Disputing National Histories: Some Recent Australian Debates

National history seems to be a form of history marked by a particularly strong relation between past and present. In the last few decades, the most serious historiographical conflicts, and the ones which have attracted public as well as scholarly attention, have tended to be those where national honour was felt to be at stake. Very often they have concerned either the foundation of the nation, or the national role in war, and sometimes both; think of the example of Japan, Israel, the United States, and Australia, to name just a few. These debates have attracted particular heat because history was seen to have implications not only for specialist historians but also for the morality and future of the nation

‘“problem” children of this community’: Christ Church St Laurence and the Children’s Court, Sydney, 1936-41

This article seeks to explore the experiences of those boys who, in late 1930s/ early 1940s Sydney, were considered, by the courts and the churches, amongst others, to be 'the "problem" children of this community'. The sources for this exploration are the records of the Metropolitan Children's Court, Surry Hills and the Christ Church St Laurence Boys' Welfare Bureau. Children's courts were established in New South Wales in 1905. From 1934 onwards all metropolitan cases were heard at Surry Hills. The Boys' Welfare Bureau was established in April 1936 by Christ Church St Laurence, an Anglican church situated near Central Railway Station, Sydney. The records of the Bureau and the Court provide insights into the ways in which both religion and the law attempted to shape the lived experience of these boys, in inner city Sydney, within the context of current ideas about juvenile delinquency and its treatment

Stuart Hall and Cultural Studies, circa 1983

Stuart Hall sought to internationalise theoretical debates and to create Cultural Studies as interdisciplinary. We chart his theoretical journey through a detailed examination of a series of lectures delivered in 1983 and now published for the first time. In these lectures, he discusses theorists such as E.P. Thompson, Raymond Williams, Louis Althusser, Levi Strauss and Antonio Gramsci, and explores the relationship between ideas and social structure, the specificities of class and race, and the legacies of slavery. We note his turn towards metaphors of divergence and dispersal and highlight how autobiographical and deeply personal Hall is in these lectures, especially in his ego histoire moment of traumatic memory recovery

Stuart Hall: Reflections, Memories, Appreciations

Stuart Hall was many things: public intellectual, academic leader, writer, editor, teacher, political activist, family man and friend. We write here of the two aspects we knew personally, writer and friend. Like so many of us engaged in the early formation of cultural and media studies, we both read and were seriously influenced by his work. John discussed Stuart Hall’s work extensively in his PhD thesis on Australian literature of the 1890s in international contexts, and Stuart was one of his examiners. Ann read Stuart’s work in the late 1970s, having just arrived to teach in the BA (Communication) degree at what was then the NSW Institute of Technology, ten years later to become University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)

Time, eternity, truth, and death: history as allegory

The act of remembrance through history, the desire to impose 'form on formless time', lies deep in our culture? Not in all cultures, as Levi Strauss remarked: historical thinking is not necessary thinking, is not essential to our humanity.' But in Western societies it is inescapable, we cannot think without or beyond distinctions between future, present, and past, and such thinking is deep in the classical and Judeo-Christian heritage

Electrical vestibular stimulation in humans. A narrative review

Background: In patients with bilateral vestibulopathy, the regular treatment options, such as medication, surgery, and/ or vestibular rehabilitation, do not always suffice. Therefore, the focus in this field of vestibular research shifted to electri- cal vestibular stimulation (EVS) and the development of a system capable of artificially restoring the vestibular func- tion. Key Message: Currently, three approaches are being investigated: vestibular co-stimulation with a cochlear im- plant (CI), EVS with a vestibular implant (VI), and galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS). All three applications show promising results but due to conceptual differences and the experimental state, a consensus on which application is the most ideal for which type of patient is still missing. Summa- ry: Vestibular co-stimulation with a CI is based on “spread of excitation,” which is a phenomenon that occurs when the currents from the CI spread to the surrounding structures and stimulate them. It has been shown that CI activation can indeed result in stimulation of the vestibular structures. Therefore, the question was raised whether vestibular co- stimulation can be functionally used in patients with bilat- eral vestibulopathy. A more direct vestibular stimulation method can be accomplished by implantation and activa- tion of a VI. The concept of the VI is based on the technology and principles of the CI. Different VI prototypes are currently being evaluated regarding feasibility and functionality. So far, all of them were capable of activating different types of vestibular reflexes. A third stimulation method is GVS, which requires the use of surface electrodes instead of an implant- ed electrode array. However, as the currents are sent through the skull from one mastoid to the other, GVS is rather unspe- cific. It should be mentioned though, that the reported spread of excitation in both CI and VI use also seems to in- duce a more unspecific stimulation. Although all three ap- plications of EVS were shown to be effective, it has yet to be defined which option is more desirable based on applicabil- ity and efficiency. It is possible and even likely that there is a place for all three approaches, given the diversity of the pa- tient population who serves to gain from such technologies

A mathematical model for top-shelf vertigo: the role of sedimenting otoconia in BPPV

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is a mechanical disorder of the vestibular system in which calcite particles called otoconia interfere with the mechanical functioning of the fluid-filled semicircular canals normally used to sense rotation. Using hydrodynamic models, we examine the two mechanisms proposed by the medical community for BPPV: cupulolithiasis, in which otoconia attach directly to the cupula (a sensory membrane), and canalithiasis, in which otoconia settle through the canals and exert a fluid pressure across the cupula. We utilize known hydrodynamic calculations and make reasonable geometric and physical approximations to derive an expression for the transcupular pressure $\Delta P_c$ exerted by a settling solid particle in canalithiasis. By tracking settling otoconia in a two-dimensional model geometry, the cupular volume displacement and associated eye response (nystagmus) can be calculated quantitatively. Several important features emerge: 1) A pressure amplification occurs as otoconia enter a narrowing duct; 2) An average-sized otoconium requires approximately five seconds to settle through the wide ampulla, where $\Delta P_c$ is not amplified, which suggests a mechanism for the observed latency of BPPV; and 3) An average-sized otoconium beginning below the center of the cupula can cause a volumetric cupular displacement on the order of 30 pL, with nystagmus of order $2^\circ$/s, which is approximately the threshold for sensation. Larger cupular volume displacement and nystagmus could result from larger and/or multiple otoconia.Comment: 15 pages, 5 Figures updated, to be published in J. Biomechanic