New leaf
Domestic Violence in Rural Australia
Sarah Wendt
The Federation Press, September 2009
$39.95
Dr Sarah Wendt, UniSA Lecturer from the School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, has drawn on two decades of research for her book, Domestic Violence in Rural Australia.
The book paints a picture about domestic violence in rural Australia, providing an analysis of how rural communities have been understood historically while examining social and cultural constructions of rural culture over time.
The book is written for those involved in social care practice in rural communities, policy development and tertiary students.
Dr Wendt shares stories from women and human service workers about their experiences of domestic violence in rural contexts to argue the importance of recognising local culture when forming community responses to domestic violence.
"I hope that the stories told demonstrate that local culture is an essential element in addressing domestic violence in rural contexts," Dr Wendt says.
"It allows a move away from notions of rural communities being viewed as one and the same, and provides diverse ways of understanding domestic violence in rural communities of place.
"Forming good friendships, gaining a sense of belonging, being part of a caring environment, and familiarity with people are elements of rural life that are possible and attractive. Getting to know these positive aspects of local culture can provide human service workers with a positive place to start to respond to and challenge values and beliefs that sustain and hide domestic violence."
Knowing Our Place: Children talking about power, identity and
citizenship
Judith Gill and Sue Howard
ACER Press, 2009
$49.95
Knowing Our Place describes and analyses the responses of more than 400 children to a series of open-ended questions.
Written by UniSA Associate Professor Judith Gill from the School of Education along with colleague Sue Howard (who passed away in May 2006), it examines the ways in which children view their world.
It poses questions of citizenship and how children come to a sense of belonging in their communities of family, classroom, school and nation.
Associate Prof Gill says they were prompted to write the book in 1998 after the Federal Government sent every Australian school a curriculum to help children learn about our system of government as surveys had shown that young people were very ignorant in that area.
"Sue and I were horrified that there had been no effort to find out what the children actually knew or how they felt about living in this country, so we began the project that led to the book," Associate Prof Gill says.
"We were both interested in children’s thinking and had researched some aspects independently before coming together on this.
"We began with some younger children but the majority of the interviews were with children aged 11 and 12."
The interviews took place between 1999 and 2004. The book deals specifically with children’s understanding of themselves as social actors, their concepts of responsibility and their commitments to a range of positions about what may be termed the common good.