No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The Internet is now a significant medium for sport coverage, allowing fans to access the latest news about their favourite team, sport or event. To date, Internet sport journalists, the content creators of sporting news websites, have received little attention in academic research. Accordingly, the aim of this research project was to construct a profile of Australian Internet sport journalists within the context of recent developments in the field of sport and new media. In terms of print journalism, some researchers have previously examined the educational background, working practices and self-assessment of print sport journalists. Similar themes were explored in this thesis, using semi-structured interviews with thirteen Internet sport journalists. Key research questions that guided the study were: How did the subjects become Internet sport journalists? What are their work routines? What are their experiences of online sport journalism and what is their perception of the future of sport journalism? It was discovered that, with certain limitations, traditional journalism skills still apply to the Internet sport environment. In comparison to print media, Internet sport journalists tend to write shorter articles, have to respond to a continuous deadline and do not work within a traditional beat system. In addition, it can be noted that the interactivity of the Internet forces Internet sport journalists to continually re-evaluate their skills and the manner in which they respond to their audience. Overall, this thesis provides important insights into the working practices of Australian Internet sport journalists and the online environment, an occupational field that is currently in a considerable state of flux.

The United Nations peacekeeping intervention into Timor Leste following September 1999 signalled a victory for the 24-year Timorese struggle for independence. To date most evaluations of this intervention have taken “problem-solving” approaches, which have primarily considered how to improve the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping operations. This has left a gap about the impact of the UN’s overall strategic approach to political reconstruction in transitional societies recovering from chaos. In order to fill this gap this research draws upon the lessons of intrastate conflict and state-failure in post-colonial states during the 1990s and uses an institutional peace-building framework to evaluate the impact of the UN’s political reconstruction efforts in Timor Leste. This study traces Timor Leste’s post-conflict state-building through different stages of post-conflict state-building between 1999 and 2005 and examines how new patterns of political conflict have changed. One of the principal areas of consideration is the role of democratisation as a method of transferring potentially violent factional conflict into a peaceful rule-governed institutional setting. Also considered is the role of administrative and political decentralisation as a method of consolidating post-conflict peace by strengthening the legitimacy of a new state from the “bottom upwards”. By doing so, this study contributes to the growing interest among academics and peacekeeping practitioners about the role of participatory peacekeeping interventions into post-conflict societies. This work also assesses how and the extent to which UN and international aid agencies contributed to achieving sustainable peace and development in Timor Leste through institutional peace-building. Timor Leste continues to face reconstruction challenges peculiar to its history of occupation and resistance, which threaten to undermine the successes of state-building. Nevertheless, this thesis argues that state-building under the tutelage of the UN was a tremendous success. The findings drawn offer valuable political reconstruction lessons for Timor Leste, as well as other post-conflict societies, that will help to consolidate transitions from conflict to peace.

This thesis is an exploration of gender relations in contemporary Papua New Guinea. It is dedicated to unveiling the standpoints of senior men in a range of powerful senior positions towards issues of gender, and asks the question ‘How do contemporary big men conceptualise their own and others’ masculinity?’ Firstly, it begins with a discussion of the legacy of the colonial era in terms of gendered power and looks at some of the ways in which Western Anthropologists typified masculinities and, to a lesser extent, femininities. Secondly, it surveys a range of literature written within the West which deals with theories of gender and attempts to apply these to the Papua New Guinean context. Following this is the chapter which gives an overview of the methodological considerations and research methods employed in the thesis. Using a feminist perspective, it goes on to investigate the perspectives of a number of men who hold senior positions within the education system, the public service, non-government organisations and the government itself in order to ascertain what, if any, contribution they offer the project of developing gender equity. In doing so, it considers the typologies of masculinity problematised by the participants and a model of their interrelation and intersections is offered.

This dissertation examines the historical traditions and ritual representations of Incan society through the conceptual framework of dual organization. Broadly defined as the division of society into opposed halves, dual organization has been an enduring pattern of social classification in South America. In Pre-Hispanic times, it characterised the social and spatial organization of Cuzco -- the imperial capital of Tawantinsuyu -- which was divided into two asymmetric moieties, Hanan and Urin, composed of several elite factions. Analysis of this system has been hitherto restricted to a branch of ethnohistory informed by structural and cultural anthropology. Very few works have yet investigated the dynamics that linked dualism with the shaping of an historical consciousness proper to the pre-Hispanic ruling elite. The present thesis offers to fill this lacuna in modern scholarship by reassessing Incan narratives in the light of moiety division. In doing so, it identifies the traits proper to two distinctive bodies of Incan traditions, each of which encloses a particular, and mutually conflicting, representation of the past reflecting the moieties' respective perspectives. Such an approach not only harmonizes many discrepancies affecting primary sources on Incan society, but also enables a re-examination of other forms of dualist representation in Incan religion. Three case studies are therefore considered through this methodological approach: the structure of Incan cosmology, the seasonal division of the metropolitan calendar, and the ritual expressions of social antagonisms. The first case study suggests that Incan religion was divided into two sub-cults headed by divinities that were complementary in overseeing water regulation throughout the annual cycle. The second case study shows that the dual division of yearly activities did not coincide sensu stricto with the temporal setting of the Andean meteorological seasons, but rather followed a time framework guided by communal activities and astronomical knowledge. The last case study reveals that the formal model of the conical clan not only clarifies the underlying structure of Incan descent, but also enlightens the triggering mechanisms of Incan succession wars and moiety conflicts. The outcome of this work decolonizes the Andean past by refining our understanding of historical representations in pre-colonial societies.

Adolescent sex offenders are recognised as perpetrating a significant proportion of all sexual abuse in our communities. The results of extensive research in this area have clarified many intervention issues and this has led to the development and implementation of treatment programmes aimed specifically at adolescents. Notwithstanding the publication of a small number of outcome studies, process evaluations of treatment programmes for this client group have not featured in the literature. This dissertation presents the findings of a process evaluation of the three main community based adolescent sexual offender treatment programmes in New Zealand. The evaluation aimed to investigate how the programmes worked so that their strengths and weaknesses could be identified. The findings provided the basis for recommendations aimed at improving service delivery and programme effectiveness. Qualitative methods were employed with data being obtained from in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, direct observation and written documentation across three sites. Results indicate (a) high levels of consumer satisfaction with the programmes; (b) the importance of providing flexible and integrated approaches to treatment; (c) engagement in treatment was facilitated by the quality of the client-therapist relationship, family involvement, culturally appropriate communication, and creative and physical activities; (d) the importance of providing clients with good pre-entry information to reduce barriers to participation; (e) recognition should be given to issues of cultural difference by ensuring cultural services for ethnic minorities are integrated into all levels of programme delivery; (f) the importance of building strong interagency collaborations and public relations; and (g) the importance of strong organisational structure and leadership support for staff. The results are discussed in terms of programme improvement in the New Zealand context as well as their application to programme development and improvement in other settings.

Adolescent sex offenders are recognised as perpetrating a significant proportion of all sexual abuse in our communities. The results of extensive research in this area have clarified many intervention issues and this has led to the development and implementation of treatment programmes aimed specifically at adolescents. Notwithstanding the publication of a small number of outcome studies, process evaluations of treatment programmes for this client group have not featured in the literature. This dissertation presents the findings of a process evaluation of the three main community based adolescent sexual offender treatment programmes in New Zealand. The evaluation aimed to investigate how the programmes worked so that their strengths and weaknesses could be identified. The findings provided the basis for recommendations aimed at improving service delivery and programme effectiveness. Qualitative methods were employed with data being obtained from in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, direct observation and written documentation across three sites. Results indicate (a) high levels of consumer satisfaction with the programmes; (b) the importance of providing flexible and integrated approaches to treatment; (c) engagement in treatment was facilitated by the quality of the client-therapist relationship, family involvement, culturally appropriate communication, and creative and physical activities; (d) the importance of providing clients with good pre-entry information to reduce barriers to participation; (e) recognition should be given to issues of cultural difference by ensuring cultural services for ethnic minorities are integrated into all levels of programme delivery; (f) the importance of building strong interagency collaborations and public relations; and (g) the importance of strong organisational structure and leadership support for staff. The results are discussed in terms of programme improvement in the New Zealand context as well as their application to programme development and improvement in other settings.

No description available.