58124 Local Transformations

The way we think about relationships between the individual, local community life and the wider social order is addressed in this subject through investigation of the intersections between time, place and agency. Students investigate issues such as how the historical legacies of locality are connected to present possibilities and future hopes, how localities are produced in relation to each other in cross-national and trans-local interactions, and how local capacity or agency is linked to local, national and transnational power hierarchies, whether in terms of dominance or marginality.

An integrated application of historical, political and sociological approaches to these questions points to the importance of archival research and capacity to undertake on-the-ground ethnographies. Students engage a range of theoretical approaches and integrate them with archival and ethnographic methods, developing communication skills to present resulting insights. The subject draws on case studies at the local level in Australian society, including indigenous contexts or environmental concerns, to develop students' capacity to apply historical, sociological and political theory to experiences of place, agency and change.