PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF CRITICAL THOUGHT - 2003: ABSTRACTS

27 August: Constituting the subject in poststructuralist thought

Professor Bronwyn Davies
(University of Western Sydney)

Abstract: In this paper I will re-visit the reasons we abandoned (or attempted to abandon) the humanist subject, and ask what it was we managed to abandon, and whether there is such a thing as a “poststructuralist subject” to take its place. How might we read data to “find” the humanist subject? what kind of a reading would we produce of the same data if we were imagining a poststructuralist subject? Or are we only ever able to look at the processes of subjectification: being subjected and becoming, in those same processes, a speaking subject? Is the subject of poststructuralism a subject whose identity must constantly be deferred? Brief links will be made to the psychoanalytic subject and to the neoliberal subject.

24 September: Vineyards, backyards and the hard yards: rethinking human/nature interactions in geography

Associate Professor Lesley Head
(University of Wollongong)

Abstract: Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries geography, like other Western intellectual traditions, maintained a very clear separation between humans and nature. This is seen for example in writings about “cultural landscapes” and “human impacts”. Such binary constructions have been under assault for some time in both the sciences and humanities, with Australian research at the frontier of international debates. If many of our environmental conceptualisations are no longer intellectually tenable, do ideas of relationality and hybridity, as influenced particularly by Bruno Latour and Donna Haraway, offer a way forward? I'll offer a potted history and examples of my own struggles with these issues.

29 October: Even Accountants Do It

Professor Michael Gaffikin
(University of Wollongong)

Abstract: Many accounting researchers have embraced the notions that have arisen in recent social theory and philosophy. This is a surprise to many who have seen accounting in terms of a well-defined technical procedure. However, accounting affects more aspects of society than would be imagined. If this is true, then those creating and understanding need to be more aware of the social implications of their activities.

26 November: Using Gramsci to understand global hegemony

Professor Alastair Davidson
(Swinburne University of Technology)

Abstract: This paper will examine how the Gramscian notion of hegemony can be applied to the facts of globalisation. After surveying the various senses made of hegemony over the years, it will identify the best current understanding and show how valuable the theoretical category is to make sense of, and to clarify the nature of, a vast field of otherwise inchoate facts. The role and function of competing theories, notably those associated with poststructuralism and postmodernism, will be established from the point of view of hegemony.