The contemporary notion of sustainability is emerging as a political response to ecological and social problems associated with human development. It is a contested concept - eco-modernists interpret it as a call to rethink or adjust industrial production systems while others interpret it as a fundamental challenge to the dominant development paradigm. Corporations are playing a key role in shaping the discourse. Many argue that since corporations have enormous influence in the global political economy, they must take the lead in the search for sustainability. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) promotes eco-efficiency - an eco-modernist stance - as the primary business contribution to sustainability. However, the potential of the corporate focus on efficiency to contribute to sustainability is a subject of debate. In this thesis, I use a heterogeneous methodological approach to explore the interaction between corporations (with a focus on multinational corporations) and the discourse of sustainability in order to identify the potential for positive outcomes. I consider the compatibility of aspects of corporate identity and organisational structure to the ethos of sustainability. This leads to an examination of the meeting between corporations and sustainability as a reflexive process, paying particular attention to the ways in which language and mythology serve to uphold or transform existing power relations. I also explore forms of knowledge relevant to sustainability, comparing those that are typically emphasized in corporate enterprise with traditional, Indigenous and local ways of knowing that are essential to sustainability. The knowledge of classical equestrianism is used as an example in this analysis. Practical ways of including all these essential perspectives in the discourse are considered. The thesis concludes that certain aspects of corporate identity, structure and function are incompatible with the ideals of sustainability and that these disparities must be borne in mind as corporations attempt to embrace sustainability. I contend that sustainability requires network approaches that integrate strong and weak relations as well as diverse values and forms of knowledge. Sustainability can only be achieved with broad civic engagement that allows the synergistic combination of all values and knowledges relevant to sustainability. Furthermore, I argue that while corporations’ orientation towards market-based strategies has significant potential to support sustainability, it is limited since the market is fundamentally constituted by a network of weak ties. Therefore the thesis argues that while corporations can provide significant benefits in terms of sustainability, they cannot be expected to lead the sustainability agenda as it requires discursive plurality. The efficacy of the corporate contribution to sustainability will be greatly enhanced if companies are guided by strong democratic processes of deliberation and community engagement.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / How do Anglo-Australian artists paint themselves into the landscape with relevance and integrity, in spite of our complicated history? How do we submit to our own ‘small narratives’ and express an experience of land which considers but is not muted by postcolonial dialogues? How do individual artists form a visual language respondent to place and instructed by creative chance? The painting studio is where these questions are raised and where formal problems arise. Disparate ideas are tested in the search for marks and images to build an ambiguous sensation of place. Reflection, doubt, and wonder are the forces behind the paintings, but landscape is the sustaining narrative, and the inquiry is personal, equivocal. A remote valley on the Ellenborough River forms the back-ground to the current body of work, but my practice has taken me to desert communities during the past decade. Living and working in these environments where Indigenous artists paint without inherent effort, immersed in their big narratives of country, our choice to paint landscape is a continual challenge. Regular field trips to the valley and visits back to the desert, immersion in the patterns and phenomena of land, issues of belonging, impermanence and nostalgia have driven this investigation. The almost anachronistic studio practice results in an exhibition of on-site drawings and painted landscape memoirs. In the exegesis I examine my work through the prism of paintings by Indigenous artists from Haasts Bluff and Milikapiti. Non-Indigenous artists who engage with issues of landscape in a contemporary Australian context are also investigated, with a focus on cross-cultural dialogues, collaborations and formal painterly responses.

This project will explore a fusion of Tangata Whenua and Pacific perspectives within a performance installation framework. I intend to juxtapose community narratives within a video art form. I will explore the recording and transmitting of indigenous stories and will create contemporary narratives linking the past to the present. Working within my communities, (Tangata Whenua1, Pacific2, artists from different disciplines, LGBT3, and extensive friends networks), this project will investigate aspects of performance installation using live sets amid recordings of conversations and develop an interviewing practice. The performances are temporary and the devices ad-hoc.

In 2003, an intertidal fish, the Australian oyster blenny (Omobranchus anolius) was discovered in Auckland, New Zealand. Subsequent surveys of the inner Hauraki Gulf found only 24 specimens, the majority of which (n=20) occurred at a single location within Tamaki River. Most non-indigenous species do not establish viable populations, few of those that do spread; even fewer become abundant and widespread and have negative ecological impacts. Little was known about the ecology of this fish, it was unclear whether it would establish and spread in New Zealand, and in the event it did, what effect it would have on native flora and fauna.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Columbia International University, Columbia, S.C., 1995. / "The specific focus of this investigation is on the relationship between national churches and missionary organizations"--Leaf 1. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-255).

Thesis (M. Ed. )--Edith Cowan University, 2006. / Submitted to the Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-284).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Columbia International University, Columbia, S.C., 1995. / "The specific focus of this investigation is on the relationship between national churches and missionary organizations"--Leaf 1. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-255).

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi, 1996. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-273).

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1996. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-151).