Monographs by Zoe Alderton
Preventing Harmful Behaviour in Online Communities explores the ethics and logistics of censoring... more Preventing Harmful Behaviour in Online Communities explores the ethics and logistics of censoring problematic communications online that might encourage a person to engage in harmful behaviour.
Using an approach based on theories of digital rhetoric and close primary source analysis, Zoe Alderton draws on group dynamics research in relation to the way in which some online communities foster negative and destructive ideas, encouraging community members to engage in practices including self-harm, disordered eating, and suicide. This book offers insight into the dangerous gap between the clinical community and caregivers versus the pro-anorexia and pro-self-harm communities – allowing caregivers or medical professionals to understand hidden online communities young people in their care may be part of. It delves into the often-unanticipated needs of those who band together to resist the healthcare community, suggesting practical ways to address their concerns and encourage healing. Chapters investigate the alarming ease with which ideas of self-harm can infect people through personal contact, community unease, or even fiction and song and the potential of the internet to transmit self-harmful ideas across countries and even periods of time. The book also outlines the real nature of harm-based communities online, examining both their appeal and dangers, while also examining self-censorship and intervention methods for dealing with harmful content online.
Rather than pointing to punishment or censorship as best practice, the book offers constructive guidelines that outline a more holistic approach based on the validity of expressing negative mood and the creation of safe peer support networks, making it ideal reading for professionals protecting vulnerable people, as well as students and academics in psychology, mental health, and social care.
The Aesthetics of Self-Harm presents a new approach to understanding parasuicidal behaviour, base... more The Aesthetics of Self-Harm presents a new approach to understanding parasuicidal behaviour, based upon an examination of online communities that promote performances of self-harm in the pursuit of an idealised beauty. The book considers how online communities provide a significant level of support for self-harmers and focuses on relevant case studies to establish a new model for the comprehension of the online supportive community.
To do so, Alderton explores discussions of self-harm and disordered eating on social networks. She examines aesthetic trends that contextualise harmful behavior and help people to perform feelings of sadness and vulnerability online. Alderton argues that the traditional understanding of self-violence through medical discourse is important, but that it misses vital elements of human group activity and the motivating forces of visual imagery.
Covering psychiatry and psychology, rhetoric and sociology, this book provides essential reading for psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists exploring group dynamics and ritual, and rhetoricians who are concerned with the communicative powers of images. It should also be of great interest to medical professionals dealing with self-harming patients.
The Spirit of Colin McCahon provides a vivid historical contextualisation of New Zealand’s premie... more The Spirit of Colin McCahon provides a vivid historical contextualisation of New Zealand’s premier modern artist, clearly explaining his esoteric religious themes and symbols. Via a framework of visual rhetoric, this text explores the social factors that formed McCahon’s religious and environmental beliefs, coupled with justification as to why his audience often missed the intended point of spiritual his discourse – or chose to ignore it. The Spirit of Colin McCahon tracks the intricate process by which the artist’s body of work turned from optimism to misery, and explains the many communicative techniques he employed in order to arrest suspicion towards his Christian prophecy.
More broadly, The Spirit of Colin McCahon outlines a model of analysis for the intersection of art and religion, and the place of images as rhetorical devices within Antipodean culture. The emerging field of religion and visual culture is important not only to students of New Zealand art history, but also to a growing field of appreciation for the communicative power of images. The Spirit of Colin McCahon provides a helpful model for examining art and literature as social and religious tools, and advances the importance of visual rhetoric within studies of art and social expression.
Book Chapters by Zoe Alderton
Secularisation: New Historical Perspectives, Jun 2014
This file is a pre-publication version. Consult published volume for correct pagination and final... more This file is a pre-publication version. Consult published volume for correct pagination and final version of text.
Te Papa is a state museum, funded by taxpayers of a secular nation. Its major goal is to articulate the spirit of New Zealand and represent the identity of its citizens. The manner in which it describes and celebrates the national soul is deeply spiritualised. This chapter questions the place of state institutions when they deal with, and stand in place of, sacred machinery. The sacrality of this New Zealand national gallery operates on a number of levels. Primarily, it seeks to tell the story of the nation, including narratives of origin and present-day unity. In addition, Te Papa seeks to catalogue and display the natural elements of New Zealand such as its geography and wildlife. This confirms the nation as a system that both studies and is integrated with its natural environment. Te Papa is also an important national art gallery. In this capacity, it develops sacral potential in two ways. It works as a collection of art and, in a manner outlined by Carol Duncan, it acts as a legitimising force and ritual space for the display of artefacts that amplify the authority of New Zealand’s claims to ‘civilisation’. Te Papa also displays art that itself comments on the sacral dimensions of New Zealand, such as that of Colin McCahon.
Because Te Papa aims to be inclusive of the entire New Zealand experience, the gallery has become custodian of a range of sacred Māori items that must be dealt with religiously in order to honour their ongoing contribution and deep importance to local culture. Once, such items were collected because of their anthropological import when the academic pursuit, in its colonial guise, determined their value. Now, however, there has been a significant change in their religious status. Whilst many museums have placed Pacific cultural items behind the glass of the exhibition cabinet, Te Papa treats Māori culture as a dynamic and important element of the workplace and its collections. Rather than preserving sacred antiquities for display, Te Papa are devoted to returning important pieces to their traditional owners albeit with the foreknowledge that not all these traditional owners are alive or traceable.
This programme of repatriating human remains is of particular importance. Whilst most remains are returned to their decedents, un-provenanced remains are stored in Te Papa’s wāhi tapu – a sacred vault. The wāhi tapu is controlled and maintained via traditional ritual including ablutions before entering and the recitation of burial site prayers. Whilst culturally appropriate, these actions raise many questions in regard to where the line of secularity is drawn. It is on this particular blurred boundary that this chapter concentrates. Here I examine how sacral objects, including human remains, are treated in Te Papa in order to explore the state’s negotiation of religious values in the context of honouring enduring pre-colonial Māori belief systems. This highlights the very particular religious operation of the state itself and shows that arguments for or against the existence of a secularising state should not be based on that which is traditionally categorised as religious infrastructure by Western academia.
Journeys and Destinations: Studies in Travel, Identity, and Meaning, edited by Alex Norman, Jul 2013
Colin McCahon, one of New Zealand’s major modern artists, dedicated a significant portion of his ... more Colin McCahon, one of New Zealand’s major modern artists, dedicated a significant portion of his oeuvre to a spiritual exploration of the beach environment, which may be read as a site of imaginative pilgrimage. Created as a means of engaging with death, McCahon’s ‘beach walk’ artworks correlate Māori walk to the afterlife with the Stations of the Cross ritual, based the journey Christ took before his execution. There is a clear performative aspect to these artworks. The viewer is asked to join in and journey with the artist. This is an act of spiritual travel that is aimed at a refinement of the self. McCahon uses the beach at Muriwai, Ahipara, and Cape Reinga as the backdrop for a metaphoric walk, based on Māori mythology, which bridges the living with the dead. His foggy beach environment creates a liminal space where the physical world changes form and permits a visionary experience. McCahon recounts the presence of dead companions during his beach walks and dedicated several of these artworks to his friend, the recently deceased poet James K. Baxter.
Papers by Zoe Alderton
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion
Literature Aesthetics, Nov 16, 2011
Literature Aesthetics, Jun 24, 2014
Fieldwork in Religion, 2016
In this research, a cohort of Australian scholars document one particular example of the Australi... more In this research, a cohort of Australian scholars document one particular example of the Australian sacred ritual of Anzac Day, and apply Gay McAuley’s model of performance analysis to this and other associated rituals. To analyse any performance, McAuley suggests that the observer investigate four distinct stages of the performative action: (1) the “material signifiers” in the performance space; (2) the “narrative content and/or performance segmentation”; (3) the “paradigmatic axis” of the performance; and (4) the “global statement” of the performance. In this article, Hartney examines the “material signifiers” that mark this pilgrimage the authors make to Canberra and the construction of the Anzac Day Dawn Service. Alderton examines the narrative content and performance segmentation by focusing on how the ostensibly “White” performance of the Dawn Service relies on a narrative that excludes Indigenous voices. She does this through her analysis of the subsequent Indigenous remembrance service held on the same day, and other unofficial protests for recognition of Australian frontier wars. Tower then examines the paradigmatic axis of the ritual through a strategy of examining light and vision in the ritual, how light is connected to remembrance, and the manner in which an analysis of light focuses attention on what Max Frisch calls the magnetic field between perception and imagination. All three authors address McAuley’s concept of the “global statement” that the performance seems to manufacture. They examine how this fits into the Australian national religious system. Finally, they assess the relevance of McAuley’s schema for understanding national sacred rituals.
Religions, Mar 3, 2014
The book and film franchise of Harry Potter has inspired a monumental fandom community with a ver... more The book and film franchise of Harry Potter has inspired a monumental fandom community with a veracious output of fanfiction and general musings on the text and the vivid universe contained therein. A significant portion of these texts deal with Professor Severus Snape, the stern Potions Master with ambiguous ethics and loyalties. This paper explores a small community of Snape fans who have gone beyond a narrative retelling of the character as constrained by the work of Joanne Katherine Rowling. The ‘Snapewives’ or ‘Snapists’ are women who channel Snape, are engaged in romantic relationships with him, and see him as a vital guide for their daily lives. In this context, Snape is viewed as more than a mere fictional creation. He is seen as a being that extends beyond the Harry Potter texts with Rowling perceived as a flawed interpreter of his supra-textual essence. While a Snape religion may be seen as the extreme end of the Harry Potter fandom, I argue that religions of this nature are not uncommon, unreasonable, or unprecedented. Popular films are a mechanism for communal bonding, individual identity building, and often contain their own metaphysical discourses. Here, I plan to outline the manner in which these elements resolve within extreme Snape fandom so as to propose a nuanced model for the analysis of fandom-inspired religion without the use of unwarranted veracity claims.
Aesthetics, Vol. 23, No. 1
This paper examines the schism between intended message and reception in the case of New Zealand ... more This paper examines the schism between intended message and reception in the case of New Zealand artist Colin McCahon (1919–1987). McCahon was heavily influenced by Christianity, for him linked inextricably to a message of ecological conservation, and he considered painting to be a prophetic task. As such, McCahon hoped to bring about the religious and behavioural transformation of his audience. McCahon’s Necessary Protection artworks use Christian symbols as a means of communicating the importance of faith as well as his fear of environmental degradation and the necessity of loving one’s homeland. However, McCahon’s complex symbolic lexicon has often proven to be too esoteric to have the intended affect on its intended audience.
Sydney Studies in Religion, Jan 1, 2009
Conference Presentations by Zoe Alderton
By 2001, the internet was a typical part of American homes and the everyday lives of young people... more By 2001, the internet was a typical part of American homes and the everyday lives of young people. Using new services like Yahoo! Groups, teenagers were able to gather together and explore deviant identities and pathologies without the interference of doctors and parents. Out of this milieu came a religious devotion to anorexia called ‘pro-ana’. This faith started with a cult to the new deity of starvation Anamadim, then moved on to the goddess Ana and her famine creeds, then finally the casting of emoji spells for rapid weight loss. In this presentation, I explore pro-ana faiths as a kind of NRM created by minors rather than enforced upon them by birth or family conversion. Study of the religious dimensions of pro-ana reveals a group of vulnerable young people with a deep wish to transform, vanish, or reach a higher form of existence via an emaciated body and the rejection of conventional nutrition. While this is a fairly common pattern in world-renouncing movements, it forms an interesting example of children as perpetrators of religious scandal rather than as passive victims of adult behaviour or ideology.
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Monographs by Zoe Alderton
Using an approach based on theories of digital rhetoric and close primary source analysis, Zoe Alderton draws on group dynamics research in relation to the way in which some online communities foster negative and destructive ideas, encouraging community members to engage in practices including self-harm, disordered eating, and suicide. This book offers insight into the dangerous gap between the clinical community and caregivers versus the pro-anorexia and pro-self-harm communities – allowing caregivers or medical professionals to understand hidden online communities young people in their care may be part of. It delves into the often-unanticipated needs of those who band together to resist the healthcare community, suggesting practical ways to address their concerns and encourage healing. Chapters investigate the alarming ease with which ideas of self-harm can infect people through personal contact, community unease, or even fiction and song and the potential of the internet to transmit self-harmful ideas across countries and even periods of time. The book also outlines the real nature of harm-based communities online, examining both their appeal and dangers, while also examining self-censorship and intervention methods for dealing with harmful content online.
Rather than pointing to punishment or censorship as best practice, the book offers constructive guidelines that outline a more holistic approach based on the validity of expressing negative mood and the creation of safe peer support networks, making it ideal reading for professionals protecting vulnerable people, as well as students and academics in psychology, mental health, and social care.
To do so, Alderton explores discussions of self-harm and disordered eating on social networks. She examines aesthetic trends that contextualise harmful behavior and help people to perform feelings of sadness and vulnerability online. Alderton argues that the traditional understanding of self-violence through medical discourse is important, but that it misses vital elements of human group activity and the motivating forces of visual imagery.
Covering psychiatry and psychology, rhetoric and sociology, this book provides essential reading for psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists exploring group dynamics and ritual, and rhetoricians who are concerned with the communicative powers of images. It should also be of great interest to medical professionals dealing with self-harming patients.
More broadly, The Spirit of Colin McCahon outlines a model of analysis for the intersection of art and religion, and the place of images as rhetorical devices within Antipodean culture. The emerging field of religion and visual culture is important not only to students of New Zealand art history, but also to a growing field of appreciation for the communicative power of images. The Spirit of Colin McCahon provides a helpful model for examining art and literature as social and religious tools, and advances the importance of visual rhetoric within studies of art and social expression.
Book Chapters by Zoe Alderton
Te Papa is a state museum, funded by taxpayers of a secular nation. Its major goal is to articulate the spirit of New Zealand and represent the identity of its citizens. The manner in which it describes and celebrates the national soul is deeply spiritualised. This chapter questions the place of state institutions when they deal with, and stand in place of, sacred machinery. The sacrality of this New Zealand national gallery operates on a number of levels. Primarily, it seeks to tell the story of the nation, including narratives of origin and present-day unity. In addition, Te Papa seeks to catalogue and display the natural elements of New Zealand such as its geography and wildlife. This confirms the nation as a system that both studies and is integrated with its natural environment. Te Papa is also an important national art gallery. In this capacity, it develops sacral potential in two ways. It works as a collection of art and, in a manner outlined by Carol Duncan, it acts as a legitimising force and ritual space for the display of artefacts that amplify the authority of New Zealand’s claims to ‘civilisation’. Te Papa also displays art that itself comments on the sacral dimensions of New Zealand, such as that of Colin McCahon.
Because Te Papa aims to be inclusive of the entire New Zealand experience, the gallery has become custodian of a range of sacred Māori items that must be dealt with religiously in order to honour their ongoing contribution and deep importance to local culture. Once, such items were collected because of their anthropological import when the academic pursuit, in its colonial guise, determined their value. Now, however, there has been a significant change in their religious status. Whilst many museums have placed Pacific cultural items behind the glass of the exhibition cabinet, Te Papa treats Māori culture as a dynamic and important element of the workplace and its collections. Rather than preserving sacred antiquities for display, Te Papa are devoted to returning important pieces to their traditional owners albeit with the foreknowledge that not all these traditional owners are alive or traceable.
This programme of repatriating human remains is of particular importance. Whilst most remains are returned to their decedents, un-provenanced remains are stored in Te Papa’s wāhi tapu – a sacred vault. The wāhi tapu is controlled and maintained via traditional ritual including ablutions before entering and the recitation of burial site prayers. Whilst culturally appropriate, these actions raise many questions in regard to where the line of secularity is drawn. It is on this particular blurred boundary that this chapter concentrates. Here I examine how sacral objects, including human remains, are treated in Te Papa in order to explore the state’s negotiation of religious values in the context of honouring enduring pre-colonial Māori belief systems. This highlights the very particular religious operation of the state itself and shows that arguments for or against the existence of a secularising state should not be based on that which is traditionally categorised as religious infrastructure by Western academia.
Papers by Zoe Alderton
Conference Presentations by Zoe Alderton
Using an approach based on theories of digital rhetoric and close primary source analysis, Zoe Alderton draws on group dynamics research in relation to the way in which some online communities foster negative and destructive ideas, encouraging community members to engage in practices including self-harm, disordered eating, and suicide. This book offers insight into the dangerous gap between the clinical community and caregivers versus the pro-anorexia and pro-self-harm communities – allowing caregivers or medical professionals to understand hidden online communities young people in their care may be part of. It delves into the often-unanticipated needs of those who band together to resist the healthcare community, suggesting practical ways to address their concerns and encourage healing. Chapters investigate the alarming ease with which ideas of self-harm can infect people through personal contact, community unease, or even fiction and song and the potential of the internet to transmit self-harmful ideas across countries and even periods of time. The book also outlines the real nature of harm-based communities online, examining both their appeal and dangers, while also examining self-censorship and intervention methods for dealing with harmful content online.
Rather than pointing to punishment or censorship as best practice, the book offers constructive guidelines that outline a more holistic approach based on the validity of expressing negative mood and the creation of safe peer support networks, making it ideal reading for professionals protecting vulnerable people, as well as students and academics in psychology, mental health, and social care.
To do so, Alderton explores discussions of self-harm and disordered eating on social networks. She examines aesthetic trends that contextualise harmful behavior and help people to perform feelings of sadness and vulnerability online. Alderton argues that the traditional understanding of self-violence through medical discourse is important, but that it misses vital elements of human group activity and the motivating forces of visual imagery.
Covering psychiatry and psychology, rhetoric and sociology, this book provides essential reading for psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists exploring group dynamics and ritual, and rhetoricians who are concerned with the communicative powers of images. It should also be of great interest to medical professionals dealing with self-harming patients.
More broadly, The Spirit of Colin McCahon outlines a model of analysis for the intersection of art and religion, and the place of images as rhetorical devices within Antipodean culture. The emerging field of religion and visual culture is important not only to students of New Zealand art history, but also to a growing field of appreciation for the communicative power of images. The Spirit of Colin McCahon provides a helpful model for examining art and literature as social and religious tools, and advances the importance of visual rhetoric within studies of art and social expression.
Te Papa is a state museum, funded by taxpayers of a secular nation. Its major goal is to articulate the spirit of New Zealand and represent the identity of its citizens. The manner in which it describes and celebrates the national soul is deeply spiritualised. This chapter questions the place of state institutions when they deal with, and stand in place of, sacred machinery. The sacrality of this New Zealand national gallery operates on a number of levels. Primarily, it seeks to tell the story of the nation, including narratives of origin and present-day unity. In addition, Te Papa seeks to catalogue and display the natural elements of New Zealand such as its geography and wildlife. This confirms the nation as a system that both studies and is integrated with its natural environment. Te Papa is also an important national art gallery. In this capacity, it develops sacral potential in two ways. It works as a collection of art and, in a manner outlined by Carol Duncan, it acts as a legitimising force and ritual space for the display of artefacts that amplify the authority of New Zealand’s claims to ‘civilisation’. Te Papa also displays art that itself comments on the sacral dimensions of New Zealand, such as that of Colin McCahon.
Because Te Papa aims to be inclusive of the entire New Zealand experience, the gallery has become custodian of a range of sacred Māori items that must be dealt with religiously in order to honour their ongoing contribution and deep importance to local culture. Once, such items were collected because of their anthropological import when the academic pursuit, in its colonial guise, determined their value. Now, however, there has been a significant change in their religious status. Whilst many museums have placed Pacific cultural items behind the glass of the exhibition cabinet, Te Papa treats Māori culture as a dynamic and important element of the workplace and its collections. Rather than preserving sacred antiquities for display, Te Papa are devoted to returning important pieces to their traditional owners albeit with the foreknowledge that not all these traditional owners are alive or traceable.
This programme of repatriating human remains is of particular importance. Whilst most remains are returned to their decedents, un-provenanced remains are stored in Te Papa’s wāhi tapu – a sacred vault. The wāhi tapu is controlled and maintained via traditional ritual including ablutions before entering and the recitation of burial site prayers. Whilst culturally appropriate, these actions raise many questions in regard to where the line of secularity is drawn. It is on this particular blurred boundary that this chapter concentrates. Here I examine how sacral objects, including human remains, are treated in Te Papa in order to explore the state’s negotiation of religious values in the context of honouring enduring pre-colonial Māori belief systems. This highlights the very particular religious operation of the state itself and shows that arguments for or against the existence of a secularising state should not be based on that which is traditionally categorised as religious infrastructure by Western academia.
There are particular reasons for this. From the late-1980s onwards, therapeutic processes have encouraged sufferers to externalise the perceived cause of their suffering (Singler 2011, pp. 28–30). It is this process in particular that I focus on here, and I argue that this externalisation therapy, framed in medical processes at the time, has nevertheless made more possible the sacral and deification processes that I describe. Part of the healing process of this therapy model involves encouraging a patient to see their disorder as separate from their self-image so that they can start to contest compulsions brought on by it. As such, many eating disorder communities have fostered the idea that anorexia is an external force who can possess a person’s body, and who can be placated through worship. This makes for an interesting exploration into the creation of the sacred.
I will argue that ceremonial, ritualistic, and recreational violence are important parts of the New Zealand national identity and civil religious identity. The battle at Gallipoli and the subsequent Anzac legend have been employed as a source of national identity and maturity. Anzac mythology provides a blood-soaked couvade where the birth of the nation becomes a rigorously masculine act. This show of strength and sacrifice is ritually echoed in the national sport of rugby, which allows for these same attributes to be acted out in a more playful sense. In all of these mythologies, blood speaks of kinship and lineage. The blood of heroes becomes a hallowed ichor, and celebrates the giving of oneself for the state. I will explore the ways in which these narratives have been employed to create the ‘natural’ citizen who is rooted in the soil and bonded with the land.
While the more mystical and demonic elements of the Griffins’ vision are left absent from the average guidebook, citizens of Canberra and Australia as a whole are educated as to the purposeful layout of their capital. I will explore religious communities and commentators who feel that residence in Canberra opens one to higher possibilities and danger by means of its civic design. For example, New Age prophet Theresa Talea who believes that the Illuminati are presently using the sacred design of Canberra to control commerce, politics, and the military, plus a range of ley-line devotees and fairy-spotters who feel that Canberra is particularly able to summon rare and powerful beings. The civic-spiritual discourse of the Australian War Memorial is also broadcast by Canberra’s unusual design. With use of these case studies, I will demonstrate the profound impact of the Griffins’ mystical town planning and show just how important the layout of main streets and civic buildings can be.
The book and film franchise of Harry Potter has inspired a great deal of fanfiction – stories that have been written by fans to explore or re-invent the complex magical universe of JK Rowling. A significant portion of these texts deal with Severus Snape, the stern Potions Master with ambiguous ethics and loyalties. Snape is often imagined in a variety of amorous contexts, generally paired off with another fictive character from the Harry Potter universe. This paper explores a small community of Snape fans who have gone beyond a narrative retelling of the character. The Snapewives are women who channel Snape, are engaged in romantic relationships with him, and see him as a vital guide for their daily lives. In this context, Snape is viewed as more than a more fictional creation. He is seen as a being that extends beyond the Harry Potter texts with Rowling perceived as a flawed interpreter of his supra-textual essence.
In order to explore this relatively common metaphysical approach to fiction, I will employ Danielle Kirby’s classificatory system of metaphysical uses of popular fiction. Her taxonomy delineates the category of ‘text as reality’, in which “the text is constructed as a reality in itself, not simply within the internal logics of the narrative, but owning some form of extra-textual ontological status.” Under this schema, Snape exists as a being with thoughts and feelings independent of Rowling as author. His manifestation in the lives of the Snapewives is a powerful guiding force, which often leads them to be critical of his treatment within the canonical texts. Binding this small community is an overarching aesthetic of horror, masochism, and dark magic. Snape tends to manifest as a cruel master who makes costly demands of his lovers. In addition to an ontological discussion of Snape metaphysics, this paper will demonstrate the depth of which Snape has penetrated the lives of his wives via an examination of their aesthetic choices. Far from a casual influence, the aesthetic of Snape can be seen in their online names, clothing choices, and linguistic patterns.
This paper will explain how Anzac mythology has expanded over the past thirty-five years, with a focus on key occurrences such as the release of Peter Weir’s film Gallipoli (1981) and the reign of the conservative Howard government (1996-2007). As a counterpoint to the suspicion with which many New Religious Movements are viewed, Anzac mythology has evolved to become ‘normative’ and ‘traditional’. Popular media has embraced its ritual, and derisive attitudes are presently tantamount to desecration of the holy. Indeed, mainline religions—such as the Catholic Church in Sydney—increasingly seek to praise the Anzac spirit and accommodate its sacred martyrdom into their own theology. In an increasingly pluralistic nation, the Anzac legend hovers as a spectre of tradition and values to which newer Australians must adhere. This is complicated by the altering perceptions of Turkey within the mythology, and the presence of New Zealanders in the original troops.
Ultimately, this paper poses the idea that—in terms of Australian culture—the Anzac legend is the most popular and acceptable new mythology to have emerged from the post-war milieu. Thus it is valuable to consider what questions this modern national legend raises in regard to the definition of New Religious Movements more broadly.
Disbelief in gods or a supernatural dimension to the universe does not exclude a person from experiences that have generally been in the domain of mystical or transcendental practices. Through the lens of Simon Locke’s ‘enchanted science’, I will examine the atheistic wonderment inspired by the recent works of Richard Dawkins, explore the powerful cinematographic awe of scenes from Tree of Life (2011) and Melancholia (2011), and explain how Carl Sagan’s teachings of the cosmos encourage an imaginative disembodiment that is best described as ecstatic. I wish to suggest that the fear and wonder of the universe has been harnessed by texts such as these in order to challenge the ownership of powerful emotions and the barriers of what we might consider to be the religious.
Commencing with an historical examination of conflict in Colombia, I will establish the political circumstances that have lead to social upheaval in the region. By means of contrast, I will also explore the tenderness and reciprocal generosity at play within Puerto Berrío’s cemetery. Echavarría believes that Colombia is experiencing compassion fatigue after decades of sensationalist media and the normalisation of human slaughter. Death has become commonplace. By caring for strangers—whose bodies would have otherwise been consumed by fish and vultures—the people of Puerto Berrío ritualise the importance and dignity of the individual. They also bring together their threatened community in a time of civil disarray. I will conclude this presentation with a discussion of the differences between Colombian and Australian cultures in terms of the anonymous dead and the politics of representation and memorialisation.
In this paper, I will establish McCahon’s desire to speak to, and reform, New Zealand. The artist was concerned by environmental degradation, potential obliteration in the Cold War, and the spiritual blindness he saw as fuel for these wrongdoings. His latter-day vatic images employed Biblical language as a means of predicting the danger that lay ahead. McCahon’s ultimate concern was to establish a spiritual relationship between his community and the natural world. Speaking with the mantle of a prophet, McCahon stated that the parameter of an artwork should be greater than the edge of the canvas.
I argue that McCahon saw frames as an impingement upon his prophetic communication. In rejecting borders, he hoped to embroil his audience in a dynamic, didactic relationship with his paintings. He wished for his imagery to expand past the gallery space and into social behaviour. The paucity of his unframed materials was a reflection of his demotic statements, redolent with meaning. I will demonstrate how the unclean footsteps he left on his images denoted a spiritual journey; how the rough sackcloth he employed was a sign of guilt and loss; and how the pins that nailed his images to the gallery wall sought to evoke the suffering of Christ. All these messages culminate in his emphatic, prophetic call to change.
The Australian-born singer Nick Cave does not stand out as a religious luminary, yet he has used the Bible as a source of inspiration for the majority of his musical output. Cave expresses a profound gratefulness for the figure of Christ – not as a metaphysical saviour, but as a source of linguistic inspiration and elevation.
Within the dark, gruesome, and beautiful language of the Bible, Cave has found his muse.
For those of us who have chosen to live without religious teachings, there is a temptation to reject or ignore all that falls within the pages of scripture. But in doing so, we close ourselves off from centuries of beauty, creativity, and thought. We should be grateful for the creative endeavours of humanity, and we should be enthusiastic to consider the many forms in which these have taken. I will outline the successes of Cave in his pursuit of transcendence, bringing to life the example of someone who is creative and exploratory in a milieu of condemnation and blindness.
In this Art Set, we will be exploring the role of the TV screen in the transmission of images, and in the simulation of reality.
In this ArtSet, I will show you a range of important artworks that employ colour as a means of creating social transformation. Drawing from the ideas of Theosophy and Anthroposophy, these artists celebrate the power of colour, harmony, and shape.
In this “Age of Information” that we have only relatively recently entered into in ample measure, professional and amateur researchers alike are able to gain easy access to numerous machine-readable databases that are readily searchable on-line. Some of these databases store popular sources such as the historical newspapers of the world, while others store international official material such as travel and immigration documents. The picturesque General “Two-Gun” Cohen did, during his notable lifetime, quite understandably attract reams of attention from the world’s press. Spanning many years, the numerous resulting newspaper articles, which principally reported on his involvement in important current events, do in some cases provide a measure of backstory describing his remarkable life to date. In this process there is little written of his precise date of birth, but it is very often mentioned how he had been born in London. On the other hand, the international travel and immigration documents from Britain, Canada, and the United States do provide a date of birth, which rather frustratingly ranges between 1887, 1888, and 1889; but in all cases his place of birth is given as England. On the basis of the plentiful documentary evidence that is available from the popular and official sources mentioned above, it is quite clear that General Cohen had been born in England; and it was only the year of his birth that reasonably remained in doubt. When senior British intelligence operative and respected biographer, Commander Charles Drage, was faced with this uncertainty while conducting research for his book, Two-Gun Cohen (1954), he consulted the Thames Police Court Register for mentions of the young General Cohen. Here he discovered that the subject of his biography had appeared before two different magistrates on four separate occasions during April and May 1900. In each case the court officials, with time, resources, and professional experience at their disposal, had determined an 1889 date of birth for the young truant. With this reliable documentary evidence now at hand, Commander Drage was able to publish with confidence, and without risk to his credibility, the certain fact that the subject of his biography had been born in London in the year 1889.
Further to this:
1923 - “Morris Abraham Cohen is a British-born Canadian. Birthplace London.” Extracts from a July 1923 official communication sent from the Special Branch of London’s New Scotland Yard to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ottawa.
1925 – “Mr Cohen was born in London. It was in America he first met Dr Sun Yat Sen some 15 years ago. Since then he has been closely connected with the activities of the Kuomintang.” Extracts from a British Consul-General at Shanghai’s 31 August 1925 appraisal titled Memorandum Containing So Much of Cohen’s History as is Known Locally.
1930 – “Name: Cohen, Morris A. Status: Government Official – Advisor to Chinese Minister of Railways, Nanking. Nationality: Great Britain. Race: English. Place of birth: London, England.” Extracts from a U.S. Immigration Document dated October 9, 1930.
1931 – “Morris Abraham Cohen was born in London of Jewish parents. He now considers himself to be a Canadian.” These are the opening sentences to a comprehensive 26 June 1931 Royal Hong Kong Police intelligence report on Morris Abraham Cohen, “A.D.C. to the Nationalist Government of China at Canton”, who is presently “negotiating with Hong Kong Government officials.”
1935 – “Name – Cohen, Morris A.; Status – Diplomat; Occupation – Advisor to Canton Govt.; Nationality – Britain; Place of Birth – London, England.” Extracts taken from a U.S. immigration document. New York 27 Oct 1935.
1943 – “Name – Cohen, Morris Abraham; Place of Birth – London, England. Nationality – Canadian; Profession – Banker; Employment Status – Employed; Property left in Territory Under Enemy Control – Shares in China Light & Power Co. to Value of Can$40,000; Interned Stanley Civilian Internment Camp from Jan 1942 to Sept 1943 as an Official.” Extracts taken from Canadian immigration documents. Ottawa, October 1943.
1954 - “Throughout his life Morris Cohen had never wavered in his loyalty to England, the country of his birth.” Senior British intelligence officer, Commander Charles Drage (1954)
1956 – Commencement of a Jan 1, 1956 Report to the Director, Commonwealth Investigation Service, Canberra, Australia authored by A.G. Tilton, Investigator (formerly Special Branch Officer, Shanghai Municipal Police): “Re: Cohen, Morris Abraham – born London, England. His activities were of interest to the Shanghai Municipal Police during my service in Shanghai, 1927 – 1941.”
1970 - "Morris Abraham Cohen. Retired army general (Chinese army). Place of birth - London. Date and place of death - 7 Sept, 1970. Salford, Manchester." Extracts taken from Register of Deaths in the District of Salford, Manchester.
2024 – Numerous further mentions of General Cohen’s London birth can be found in various texts accompanying: Photos of Morris Abraham COHEN (aka Two-Gun) Gwulo.com
Michael Alderton further notes: With reference to the often-cited 1891 Census listings for the Joseph and Jane Cohen household at 53 Plummers Row, Mile End Old Town, it would be misleading to assume that the Morris Cohen listed there and the young General "Two-Gun" Cohen, generally known during his childhood years as Abraham Cohen, are one and the same person. It is quite possible that Morris Cohen, eldest son of Joseph and Jane Cohen, had died in Mile End Old Town during the fourth quarter of 1892. This could explain why Morris Cohen's name does not appear as a member of the Cohen household in the Census listings for 1901; and why, in the 1911 Census, Morris was enumerated in the sections of the census titled "Number of children born alive" and "Number of children who have died" as the only one of eight offspring born to Joseph and Jane Cohen who was no longer alive at that time. The real nature of the family relationship that flourished after 1901 between the future General "Two-Gun" Cohen, a destitute ward of London's Jewish industrial school, and Joseph and Jane Cohen, the Cannon Street Road Synagogue "gabbai" and his charitable wife, started out as one of caring, part-time foster parents and developed, over the years, a truly filial dimension as Abraham, in Canada, assumed the role and name of Morris.
The astonishingly fortunate, workhouse-born infant Cohen started out life as a Jewish ‘Oliver Twist’ (1838); and by no means an ‘Artful Dodger’. But in his very earliest years he seemed destined to grow up harshly like Arthur Morrison’s "Child of the Jago" (1897), rather than like one of Israel Zangwill’s sweeter, gentler ‘Children of the Ghetto" (1892), For the young Cohen a bad start became a lucky break when he was, as a 10 year old, fortuitously enrolled in the generous London Jewish Community’s newly-established, purpose-built, well-resourced, caring and nurturing religiously-run industrial school situated in semi-rural Hayes. Michael Alderton.
See also a previous article titled: "Notes on General Morris Cohen's Date of Birth"