable Temporizing Matrix (BTM) have revolutionized the management of complex defects including those caused by burns, trauma and infection, with low-morbidity and low-complexity surgery. However, limited data exist supporting their use in cancer reconstruction in Australia. We performed a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing cancer resection and reconstruction with BTM between February 2021 and February 2023 in our institution. Reported outcomes included matrix integration, infection, and return to theatre. Twelve patients underwent reconstruction of primary or secondary defects following cancer resection during this period. Eight patients were male, four female, mean age at surgery was 70 years. Pathology resected included squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and melanoma of the head and neck, sarcoma resection of the lower limb, and osteoradionecrosis (ORN) of the scalp. T-stage of primary tumours ranged from T2 to T4 and one in-transit metastasis of melanoma. Four patients were treated with radiotherapy, two of whom received postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) and two who received neoadjuvant radiotherapy, three additional patients had an intervention to a previously irradiated wound bed for recurrence or ORN. Overall matrix integration was 83% (10/12), with a 50% integration rate (2/4) observed in the post-radiotherapy group, requiring return to theatre for alternative reconstructive approaches. We report our experience with a synthetic dermal matrix (BTM) in cancer reconstruction, the largest cohort of this type in the Australian literature. BTM represents an exciting reconstructive tool for the cancer reconstructive surgeon, with a high rate of success and low morbidity.

Socialism: A Property or Aggression Problem?

There seems to be an unappreciated point of contention in the Austrian literature regarding the socialist economic calculation problem beyond the Mises–Hayek “dehomogenization” debate. This tension concerns the essence of socialism and the economic calculation problem: while some authors (e.g., Mises and Hayek) employ the classical definition of socialism as a socioeconomic system characterized by the collective ownership of the means of production, others (e.g., Hoppe and Huerta de Soto) define it as a system of institutionalized aggression. Moreover, the latter see aggression as the essential feature of socialism’s economic failure. In this article, we argue that this conception is a novelty unconnected to Mises’s views and that aggression should not be regarded as the essential problem of socialism. We illustrate our point with a thought experiment comparing the system we might call “voluntary socialism” with genuine capitalism. Finally, we review some historical examples of voluntary socialist communities and compare them to the ideal of pure voluntary socialism.

FUNCTIONAL ROLE OF GASTRONOMIC AUSTRICISMS IN A LITERARY TEXT

Background. The Austrian Reading Room Organized, which was founded on the basis of MSTU named after G.I. Nosov more than 10 years ago, has become a platform for the implementation of educational, career guidance, cultural and scientific projects, providing university students with the opportunity to read both classical and modern Austrian literature.
 However, when reading, students often experience difficulties as texts normally contain typical Austrian lexemes and expressions due to the pluricentric nature of the German language. In this regard, there is a need for a linguistic analysis of the territorial functioning of the German language in Austria from the standpoint of an adequate understanding and interpretation of a literary text, which explains the relevance of addressing this topic.
 Purpose. To identify and typologize austricisms that express gastronomic names being relevant for understanding and interpreting a literary text, as well as to analyze their functional load in the space of a literary text.
 Materials and methods. The main research methods are the analysis of scientific literature by Russian and foreign scientists on the problem of the pluricentricity German language, continuous sampling, functional analysis of text fragments, and contextual analysis.
 Research results. During the study, texts of classical and modern Austrian literature were analyzed, gastronomic austricisms were identified and typologized, and their functional load in a literary text was described.
 Practical implications. The results obtained can be used when reading Austrian fiction for a deeper interpretation, as well as when teaching students German as a foreign language.

Die „Nestbeschmutzer“ gegen den österreichischen Opfermythos: Die Wolfshaut von Hans Lebert und Auslöschung. Ein Zerfall von Thomas Bernhard im Vergleich

The article aims to explore the phenomenon of the “Nestbeschmutzer” in the context of Austrian victim theory. The term was coined in post-war Austria to describe authors who, in defiance of politicians and society, called for a reckoning with the country’s Nazi past. Two literary works are representative of this theme, Hans Lebertʾs Die Wolfshaut (‘The Wolfskin’) and Thomas Bernhardʾs Auslöschung. Ein Zerfall (Extinction), were selected for analysis. Both authors challenge the myth of Austria as Hitlerʾs first victim and expose the post-war silence in their country regarding Austrian involvement in Nazism. They present their arguments in different ways, allowing for a comparison between the two literary approaches to dealing with the past. As both titles come from slightly different periods in the history of the victim myth, it is also possible to demonstrate the changes in Austrian literature over the years and to assess the contribution of the two novels to altering the perception of history in Austria.

Examining the Heat Health Burden in Australia: A Rapid Review

Extreme heat has been linked to increased mortality and morbidity across the globe. Increasing temperatures due to climatic change will place immense stress on healthcare systems. This review synthesises Australian literature that has examined the effect of hot weather and heatwaves on various health outcomes. Databases including Web of Science, PubMed and CINAHL were systematically searched for articles that quantitatively examined heat health effects for the Australian population. Relevant, peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2023 were included. Two authors screened the abstracts. One researcher conducted the full article review and data extraction, while another researcher randomly reviewed 10% of the articles to validate decisions. Our rapid review found abundant literature indicating increased mortality and morbidity risks due to extreme temperature exposures. The effect of heat on mortality was found to be mostly immediate, with peaks in the risk of death observed on the day of exposure or the next day. Most studies in this review were concentrated on cities and mainly included health outcome data from temperate and subtropical climate zones. There was a dearth of studies that focused on tropical or arid climates and at-risk populations, including children, pregnant women, Indigenous people and rural and remote residents. The review highlights the need for more context-specific studies targeting vulnerable population groups, particularly residents of rural and remote Australia, as these regions substantially vary climatically and socio-demographically from urban Australia, and the heat health impacts are likely to be even more substantial.

Retirement and People with Intellectual Disability in the Australian Context

This paper examines retirement by older workers with intellectual disability. Much research and intervention about retirement and intellectual disability in the last decade or so emanates from Australia, although there are some current cross-sectional and descriptive studies from other developed countries. The Australian literature stands out as the forerunner in the development and controlled evaluation of interventions to support the process of preparing for, practising, and then experiencing retirement. Therefore, this paper begins by briefly describing retirement-related aspects of employment for people with intellectual disability in Australia. Next, we present a critical summary of Australian research on the retirement of people with intellectual disability, supported by a briefer analysis of international literature. Then, key issues, such as financial factors, age of retirement, the time course of retirement (sudden or gradual), and self-determination regarding the decision to retire, are explored. Finally, to help guide future research and policy, we identify a number of retirement-related research questions that are currently under-researched or unexamined.