“Sun Arise”: The Appropriation of Australia’s First Peoples’ Music, 1956–1974

While the music of Australia’s First Peoples contributes to a growing list of academic books and articles, the appropriation of that music by non-Indigenous pop musicians has received little academic attention. During the 1950s and 1960s, Australian audiences dismissed early attempts at fusing pop with Indigenous instrumentation as embarrassingly kitsch; at the same time, many Australian historians and archaeologists viewed Aboriginality as something primitive, a relic of the “stone-age”. Consequently, there was very little commentary on the cross-pollination between pop and Indigenous music. This article examines this phenomenon. Drawing on contemporary newspaper articles and vinyl record releases, this article argues that pop music appropriated Australia’s Indigenous music soon after art developing its fusions with Indigenous culture. Older popular musicians were more prepared to experiment than young pop performers. The reluctance of young pop musicians to experiment with Indigenous music was primarily an economic decision—American rock’n’rollers had captured the local teenage market. After more recordings of Aboriginal music became commercially available, interest in Indigenous music accelerated, and younger non-Indigenous musicians saw opportunities to incorporate Indigenous themes and instrumentation into their own material.     

Taking Murals Seriously: Basque Murals and Mobilisation

The purpose of this article is to take the admonition of taking the visual seriously into the realms of murals. It will present empirical data on contemporary murals in the Basque Country with a view to examining why murals are important to the abertzale-left, the broad left-wing nationalist movement in the Basque Country which includes but ranges far beyond the armed group ETA. The struggle for Basque autonomy from Spain has its roots in a nationalist awakening in the late twentieth century. It has developed through the struggle with fascism; the prolonged authoritarian, centralist state; and the transition to democracy after the death of Franco. Central to this development has been the definition of Basque identity in terms of culture rather than birth. Language has been key, but there has also been a visual strand to the struggle. The article will examine the state of that visual strand currently by examining murals on a range of themes: language and culture, independence and socialism, armed struggle, political prisoners, torture and repression, martyrs and heroes, women and environmental issues.     

Do Debt Policies Make a Difference in Finance Officers' Perceptions of the Importance of Debt Management Factors?

This article explores the importance of various debt policy factors using a national survey of government finance officers. Further, it examines whether the presence of a particular factor in a debt policy influences finance officers' perception of its importance. We find that debt policies tend to be technical in nature and that broad policy issues are most often not included in debt policies. Moreover, we find that the inclusion of debt management factors in debt policies has a powerful influence on their perceived importance by public managers.     

THE MODERN CREATION OF CHINA’S ‘HISTORIC RIGHTS’ CLAIM IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

The overlapping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea threaten to spark conflict in East Asia. On several occasions in recent years, disputes over the right to extract oil and gas have caused clashes between Chinese and Southeast Asian vessels. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was agreed by almost all countries in 1982 to try to resolve such disagreements. However, the People's Republic of China is currently trying to claim rights that go beyond UNCLOS and infringe on the UNCLOS-based rights of the other claimants. It deploys two arguments in particular: that the archipelagos in the South China Sea collectively generate rights to maritime resources and that China enjoys ‘historic rights’ in the sea. Neither of these arguments is found within UNCLOS, however. This article explores the origin of these Chinese arguments and finds that the ‘historic rights’ claim can be traced to a single Taiwanese academic writing in the 1990s during a period of intense debate in Taiwan over its relationship with the PRC.     

No longer docile daughters or handmaidens of the lord: Women in religion contest their divine and human condition(ing)s

There are many feminists who believe that no woman of intelligence would have anything to do with religion — of all institutions it is the most conservative and recalcitrant to change. Yet the resurgence of interest in the Goddess illustrates that many women still have religious, if not divine, yearnings. These developments are occurring simultaneously with a startling revival of fundamentalism. How to negotiate this minefield-like mixture of religious ideals and desperation that continues to attract the loyalties of the majority of humankind? These loyalties, however, have mostly been manipulated to serve the male-dominated institutions. Yet the pervasiveness of religion's influence on virtually all contemporary social structures is, I believe, sufficient reason for a concerned, if suspicious, feminist analysis. This article investigates both the claims of women who have chosen to remain withing religion's orbit and to attempt reform from within, as well as those who no longer feel bound by traditional restictions.     

Performance Monitoring Public Services in Australia

The Industry Commission, the former Bureau of Industry Economics and the Economic Planning Advisory Commission have amalgamated on an administrative basis to prepare for the formation of the Productivity Commission. Legislation establishing the new commission is before parliament.
The Industry Commission has been involved in a number of projects that monitor the performance of a range of government services across Australia. The first monitors the performance of a large number of Australia's major government trading enterprises and the second has begun the process of monitoring the performance of a range of government service providers.
This article outlines why measuring and monitoring performance can be used to improve public sector performance and provides two examples of how this tool can successfully be used in practice.