Geraldine Bloustien - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Geraldine Bloustien
Popular Music and Society, 2009
Sonic Synergies: Music, Technology, Community, Identity GERRY BLOUSTIEN, MARGARET PETERS and SUSA... more Sonic Synergies: Music, Technology, Community, Identity GERRY BLOUSTIEN, MARGARET PETERS and SUSAN LUCKMAN (EDS) Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 2008 ISBN 978‐0‐7546‐5721‐7 236 pp., $99.95 (cloth) As th...
Acknowledgments List of Illustrations List of Figures List of Tables Music is Youth and Youth is ... more Acknowledgments List of Illustrations List of Figures List of Tables Music is Youth and Youth is Music Reflections on Theory and Method 'Everyone wants to be a DJ' Creating Spaces Money Matters: Government Policy, Funding and Youth Music Becoming Phat: Youth, Music and Micro-Enterprise Taking Flight: Creative Cultures and Beyond Appendix: Our Community (Youth) Organisations at a Glance Index
The world of Buffi the Vampire Slayer is replete with noisy representations of death and dying—ex... more The world of Buffi the Vampire Slayer is replete with noisy representations of death and dying—excessive music and language underscore the demise of vampires, demons, humans, and hope. Over its seven years, as in the narrative conventions of some of the most enduring dramas and soap operas, where narrative death is never quite as final as it would seem, two of the main characters in Buffy died and returned to life: Angel from hell or purgatory7; while Buffy herself died twice and the second time was brought back from heaven through magic.2 And yet, despite the recurring accounts of rebirth and redemption, the sense of menace, doom, and
Musical Visions presents a unique way of thinking about and debating the many facets of contempor... more Musical Visions presents a unique way of thinking about and debating the many facets of contemporary popular music. Under the theme of music as sound, image and movement, this book brings together a vibrant range of perspectives. Together, the threads of these discussions weave a rich tapestry that offers perceptive and accessible insights into the complexities of popular music today.
M/C Journal, 2008
"Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they are not out to get you." (unattributed, multiply... more "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they are not out to get you." (unattributed, multiply-claimed) "What does it matter what the crackpots believe? It matters to the extent that others come to believe them." (Daniel Patrick Moynihan) While attention has been paid elsewhere (Aly and Green 'Moderate Islam The proportion of respondents to the fear survey identifying with major religious groupings was: Religion (Question 5) Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Christian 466 62.1 62.1 62.1
Media International Australia, 2010
Media International Australia derives from Harindranath’s focus on documentary film; he tends to ... more Media International Australia derives from Harindranath’s focus on documentary film; he tends to conflate film and television viewing, or at least neglects to explore the impact different kinds of media technologies can have on viewing to the extent that he considers other factors. This could mean the book will not be taken up as part of the broader debates over the nature of user activity within online participatory cultures, where researchers are already too quick to dismiss active audience theory as being derived from outdated assumptions of mass media. This book, however, provides a rich model for the kind of thoughtful conceptual grounding that is so necessary in emerging fields of digital ethnography. — Craig Hight, Screen and Media Studies, University of Waikato
The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture, 2003
The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 1999
The issues of dislocated identity are epitomised in Mary's story. Brought from Papua New Guin... more The issues of dislocated identity are epitomised in Mary's story. Brought from Papua New Guinea to Australia at a very young age as a ‘gift’, she grew up in a series of foster homes in Adelaide, South Australia. Now, as a teenager, Mary constitutes her identity through her body, emphasising her distinctive physical features, through idealised memories and through representations—photographs, cultural icons and people who ‘look like me’. The self she creates in this way sits uneasily along side another self; the Western adolescent self in trouble with the law, the self who struggles to be ‘one of the boys’ on the streets, one who ‘runs amuck’. This paper explores the process of ‘self-making’, the ‘serious play’ that Mary has employed to constitute her identity through her juggling of and reappropriation of cultural symbols. As a participant in a wider ethnographic study into Australian youth and representation, Mary portrayed the complexities of her growing up between worlds, embedded in neither and desperate to belong to her past.
Social Analysis, 2003
Ethnography and Ethnographic Images Visual images are ubiquitous which, inevitably, is part of th... more Ethnography and Ethnographic Images Visual images are ubiquitous which, inevitably, is part of their appeal and their difficulty. As is the case with all sensory experience, the process of sight becomes naturalized for us, and it is easy to forget that how we interpret what we see is historically and culturally specific (Banks 2001). Similarly, the representations of what we see are influenced by our historical and cultural perspectives. In the forms of photographs, video, film, and new electronic media, these representations increasingly and apparently, often unproblematically, play a central role in the work of researchers, not just from anthropology, but also from a range of disciplines. As part of a broader ethnographic methodology, photography, film, and video have now been embraced by anthropology, sociologists, cultural studies, media studies, geographers, and other social scientists. The visual images are present in the form of cultural texts or they represent aspects of ethnographic knowledge and methodological tools. They can exist as the basis for the sites of social interaction amongst the informants or between the researcher and the researched. They can take the form of pre-existing images, such as television programs or contemporary or archival photographs and films (Banks 2001). It is hardly surprising, then, that visual images have become so important to the ethnographic endeavor. Yet, as Mac-Dougall laments above, relatively little has been written about how best to analyze and interpret the visual images, not only in anthropology, but indeed, in all of the social sciences.
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2007
... reality, knowledge and self far more deeply by providing new opportunities for serious play (... more ... reality, knowledge and self far more deeply by providing new opportunities for serious play (Schechner, 1993) and self-making (Battaglia, 1995). ... Alicia and Michelle, for example, not only produce and manage live music gigs, but also run an independent record label, producing ...
... Page 17. Preface xiii As one teenage girl explained to me, her homepage is "the only thi... more ... Page 17. Preface xiii As one teenage girl explained to me, her homepage is "the only thing I have total control over and I like it." Another girl describes her home page as "a place where I can be free to express myself without fear of being torn down. ...
Social Analysis: The International Journal of …, 2003
How can visual ethnography help us to understand the nature and the complexity of the (ethnic/gen... more How can visual ethnography help us to understand the nature and the complexity of the (ethnic/gendered/classed) experience of growing up? Drawing on two ethnographic projects, we discuss the purposes and the difficulties of the particular methodology of ...
Youth …, 2003
This paper outlines an international three-year (2003-05) Australian Research Council project tha... more This paper outlines an international three-year (2003-05) Australian Research Council project that investigates popular music's potential to provide a wealth of life and career skills in the lives of disadvantaged youth, and consequently contribute to their self-...
Striking Poses AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CONSTITUTION OF GENDERED IDENTITY AS PROCESS, IN THE WOR... more Striking Poses AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CONSTITUTION OF GENDERED IDENTITY AS PROCESS, IN THE WORLDS OF AUSTRALIAN TEENAGE ... 202 Sara's School Groups: a search for belonging 206 Into Fran's School Group 208 Discussion: 'Coolness' revisited 211 ...
This project addresses the limitations of existing three -dimensional virtual learning environmen... more This project addresses the limitations of existing three -dimensional virtual learning environments (3DVLEs) and aims to raise awareness of the potential of 3DVLEs as generic pedagogical tools for flexible, experiential and community -based disciplinary and cross -disciplinary learning in simulated environments...
Girlhood and the Politics of Place, 2016
Youth, Music and Creative Cultures, 2011
Music is ubiquitous; on the radio, iPods, Walkmans, computers, phone ringtones. It marks out our ... more Music is ubiquitous; on the radio, iPods, Walkmans, computers, phone ringtones. It marks out our spaces and our sense of who we are. No wonder, then, that many young people aspire to be at the centre of their worlds by creating, managing and controlling the vibe, the mood of the crowd. To be a DJ means having the right networks, to have ‘made it’ in a way that is recognised as valuable by others, to have gained enough cultural and social capital to be recognised as ‘somebody important’ in your universe; to have gained enough of both self-respect and the respect of your peers, to be considered ‘authentic’ and not a ‘try hard’ or a ‘loser’.
Youth, Music and Creative Cultures
From his home in North London, the then 28-year-old Rowland, pictured above, sent out an email th... more From his home in North London, the then 28-year-old Rowland, pictured above, sent out an email through Facebook, a popular digital social networking site, to alert his friends and fans about his latest DJ gig. Across the world in Adelaide, South Australia, 26-year-old Alicia also sent out an alert through email and her personal social networks about her latest music ventures.1 What is particularly fascinating about these two electronic advertisements is their differences in location, style and linguistic argot and yet their similarities in aim, approach and tone. Even more importantly, stylistically, in tone and in purpose, they are far from unique to these two young people. The activities described here and the method of dissemination are increasingly common and significant to young people’s networks around the globe. Rowland, Row to his friends but DJ Roland Samuel (without the ‘w’) to his fans and professional networks, was born in Antigua but lives now in North London. He has been involved with the UK garage scene2 ever since we first met him, which is now about seven years ago, and we still receive personal updates of his activities and shows regularly through Facebook (his personal and fan pages) and email. He endlessly practises and fine-tunes his DJ skills, performs weekly on internet and pirate radio and aims to develop his event management opportunities after and in between work commitments. Row’s day job is assistant store manager at a syndicated health store, a job he finds boring but it pays the bills — just!
Popular Music and Society, 2009
Sonic Synergies: Music, Technology, Community, Identity GERRY BLOUSTIEN, MARGARET PETERS and SUSA... more Sonic Synergies: Music, Technology, Community, Identity GERRY BLOUSTIEN, MARGARET PETERS and SUSAN LUCKMAN (EDS) Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 2008 ISBN 978‐0‐7546‐5721‐7 236 pp., $99.95 (cloth) As th...
Acknowledgments List of Illustrations List of Figures List of Tables Music is Youth and Youth is ... more Acknowledgments List of Illustrations List of Figures List of Tables Music is Youth and Youth is Music Reflections on Theory and Method 'Everyone wants to be a DJ' Creating Spaces Money Matters: Government Policy, Funding and Youth Music Becoming Phat: Youth, Music and Micro-Enterprise Taking Flight: Creative Cultures and Beyond Appendix: Our Community (Youth) Organisations at a Glance Index
The world of Buffi the Vampire Slayer is replete with noisy representations of death and dying—ex... more The world of Buffi the Vampire Slayer is replete with noisy representations of death and dying—excessive music and language underscore the demise of vampires, demons, humans, and hope. Over its seven years, as in the narrative conventions of some of the most enduring dramas and soap operas, where narrative death is never quite as final as it would seem, two of the main characters in Buffy died and returned to life: Angel from hell or purgatory7; while Buffy herself died twice and the second time was brought back from heaven through magic.2 And yet, despite the recurring accounts of rebirth and redemption, the sense of menace, doom, and
Musical Visions presents a unique way of thinking about and debating the many facets of contempor... more Musical Visions presents a unique way of thinking about and debating the many facets of contemporary popular music. Under the theme of music as sound, image and movement, this book brings together a vibrant range of perspectives. Together, the threads of these discussions weave a rich tapestry that offers perceptive and accessible insights into the complexities of popular music today.
M/C Journal, 2008
"Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they are not out to get you." (unattributed, multiply... more "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they are not out to get you." (unattributed, multiply-claimed) "What does it matter what the crackpots believe? It matters to the extent that others come to believe them." (Daniel Patrick Moynihan) While attention has been paid elsewhere (Aly and Green 'Moderate Islam The proportion of respondents to the fear survey identifying with major religious groupings was: Religion (Question 5) Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Christian 466 62.1 62.1 62.1
Media International Australia, 2010
Media International Australia derives from Harindranath’s focus on documentary film; he tends to ... more Media International Australia derives from Harindranath’s focus on documentary film; he tends to conflate film and television viewing, or at least neglects to explore the impact different kinds of media technologies can have on viewing to the extent that he considers other factors. This could mean the book will not be taken up as part of the broader debates over the nature of user activity within online participatory cultures, where researchers are already too quick to dismiss active audience theory as being derived from outdated assumptions of mass media. This book, however, provides a rich model for the kind of thoughtful conceptual grounding that is so necessary in emerging fields of digital ethnography. — Craig Hight, Screen and Media Studies, University of Waikato
The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture, 2003
The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 1999
The issues of dislocated identity are epitomised in Mary's story. Brought from Papua New Guin... more The issues of dislocated identity are epitomised in Mary's story. Brought from Papua New Guinea to Australia at a very young age as a ‘gift’, she grew up in a series of foster homes in Adelaide, South Australia. Now, as a teenager, Mary constitutes her identity through her body, emphasising her distinctive physical features, through idealised memories and through representations—photographs, cultural icons and people who ‘look like me’. The self she creates in this way sits uneasily along side another self; the Western adolescent self in trouble with the law, the self who struggles to be ‘one of the boys’ on the streets, one who ‘runs amuck’. This paper explores the process of ‘self-making’, the ‘serious play’ that Mary has employed to constitute her identity through her juggling of and reappropriation of cultural symbols. As a participant in a wider ethnographic study into Australian youth and representation, Mary portrayed the complexities of her growing up between worlds, embedded in neither and desperate to belong to her past.
Social Analysis, 2003
Ethnography and Ethnographic Images Visual images are ubiquitous which, inevitably, is part of th... more Ethnography and Ethnographic Images Visual images are ubiquitous which, inevitably, is part of their appeal and their difficulty. As is the case with all sensory experience, the process of sight becomes naturalized for us, and it is easy to forget that how we interpret what we see is historically and culturally specific (Banks 2001). Similarly, the representations of what we see are influenced by our historical and cultural perspectives. In the forms of photographs, video, film, and new electronic media, these representations increasingly and apparently, often unproblematically, play a central role in the work of researchers, not just from anthropology, but also from a range of disciplines. As part of a broader ethnographic methodology, photography, film, and video have now been embraced by anthropology, sociologists, cultural studies, media studies, geographers, and other social scientists. The visual images are present in the form of cultural texts or they represent aspects of ethnographic knowledge and methodological tools. They can exist as the basis for the sites of social interaction amongst the informants or between the researcher and the researched. They can take the form of pre-existing images, such as television programs or contemporary or archival photographs and films (Banks 2001). It is hardly surprising, then, that visual images have become so important to the ethnographic endeavor. Yet, as Mac-Dougall laments above, relatively little has been written about how best to analyze and interpret the visual images, not only in anthropology, but indeed, in all of the social sciences.
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2007
... reality, knowledge and self far more deeply by providing new opportunities for serious play (... more ... reality, knowledge and self far more deeply by providing new opportunities for serious play (Schechner, 1993) and self-making (Battaglia, 1995). ... Alicia and Michelle, for example, not only produce and manage live music gigs, but also run an independent record label, producing ...
... Page 17. Preface xiii As one teenage girl explained to me, her homepage is "the only thi... more ... Page 17. Preface xiii As one teenage girl explained to me, her homepage is "the only thing I have total control over and I like it." Another girl describes her home page as "a place where I can be free to express myself without fear of being torn down. ...
Social Analysis: The International Journal of …, 2003
How can visual ethnography help us to understand the nature and the complexity of the (ethnic/gen... more How can visual ethnography help us to understand the nature and the complexity of the (ethnic/gendered/classed) experience of growing up? Drawing on two ethnographic projects, we discuss the purposes and the difficulties of the particular methodology of ...
Youth …, 2003
This paper outlines an international three-year (2003-05) Australian Research Council project tha... more This paper outlines an international three-year (2003-05) Australian Research Council project that investigates popular music's potential to provide a wealth of life and career skills in the lives of disadvantaged youth, and consequently contribute to their self-...
Striking Poses AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CONSTITUTION OF GENDERED IDENTITY AS PROCESS, IN THE WOR... more Striking Poses AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CONSTITUTION OF GENDERED IDENTITY AS PROCESS, IN THE WORLDS OF AUSTRALIAN TEENAGE ... 202 Sara's School Groups: a search for belonging 206 Into Fran's School Group 208 Discussion: 'Coolness' revisited 211 ...
This project addresses the limitations of existing three -dimensional virtual learning environmen... more This project addresses the limitations of existing three -dimensional virtual learning environments (3DVLEs) and aims to raise awareness of the potential of 3DVLEs as generic pedagogical tools for flexible, experiential and community -based disciplinary and cross -disciplinary learning in simulated environments...
Girlhood and the Politics of Place, 2016
Youth, Music and Creative Cultures, 2011
Music is ubiquitous; on the radio, iPods, Walkmans, computers, phone ringtones. It marks out our ... more Music is ubiquitous; on the radio, iPods, Walkmans, computers, phone ringtones. It marks out our spaces and our sense of who we are. No wonder, then, that many young people aspire to be at the centre of their worlds by creating, managing and controlling the vibe, the mood of the crowd. To be a DJ means having the right networks, to have ‘made it’ in a way that is recognised as valuable by others, to have gained enough cultural and social capital to be recognised as ‘somebody important’ in your universe; to have gained enough of both self-respect and the respect of your peers, to be considered ‘authentic’ and not a ‘try hard’ or a ‘loser’.
Youth, Music and Creative Cultures
From his home in North London, the then 28-year-old Rowland, pictured above, sent out an email th... more From his home in North London, the then 28-year-old Rowland, pictured above, sent out an email through Facebook, a popular digital social networking site, to alert his friends and fans about his latest DJ gig. Across the world in Adelaide, South Australia, 26-year-old Alicia also sent out an alert through email and her personal social networks about her latest music ventures.1 What is particularly fascinating about these two electronic advertisements is their differences in location, style and linguistic argot and yet their similarities in aim, approach and tone. Even more importantly, stylistically, in tone and in purpose, they are far from unique to these two young people. The activities described here and the method of dissemination are increasingly common and significant to young people’s networks around the globe. Rowland, Row to his friends but DJ Roland Samuel (without the ‘w’) to his fans and professional networks, was born in Antigua but lives now in North London. He has been involved with the UK garage scene2 ever since we first met him, which is now about seven years ago, and we still receive personal updates of his activities and shows regularly through Facebook (his personal and fan pages) and email. He endlessly practises and fine-tunes his DJ skills, performs weekly on internet and pirate radio and aims to develop his event management opportunities after and in between work commitments. Row’s day job is assistant store manager at a syndicated health store, a job he finds boring but it pays the bills — just!
How can visual ethnography help us to understand the nature and the complexity of the (ethnic/gen... more How can visual ethnography help us to understand the nature and the complexity of the (ethnic/gendered/classed) experience of growing up? Drawing on two ethnographic projects, we discuss the purposes and the difficulties of the particular methodology of auto-visual ethnography which we deployed. Our specific focus was the relationship and the tension between the representation and the individual everyday experiences. Through focusing upon the micro worlds of the young people themselves within their wider `parent' cultures, their engagement with home, school, and outside leisure activities, were revealed to be strategically (if sometimes unconsciously) part of much larger overlapping social spheres and powerful cultural influences. The pre-teenage and teenage female participants were invited to document any aspects of their worlds on cameras and video.