Authors & editors

ANU Press has collaborated with a diverse range of authors and editors across a wide variety of academic disciplines. Browse the ANU Press collection by author or editor.

Taking the High Ground »

The archaeology of Rapa, a fortified island in remote East Polynesia

Edited by: Atholl Anderson, Douglas J. Kennett
Publication date: November 2012
This volume brings the remote and little known island of Rapa firmly to the forefront of Polynesian archaeology. Thirteen authors contribute 14 chapters, covering not only the basic archaeology of coastal sites, rock shelters, and fortifications, but faunal remains, agricultural development, and marine exploitation. The results, presented within a chronology framed by Bayesian analysis, are set against a background of ethnohistory and ethnology. Highly unusual in tropical Polynesian archaeology are descriptions of artefacts of perishable material. Taking the High Ground provides important insights into how a group of Polynesian settlers adapted to an isolated and in some ways restrictive environment.

Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform: Volume 19, Number 2, 2012 »

Edited by: William Coleman
Publication date: November 2012
Agenda is a refereed, ECONLIT-indexed and RePEc-listed journal of the College of Business and Economics, The Australian National University. Launched in 1994, Agenda provides a forum for debate on public policy, mainly (but not exclusively) in Australia and New Zealand. It deals largely with economic issues but gives space to social and legal policy and also to the moral and philosophical foundations and implications of policy. Subscribe to the Agenda Alerting service if you wish to be advised on forthcoming or new issues.
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Humanities Research: Volume XVIII. No. 1. 2012 »

Perspectives on Ethnographic Film

Publication date: November 2012
Humanities Research is an internationally peer-reviewed journal published by the Research School of Humanities at The Australian National University. The Research School of Humanities came into existence in January 2007 and consists of the Humanities Research Centre, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, National Europe Centre and Australian National Dictionary Centre. Launched in 1997, issues are thematic with guest editors and address important and timely topics across all branches of the humanities. This volume of Humanities Research features an enhanced epub: a downloadable ebook format with embedded video and audio files.
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Burgmann Journal- Research Debate Opinion: Issue 1, 2012 »

Publication date: November 2012
Burgmann Journal is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed publication of collected works of research, debate and opinion from residents and alumni of Burgmann College designed to engage and stimulate the wider community.
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Survey Analysis for Indigenous Policy in Australia »

Social Science Perspectives

Publication date: November 2012
Indigenous policy is a complex domain motivated by a range of social, cultural, political and economic issues. The Council of Australian Governments ‘closing the gaps’ agenda for addressing Indigenous disadvantage in Australia now includes six targets with well defined and measurable outcomes for policy action. In this context there is a continuing and pressing need for robust debate to understand how meaningful improvement in Indigenous outcomes might be achieved. This monograph presents the peer-reviewed proceedings of the 2011 CAEPR/ABS conference on ‘Social Science Perspectives on the 2008 National and Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Social Survey’. It is the fourth CAEPR monograph since 1992 to reflect on national surveys of Indigenous Australians. The conference covered topics including child development, crime and justice, culture, wellbeing, the customary economy, demography, education, employment, fertility, health, housing, income and financial stress, mobility, poverty, social exclusion, and substance abuse. The papers summarise the strengths and limitations of the 2008 NATSISS, discuss the types of policy-relevant questions it can inform, and consider future survey design. A social survey such as the NATSISS can ultimately never tell those responsible for developing public policy what to do, but it can provide useful information to inform policy decisions. This volume will be useful for researchers and policy makers, and relevant to the wider national debate and, in particular, Indigenous communities and organisations.

Following the sun »

The pioneering years of solar energy research at The Australian National University 1970—2005

Authored by: Robin Tennant-Wood
Publication date: October 2012
In 1970 a small group of physicists at The Australian National University decided to veer away from the accepted and expected directions in energy research and pursued the emerging discipline of solar energy. Over the next decade ANU joined a small cluster of research institutions, including the CSIRO, UNSW and the University of Sydney, to emerge as a world leader in solar energy technology. This book traces the history of solar energy research at ANU over 35 years from its origin, its sometimes controversial early stages, through its flagship projects to its current status as one of the world’s best known solar energy research establishments. It is as much a story of the future as it is a history: Following the sun is the story of how an idea to pursue what was in 1970 a new and unpopular research path has come to underpin sustainable development in the 21st Century.

Information Systems Foundations: Theory Building in Information Systems »

Edited by: Dennis N. Hart, Shirley Gregor
Publication date: October 2012
This volume presents the papers from the fifth biennial Information Systems Foundations Workshop, held at The Australian National University in Canberra from 30 September to 1 October 2010. The focus of the workshop was, as for the others in the series, the foundations of information systems as an academic discipline. The emphasis in the 2010 workshop was on theory building in information systems, which is a non-trivial and difficult issue because the field deals with such a wide range of phenomena, from the highly technological in nature to the distinctly human and organisational in focus. The theory building problem stems from the fact that the sciences that underlie and deal with technologically-oriented fields generally result in theories that fit within the ‘covering law’ model—that is, are assumed and believed to have universal applicability and explanatory and predictive power—whereas, by contrast, theories in the human sciences are generally much more conditional, contextual, tentative and open to exceptions. Successfully marrying the two is, not surprisingly, a challenge that the chapters in this volume explore.

An Otago Storeman in Solomon Islands »

The diary of William Crossan, copra trader, 1885–86

Edited by: Tim Bayliss-Smith, Judith A. Bennett
Publication date: October 2012
An Otago Storeman in Solomon Islands reaches from inland South Island of New Zealand across to the Solomon Islands during the 1880s. William Crossan’s Otago experience as a versatile storeman with a solid work ethic helped him survive on the Melanesian frontier where he encountered conflicting clans, cannibalism, cheating traders, and co-operative entrepreneurial big men. His diary provides many glimpses into Makiran society as it encountered new ideas, new employment, and western technology. It is a welcome addition to the sparse record of these cryptic copra traders seeking fortunes on the cusp of indigenous tradition and incoming colonialism.

East Asia Forum Quarterly: Volume 4, Number 3, 2012 »

Publication date: October 2012
East Asia Forum Quarterly grew out of East Asia Forum (EAF) online, which has developed a reputation for providing a platform for the best in Asian analysis, research and policy comment on the Asia Pacific region in world affairs. EAFQ aims to provide a further window onto research in the leading research institutes in Asia and to provide expert comment on current developments within the region. The East Asia Forum Quarterly, like East Asia Forum online, is an initiative of the East Asia Forum (EAF) and its host organisation, the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research (EABER) in the Crawford School of Economics and Government in the College of Asia & the Pacific at The Australian National University.
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Medical Student Journal of Australia: Volume Four, Issue 1 »

Publication date: October 2012
The Medical Student Journal of Australia provides the medical school of The Australian National University with a platform for medical students to publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal, communicating the results of medical and health research information clearly, accurately and with appropriate discussion of any limitations or potential bias.
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craft + design enquiry: issue 4, 2012 »

Relational Craft and Design

Edited by: Rosemary Hawker, Peter McNeil
Publication date: October 2012
craft + design enquiry is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal promoting and disseminating research excellence generated by and about the craft and design sector. craft + design enquiry investigates the contribution that contemporary craft and design makes to society, establishing a dialogue between craft and design practice and cultural, social and environmental concerns. It includes submissions from across the field of craft and design from artists and practitioners, curators, historians, art and cultural theorists, educationalists, museum professionals, philosophers, scientists and others with a stake in the future developments of craft and design. Issue 4, Relational Craft and Design is guest edited by Professor Peter McNeil (University of Technology Sydney) and Dr Rosemary Hawker (Griffith University). They summarise of the intent and content of Issue 4 as follows. “While definitions of craft and design are diverse, we can be sure that today they are embraced by the broader arts and humanities in a way they have not been since the 19th Century. This issue addresses a series of issues affecting the relationship between design and the crafts in a world that is often perceived as problematically ‘globalised’ and the same. What are the processes through which local producers, entrepreneurs and consumers, operating from both cosmopolitan and provincial sites, interact to create connections in this global context? A surprising number of papers with a strong historical focus came forward.”  Six papers by Sally Gray, Juliette Peers, Jess Berry, Sera Waters, Sandra Loschke and Richard Read were selected for publication in this issue.
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Corruption »

Expanding the Focus

Edited by: Manuhuia Barcham, Barry Hindess, Peter Larmour
Publication date: September 2012
Recent years have seen an unprecedented rise in interest in the topic of corruption, resulting in a rising demand for suitable teaching materials. This edited collection brings together two different approaches to the study of corruption — the first represented by a large, practically-oriented literature devoted to identifying the causes of corruption, assessing its incidence and working out how to bring it under control; the second by a smaller collection of critical literature in political theory and intellectual history that addresses conceptual and historical issues concerned with how corruption should be, and how it has been, understood — and uses the second to reflect on the first. This collection will be of interest to post-graduate students in political science, law, sociology, public policy and development studies, to senior public servants, and to professionals working in multilateral agencies, NGOs and the media.

Ministerial Careers and Accountability in the Australian Commonwealth Government »

Edited by: Keith Dowding, Chris Lewis
Publication date: September 2012
This book examines the roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of Australian cabinet ministers. It examines the sorts of jobs ministers do, what is expected of them, what they expect of the job and how they (are supposed to) work together as a team. It considers aspects of how they are chosen to become ministers; how they are scrutinised by parliament and the media; and how ministers themselves view accountability. It also looks at the causes of calls for ministers to resign, examines scandals around ministers and assesses ministerial accountability.

Past Law, Present Histories »

Edited by: Diane Kirkby
Publication date: September 2012
This collection brings methods and questions from humanities, law and social sciences disciplines to examine different instances of lawmaking. Contributors explore the problematic of past law in present historical analysis across indigenous Australia and New Zealand, from post-Franco Spain to current international law and maritime regulation, from settler colonial humanitarian debates to efforts to end cruelty to children and animals. They highlight problems both national and international in their implication. From different disciplines and theoretical positions, they illustrate the diverse and complex study of law’s history.

Black Gold »

Aboriginal People on the Goldfields of Victoria, 1850-1870

Authored by: Fred Cahir
Publication date: September 2012
Fred Cahir tells the story about the magnitude of Aboriginal involvement on the Victorian goldfields in the middle of the nineteenth century. The first history of Aboriginal–white interaction on the Victorian goldfields, Black Gold offers new insights on one of the great epochs in Australian and world history—the gold story. In vivid detail it describes how Aboriginal people often figured significantly in the search for gold and documents the devastating social impact of gold mining on Victorian Aboriginal communities. It reveals the complexity of their involvement from passive presence, to active discovery, to shunning the goldfields. This detailed examination of Aboriginal people on the goldfields of Victoria provides striking evidence which demonstrates that Aboriginal people participated in gold mining and interacted with non-Aboriginal people in a range of hitherto neglected ways. Running through this book are themes of Aboriginal empowerment, identity, integration, resistance, social disruption and communication. For more information on Aboriginal History Inc. please visit aboriginalhistory.org.au.

Australian Humanities Review: Issue 52, 2012 »

Edited by: Monique Rooney, Russell Smith
Publication date: September 2012
Australian Humanities Review is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal featuring articles, essays and reviews focusing on a wide array of topics related to literature, culture, history and politics.
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Indigenous Peoples' Innovation »

Intellectual Property Pathways to Development

Publication date: August 2012
Traditional knowledge systems are also innovation systems. This book analyses the relationship between intellectual property and indigenous innovation. The contributors come from different disciplinary backgrounds including law, ethnobotany and science. Drawing on examples from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, each of the contributors explores the possibilities and limits of intellectual property when it comes to supporting innovation by indigenous people.

Shaping a Nation »

A Geology of Australia

Edited by: Richard Blewett
Publication date: August 2012
Shaping a Nation: A Geology of Australia is the story of a continent’s geological evolution as seen through the lens of human impacts. Exploring the geology, resources and landscapes of Australia, the book reveals how these have helped to shape this nation’s society, environment and wealth. Presented in a refreshingly non-linear format, the book summarises much of what we know about this country’s geological history, discussing the fossil record and evolution of life across the continent, describing its mineral and energy reserves, and revealing the significance of its coastal and groundwater systems. The book also explores some of the challenges and opportunities presented by Australia’s rich geological heritage, and outlines the issues they present in Australian society today. Based on much of the latest science, the book reveals Australia’s expertise in the geosciences and reinforces the vital role they play in informing its present and future development. In presenting the latest geoscientific knowledge, Shaping a Nation is vividly illustrated by technical drawings and figures and accompanied by stunning photography that reveals the extraordinary beauty of Australia’s geology and landscapes. For the avid reader, an accompanying DVD hosts extensive appendices, including supplementary reading and reference material, maps, movies and an interactive 3D model showcasing many geoscience datasets. Note for viewing ebook: Because of the large size of the ePub, right-click on the link in the Media Download page and first save it to your computer. Then transfer it to your e-reader device. The ePub is suitable for viewing on iPad and Android devices. Printed copies are available for $70.00 AUD incl GST (plus shipping) through Geoscience Australia.

Proceedings of the 7th University House Wine Symposium »

Edited by: Kiaran Kirk, John Richards
Publication date: August 2012
Even before University House was opened in 1954, a House Wine Committee had been formed, leading to the 1st University House Wine Symposium, held in 1956. These proceedings record the 7th University House Wine Symposium, held in 2011 to commemorate the 40-year anniversary of the first plantings that have led to the internationally acclaimed wines of the Canberra District Wine Region.

Learning Spaces »

Youth, Literacy and New Media in Remote Indigenous Australia

Authored by: Inge Kral, Robert G. Schwab
Publication date: August 2012
'This work offers us the rare opportunity to step inside innovative uses of technologies, mergers of global technologies into local knowledge, and community advocacy of local history and ideology…The young people who move through these pages are motivated and proud of having had the opportunities that make possible their linking together of historical knowledge and contemporary means of communication and performance. The means illustrated here have enabled them to develop skills that will help them move into the future as adults engaged with the health and life of their own communities, connected to their language and culture as their way of being in the world of the local so as to know the world of the global.' Professor Shirley Brice Heath Stanford University, USA

Engendering Violence in Papua New Guinea »

Edited by: Margaret Jolly, Christine Stewart, Carolyn Brewer
Publication date: July 2012
This collection builds on previous works on gender violence in the Pacific, but goes beyond some previous approaches to ‘domestic violence’ or ‘violence against women’ in analysing the dynamic processes of ‘engendering’ violence in PNG. ‘Engendering’ refers not just to the sex of individual actors, but to gender as a crucial relation in collective life and the massive social transformations ongoing in PNG: conversion to Christianity, the development of extractive industries, the implanting of introduced models of justice and the law and the spread of HIV. Hence the collection examines issues of ‘troubled masculinities’ as much as ‘battered women’ and tries to move beyond the black and white binaries of blaming either tradition or modernity as the primary cause of gender violence. It relates original scholarly research in the villages and towns of PNG to questions of policy and practice and reveals the complexities and contestations in the local translation of concepts of human rights. It will interest undergraduate and graduate students in gender studies and Pacific studies and those working on the policy and practice of combating gender violence in PNG and elsewhere.

Indigenous Participation in Australian Economies II »

Historical engagements and current enterprises

Publication date: July 2012
This is the second volume to emerge from a project on Indigenous participation in the Australian economy, funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant, and involving the cooperation of the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at The Australian National University and the National Museum of Australia. The Chief Investigators were Ian Keen, Chris Lloyd, Anthony Redmond, the Partner Investigator was Mike Pickering, Fiona Skyring was an associate researcher on the project, and Natasha Fijn was research assistant. The present volume arises out of a conference in Canberra on Indigenous Participation in Australian Economies at the National Museum of Australia on 9–10 November 2009, which attracted more than thirty presenters. The diverse themes included histories of economic relations, the role of camels and dingoes in Indigenous–settler relations, material culture and the economy, the economies of communities from missions and stations to fringe camps and towns, the transitions from payment-in-kind to wage economies and Community Development Employment Projects, the issue of unpaid and stolen wages, local enterprises, and conflicts over development. Sixteen of those papers have been developed as chapters in this volume, together with a foreword by Professor Jon Altman. This book comprises a companion volume to Indigenous Participation in Australian Economies: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives, published by ANU Press in 2010.

Public Sector Governance in Australia »

Authored by: Meredith Edwards, John Halligan, Bryan Horrigan, Geoffrey Nicoll
Publication date: July 2012
Australia lacks a scholarly book that covers recent developments in public sector governance in Australia and blends cross-disciplinary perspectives from law, management, public administration and public policy. The primary reason for writing this book is to fill the gap in the treatment of this subject, and to provide insights from empirical evidence and current practice. The book provides the first comprehensive theoretical and empirical work on governance in the Commonwealth public sector. It addresses the issues that emerged under the Howard government as well as their handling under the Rudd and Gillard governments. The book aims to enhance understanding of and communication about public governance across government, industry and the community. The authors bring to this book expertise gained from political science, public administration and policy, public and private sector law.

Rebalancing and Sustaining Growth in China »

Edited by: Huw Mckay, Ligang Song
Publication date: July 2012
The idea that China’s economy needs to rebalance is no longer controversial inside or outside the country. Whether it be the increasing recognition of income inequality at home; the still large external surplus; the focus on consumption and industrial upgrading in the policy discourse; the economic, political and social tensions associated with the major decline in housing affordability; the profound conflict between industrialisation, urbanisation and the biosphere; the profitability gulf between the top SOEs and private firms; or the uni-directional pressures pushing on the real exchange rate; the evidence in favour of a highly imbalanced structure is omnipresent. Rebalancing and Sustaining Growth in China brings together some of the world’s leading observers of the Chinese economy to debate the multifarious questions pertaining to rebalancing. How are we to make sense of the many, often contradictory, proposals that seek the same ultimate objective of a more sustainable growth model? What mix of policies will be most effective in addressing the required structural change without sacrificing prosperity along the way? Where should we look for root causes, and how can we avoid getting distracted by symptoms? How do China’s unique internal migration dynamics – and the Lewis turning point – constrain its options? What role will and should financial, fiscal and welfare reform play in the process? Where do water and energy security fit in? Can China innovate before it gets old – or can China get smart before it gets rich? And are intergenerational issues being taken into account?

Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform: Volume 19, Number 1, 2012 »

Edited by: William Coleman
Publication date: July 2012
Agenda is a refereed, ECONLIT-indexed and RePEc-listed journal of the College of Business and Economics, The Australian National University. Launched in 1994, Agenda provides a forum for debate on public policy, mainly (but not exclusively) in Australia and New Zealand. It deals largely with economic issues but gives space to social and legal policy and also to the moral and philosophical foundations and implications of policy. Subscribe to the Agenda Alerting service if you wish to be advised on forthcoming or new issues.
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