Culture

Analysis and Comment (7)

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Many non-western cultures recognise states of mind that look like mental illness but don’t fit DSM categories. Todd Huffman

Strange or just plain weird? Cultural variation in mental illness

By Dominic Murphy

MATTERS OF THE MIND – a series which examines the clinician’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders, the DSM, and the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition. There’s an old saying that…
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Like the cultural forms that came before them, videogames overlap with everything. Axel Pfaender

Freeplay reminds us videogames matter: the ‘culture’ debate is over

By Brendan Keogh, RMIT University

Last week’s Freeplay Independent Games Festival in Melbourne served as a reminder that videogames – all videogames – are culturally significant. Freeplay, which gives people from Australia’s videogame…
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Germaine Greer is right: female genital mutilation and female genital cosmetic surgery are both “cultural” issues. bombhead

Female genital cosmetic surgery: a labial obsession

By Camille Nurka, University of Melbourne

On last night’s Q&A, feminist campaigner Germaine Greer suggested a comparison between practices of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Africa and female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS) in Western nations…
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While FGC is common in Africa, the practice is illegal in many Western countries. Flickr/tlupic

Time for change: the harms of female genital cutting

By Keith Allan, Monash University

Female genital cutting (FGC) – also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) or female circumcision – is widely practised in Africa and has been described by UNICEF “one of the worst violations of the…
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The true value of art cannot be measured by economic standards. Flickr/TruShu

Game of funds: return of the culture wars?

By Gretchen Coombs, Queensland University of Technology and Justin O'Connor, Queensland University of Technology

In 2012, public debate over the value of art and culture has reignited as conservative state governments in Victoria and Queensland cut arts funding from their budgets. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman…
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The length and width of countries might influence their cultural diversity … or not. byJoeLodge

Does the shape of countries shape their destiny?

By Chris Gibson and Natascha Klocker

Might the destiny of nations be controlled by the underlying shape of their geography? This is the subject of a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors…
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“Hipsters” are mocked at the moment, but do we even know who they really are? Wikimedia Commons/Jack Newton

Looking beyond the parody to define the hipster

By Sam Egan

The term “hipster” has become increasingly prominent in Australia’s urban lexicon this year. Even the Sydney Morning Herald has caught on, writing about “Hipster Housing”, featuring a young bespectacled…

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