Speculum (because it’s almost Friday [in Australia])

At Macquarie University, where the popular perception amongst the older generation is that student activism is at an all-time low, there was a bit of excitement when we heard that a student publication would be launched. We all fancied it would be the start of a new era of student extracurricular activity.

Well, today I saw the first issue. Jovan showed me his copy. It’s a glossy magazine. “It’s called Speculum,” Jovan told me. My jaw dropped. Jovan said, “Isn’t that…?”

Temple of Dreams screening at Macquarie

With a proposed new Islamic school facing strong community opposition in the Sydney suburb of Camden, it is timely that the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion at Macquarie is screening a new documentary called Temple of dreams. The film portrays similar challenges faced by a group of young Australian Muslims attempting to set up a youth centre in Sydney. Details about the film and the screening are below:

*Free screening*

Introduced by the director, Tom Zubrycki

(Molly and Mobarak, The Diplomat, Billal),

and followed by a post-screening Q&A discussion.

Temple of Dreams follows a group of Lebanese Australians who set up an Islamic youth centre in Western Sydney. The documentary - by one of Australia’s leading documentary film makers - follows the group’s battle against the local council to keep the centre open, and their struggle to fit into the wider community.

When: Wednesday 14 November

Time: 4-6pm

Place: Building C5C Room 498 (Enter via Research Hub EAST), Macquarie University

RSVP: By 12 November 2007 to crsi@scmp.mq.edu.au or on 02 9850 9171

**FREE**

Please spread the word to your colleagues and friends - download event flyer here.

For more information about the film, click here, or visit

http://australianscreen.com.au/titles/temple-dreams

The Cycle of Ethics Review (Ethics review part 4)

Part of my continuing series on Ethnography and Ethics Review at Macquarie University (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).

At Macquarie University all applications to the Ethics Review Committee (Human Research) go through a vetting process that can send them along several tracks for consideration. For the moment, two tracks for consideration exist, but there is the possibility that a third is arising (a couple of applications have been recommended for a new trajectory in the past month as the Committee responds to language in the National Statement on Research Ethics that allows us to shorten review of applications with no perceptible risk).

In this posting, I want to help clarify for students what the two review trajectories are, how long they take, and what are the factors that will likely lead an application to be sent along one or the other. As our own records show in the Ethics Committe (and is on the diagram) over three-quarters of all applications are now handled through the Expedited online review, which seems to be speeding up the process (in addition to getting rid of the previous system of monthly deadlines so that applications are rolling).

Some practical notes on ethics applications

Alright, so the first two blog entries on ethics weren’t very fun (here and here). I’ll admit that. And it’s a danger when dealing with a topic like university human research ethics review that we may contribute to the sense students (and others) have that it’s a dry or dreadful subject. I worry that we tell our horror stories to our students and prepare them for the worst from the ethics process, forgetting that this can set up self-fulfilling expectations. I didn’t help that with the last couple of posts.

So, in the interest of punching up the entertainment value (after all, I have to compete with some brilliant posts on the new Creationist museum in Missouri, my home state, by Lisa Wynn and ongoing cultural observations from Nursel and Jovan), I’m going to take a little different strategy and write in a more conversational tone.

Although the institutional dynamics of something like the Ethics Review Committee (Human Research) at Macquarie might be fascinating to a few (mostly to me), the majority of our readers at Culture Matters are likely to be more interested in practical questions. So I’ll try to highlight the most important, recurring issues for ethnographic projects from my perspective as researcher, ethics advisor, and application reviewer on the committee. Although all of the examples I discuss below are fictional, some resemblance to individuals living or deceased is inevitable. But please know, if it sounds like I’m talking about you, and you’re a Macquarie student or faculty member, you’re probably part of fictional synthesis because none of these issues is rare or unusual.

Dr. Zachary Schrag on ethics, IRB & ethnography

Asst. Prof. Zachary Schrag, a historian at George Mason University, and I have been engaging in a sort of blog-versation about IRBs or Ethics Review Committees on Human Research (depending upon your continent). If I ever write anything on the subject formally, I’ll probably owe Dr. Schrag a co-author credit, but if you’re interested in human research ethics much more broadly, including policy developments and recent research on the subject, you should check out his blog, Institutional Review Blog (http://institutionalreviewblog.blogspot.com). I started to try to work my way through it but realized that, until I get through the two new courses I’m teaching this semester, there was just too much there, but I’ll keep trying to chisel away at parts. If you’re interested in research ethics review, I’d bookmark his blog.

I promised that I would put up a sort of list of ‘most common problems’ with ethics applications from anthropologists (in my limited experience as review board member and advisor). I’ll still do that, maybe even later today, but not before I respond to Dr. Schrag’s last post. I’ll do this as a blog entry rather than response so that more people are likely to see it. (If you’re interested, here’s the original post and a couple of our notes to each other).

Dr. Schrag suggests that, since prior ethics review is the primary vehicle through which human research ethics are enforced, it might be useful to show the utility of this rather than other strategies. He then lists a number of other strategies, many of which are, and would be, extremely helpful: better training (excellent), researcher’s affidavit (I’m not sure what that would entail), or departmental review (also excellent). For Katz’s original piece in American Ethnologist, this is the key point. I’ll come back to this issue in my ‘errors frequently committed by anthropologists’ post because, from my experience, the ‘prior approval’ part is less a problem than certain other dogged issues.

An inside-outsider’s view of Human Research Ethics Review

I’ve been promising for a while now that I would start blogging on ethical issues in ethnography, especially relating to the concrete practical issues brought up by human research ethics review (referred to in the US as ‘IRBs’, ‘Institutional Review Boards’). My background is both as a practicing ethnographer, academic advisor, and teacher of research methodology, and as a sitting member of Macquarie University’s review board for human research (for one semester, the ‘Acting Deputy Chair’).

I am continually frustrated by anthropologists’ relationship to the review process; for a field that seems very comfortable with moral language and advocacy, we are surprisingly tense and defensive at the prospect of institutional oversight of research ethics. Granted, review boards everywhere are different, and a fair number of them have probably handed down some real stinkers when their decisions have involved ethnographic projects, but the widespread antipathy toward the process seems to me out of proportion to what goes on at our institution (at least), and detrimental to both our discipline’s health and teaching objectives.

So, for my first blog post on ethics, I’d like to reflect on what the review board here is like, which might (or might not) shed light on IRBs elsewhere. My first post, then, is ‘an inside-outsider’s view of human research ethics review.’

Macquarie University’s Initiatives for the Indigenous People

Macquarie University has some initiatives for indigenous people, which I believe are the kind of things the Australian government and society should be talking about in relation to the indigenous people rather than sensationalising ‘sexual child abuse’ and sending troops to Northern Territory.  

Macquarie University has an Indigenous Traineeship Program. According to the http://www.pers.mq.edu.au/ies/traineeshipprogram.html,          

 The Indigenous Traineeship Program recruits six Indigenous people with low-level or no qualifications annually and provides them with twelve months work experience and training to obtain a AQTF Certificate III in a field of interest to the University. Key features include:

• Trainees spend four days per week gaining practical experience in the Office or Division, and
• Trainees undertake a further one-day per week in study with a registered training organisation (eg. TAFE) either on-site or off-site
• Trainees have the option to take one week planned annual leave every 12-13 weeks
• Traineeships will operate for one year from January 2007 to January 2008
• On successful completion of their qualification, the trainee will have preference for interviews for continuing or fixed-term position with the University.
• Offices and Divisions gain an employee with current knowledge, skills and experience of the work in their Office/Division

Also Macquarie recently organised a two-day science experience with Indigenous student demonstrators in order to encourage young indigenous students to study and have careers in science. Below are the details: http://www.pr.mq.edu.au/events/index.asp?ItemID=2999  

Young Indigenous scientists lead by example

July 17, 2007

A lack of education within Indigenous communities can lead to other social problems such as unemployment, poverty and low self esteem. But this week a group of young Indigenous students will attempt to inspire hundreds of their peers to finish high school and build careers in science.

Only 29 per cent of Indigenous students currently complete Year 12, compared to 65 per cent of the broader Australian community. Even more disconcerting, of the 9004 university science graduates in 2005, only 25 were Indigenous.

To help counter these trends, Macquarie University and the Western Sydney Office of the NSW Department of Education and Training will be conducting a two-day science experience with Indigenous student demonstrators at the Dunheved Campus of Chifley College on Wednesday July 18 and Thursday July 19.

Around 450 high school students are expected to attend the event, which will involve activities ranging from hands-on chemistry, microbiology activities and entomological exhibits, to careers, scholarships and further education information. Local Aboriginal elders will also demonstrate wood carving and painting, and tell stories.

“The event is intended to stimulate interest in the sciences and promote further education opportunities amongst Indigenous students,” says one of the organisers, Associate Professor Joanne Jamie of Macquarie University. “It’s part of a much larger program initiated in response to Aboriginal community concerns about poor school retention rates in their young people.”

Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor Professor Steven Schwartz says that the science shows are just one way that the University is demonstrating its commitment to social equity.

 “A student who attends a well-resourced private school and who receives after-school coaching currently has a major head-start when it comes to accessing a university education in Australia,” Professor Schwartz says. “However by providing opportunities to disadvantaged communities through events like these, by offering educational scholarships and by instituting an admissions system which considers a student’s background, Macquarie University is hoping to address this situation.”

Social cohesion symposium at Macquarie

Here are the details of an upcoming symposium to be held at Macquarie.

National Social Cohesion Symposium:
Australian Muslims - Growing Together or Apart

29 June 7pm Macquarie University

As a framework for living with cultural diversity the ideal of
multiculturalism has come under increasing attack in recent years both
in Australia and overseas. In the last two years a subtle shift in
policy and discourse has begun to take place involving a greater
emphasis on notions such as ‘integration’ and ’social cohesion’. This
shift in debate comes at a time of increased concern in some circles
over the ability of certain ethnic communities, especially Muslims, to
integrate into Australian society, despite Australia’s reputation as a
nation committed to the notion of a ‘fair go’. This symposium will
provide a platform for informed debate on these current trends in
Australian multiculturalism.

Introducing Lisa Wynn

It’s great to see CM going so strongly and more people wanting to get involved in the blog. Our newest contributor is also our most recent (actually, soon to be) addition to the Department’s academic staff, Lisa Wynn. Lisa was offered a position at Macquarie some time ago but is currently in visa limbo land, waiting to move herself and family out to Sydney from Princeton. Instead of cooling her heels and twiddling her thumbs though she is keen to crack her knuckles and contribute to the blog.

I’m looking forward to learning more about Lisa’s work when she finally arrives in Oz but she has already proved to be a lively email correspondent and I think she will bring an enormous amount of energy to our department. She is also the author of the deliciously titled Pyramids and Nightclubs: A Travel Ethnography of Arab and Western Imaginations of Egypt, from King Tut and a Colony of Atlantis to Rumors of Sex Orgies, Urban Legends about a Marauding Prince, and Blonde Belly Dancers, which has the distinction of possessing perhaps the longest subtitle to grace the cover of an anthropological monograph. I also know that she is a committed activist in the field of reproductive health, so I’m sure she’s going to bring great insights into the various ways anthropology can be both applied, engaged, and engaging.

She’s already itching to say something about the new creation museum, recently opened in the US and I’m certainly keen to hear what she has to say. So, with a bow and a flourish I say, “Welcome Lisa”!

See Lisa’s Macquarie profile, or her much groovier webpage from Princeton.

A new contributor

It’s a pleasure to introduce our first former student of the MAA program to our expanding list of contributors. Nursel Guzeldeniz graduated from the program last year and has maintained a keen interest in participating in the wider anthropology community ever since. It is very nice to see alumni wanting to stay in touch and continue contributing to our discussions. I’m looking forward to seeing what perspectives Nursel will bring to our discussions. So without any further ado, welcome!