From Cobra Grubs to Dragons: Negotiating the Politics of Representation in Cultural Research

Tanja Dreher

doi:10.5130/csr.v12i2.2338

PDF

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/csr.v12i2.2338

Keywords:

Cultural research, cultural studies, research, practice, Fairfield, South West Sydney, naming, representation, voice, authority, politics

Tanja Dreher

University of Technology Sydney

Abstract

‘From cobra grubs to dragons’ was suggested as the title for a cultural tour of the Fairfield area in Sydney developed by the author and others through a partnership between the Centre for Cultural Research (CCR) at the University of Western Sydney (UWS), the Fairfield City Council (FCC) and the Migration Heritage Centre of the NSW government. The cultural researchers involved in producing the tour felt that this title was an evocative description of the tour which enables participants to visit numerous sites associated with Fairfield’s cultural diversity. As the project developed, a key funding partner vetoed that title, to be replaced by the prosaic ‘Tune in to Fairfield City: a multicultural driving tour’ which now appears on the audio CD and map which contain instructions for motorists to take the tour. This article analyses the rather more complex issues of naming and representation, voice and authority raised by this cultural research project.

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2006): Engagements

Section

Cultural Research (Peer Reviewed)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed undera Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share and adapt the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

c) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Open Access Citation Advantage Service). Where authors include such a work in an institutional repository or on their website (ie. a copy of a work which has been published in a UTS ePRESS journal, or a pre-print or post-print version of that work), we request that they include a statement that acknowledges the UTS ePRESS publication including the name of the journal, the volume number and a web-link to the journal item.

d) Authors should be aware that the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License permits readers to share (copy and redistribute the work in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the work) for any purpose, even commercially, provided they also give appropriate credit to the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. They may do these things in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests you or your publisher endorses their use.

Author Biography

Tanja Dreher, University of Technology Sydney

Tanja Dreher is the senior researcher at UTS Shopfront and completed the ‘Tune in to Fairfield’ project during her doctoral candidature at the Centre for Cultural Research, University of
Western Sydney.

Article Sidebar

Main Article Content

Abstract

Article Details

Tanja Dreher, University of Technology Sydney