Sarah Wright

Bio: Sarah Wright is an academic researcher from University of Newcastle. The author has contributed to research in topics: Indigenous & Loneliness. The author has an hindex of 27, co-authored 107 publications receiving 2396 citations. Previous affiliations of Sarah Wright include University of Canterbury & Information Technology University.

Co-becoming Bawaka: Towards a relational understanding of place/space

Abstract: We invite readers to dig for ganguri (yams) at and with Bawaka, an Indigenous Homeland in northern Australia, and, in doing so, consider an Indigenous-led understanding of relational space/place. W...

Measuring the Meaning of Meaningful Work Development and Validation of the Comprehensive Meaningful Work Scale (CMWS)

Abstract: In this article we build on two in-depth qualitative studies to systematically develop and validate a comprehensive measure of meaningful work. This scale provides a multidimensional, process-orien...

Geographies of Belonging

Abstract: Why belonging? Why geography? As we begin writing this guest editorial an e-mail alert informs us of a call for papers for the Social and Cultural Geography Study Group of the RGS-IBG for 2009 which seeks papers `̀ interested in the way the world works to produce social and cultural difference, engaging with key social science debates concerning identity, subjectivity, citizenship and belonging.'' This e-mail is indicative of the growth of recent research in geography which draws on belonging as a key concept. Sometimes, belonging is at the centre of the analysis but, more often, it is used in a way that implies a common understanding of what belonging is and why belonging is important. Needless to say, no such common understanding exists. Indeed, with the proliferation of belonging in human geography come the inevitable questions: what is belonging, how does one belong, and, importantly, what work does belonging as a concept do? In the introduction to this theme issue on `̀ Geographies of belonging'' we reflect on the notion of belonging, explore the work that belonging does in contemporary social science, particularly human geography, and outline the contributions of the theme issue. Belonging is mobilised in a range of spheres within human geography. Indeed, it is clearly possible to belong in many different ways at many different scales. Belonging has formal and informal aspects, implied, for example, by ideas of formal and informal citizenship and civic identity (Akinwumi, 2006; Alexander, 2008), is associated with exclusion and exclusionary processes (Anderson and Taylor, 2005; Diener, 2007; Ervine, 2008), is negotiated through practice and performance (Dyck, 2005; Mee, 2009; Walsh, 2006), through politics (McNevin, 2006; Trudeau, 2006), and through affect, such as yearning, affective responses to music, and as a response to risk and fear (Alexander, 2008; Duffy et al, 2007). Most commonly, belonging appears in the phrase, a `sense of belonging' (see, for example, Fenster, 2005; Mills, 2006; Walsh, 2006). Here the affective aspects of belonging are mobilised and the focus is on feelings of being in place. As the papers in this issue argue, belonging is an inherently geographical concept. Belonging connects matter to place, through various practices of boundary making and inhabitation which signal that a particular collection of objects, animals, plants, germs, people, practices, performances, or ideas is meant `to be' in a place [the `being' aspect of belonging as Probyn (1996) puts it]. The use of belonging also brings an affective dimension, people `long' (Probyn, 1996) to achieve these types of connections, and to ensure that the ensemble of objects, human and nonhuman animals, practices, and ideas that accords with their version of belonging is achieved or maintained. The intrinsically geographical nature of belonging as a concept may explain some of the appeal of the concept in contemporary human geography. In some work the connections between geography and belonging are the entry point and the focus of study. Geographical languages are mobilised in investigations of `place(s) of belonging' (McCreanor et al, 2006; Nelson and Hiemstra, 2008); `sites of belonging' (Dyck, 2005; Tolia-Kelly, 2006; Witten et al, 2007); `spaces of belonging' (Ehrkamp and Leitner, 2006; Mills, 2006; Nelson, 2007; Valentine and Skelton, 2007); `territory(ies) of belonging' (Tolia-Kelly, 2006), and `landscapes of belonging' (ToliaKelly, 2006; Trudeau, 2006). Such work teases out the complex and shifting geographies Guest editorial Environment and Planning A 2009, volume 41, pages 772 ^ 779

Working with and learning from Country: decentring human author-ity

Abstract: In this paper, we invite you night fishing for wakun at Bawaka, an Indigenous homeland in North East Arnhem Land, Australia. As we hunt wakun, we discuss our work as an Indigenous and non-Indigenous, human and more-than-human research collective trying to attend deeply to the messages we send and receive from, with and as a part of Country. The wakun, and all the animals, plants, winds, processes, things, dreams and people that emerge together in nourishing, co-constitutive ways to create Bawaka Country, are the author-ity of our research. Our reflection is both methodological and ontological as we aim to attend deeply to Country and deliberate on what a Yolŋu ontology of co-becoming, that sees everything as knowledgeable, vital and interconnected, might mean for the way academics do research. We discuss a methodology of attending underpinned by a relational ethics of care. Here, care stems from an awareness of our essential co-constitution as we care for, and are cared for by, the myriad human and more-t...

Caring as Country: Towards an ontology of co-becoming in natural resource management

Abstract: This collaboratively written paper takes the reader on a journey to Bawaka, in North East Arnhem Land, northern Australia, to explore how a Yolŋu ontology of co-becoming can inform natural resource management (NRM) theory and practice. By focusing on the process of gathering and sharing miyapunu mapu (turtle eggs) and the foundational Yolŋu concept of wetj, we challenge NRM to take seriously Indigenous ways of knowing and becoming, and to attend to the vibrant, more-than-human relationality of our world. We discuss this relational cosmology, highlighting the importance of being aware and attentive, as well as the underlying ethical imperative of responsibility and obligation. We argue that as important as the concept of Caring for Country has been for NRM in Australia, it is critical that the human imperative to care for Country is balanced with a multi-directional and beyond-human understanding of the human–Country relationship. This requires engagement with the ways Country also cares and acknowledgement that humans are part of Country and not separate from it. We therefore propose a reframing, that we not only Care for Country but Care as Country. This has implications for understanding the ways that humans can and should relate to the environment as they exist together through co-becoming.

Experience and Education.

Abstract: Preparing the books to read every day is enjoyable for many people. However, there are still many people who also don't like reading. This is a problem. But, when you can support others to start reading, it will be better. One of the books that can be recommended for new readers is experience and education. This book is not kind of difficult book to read. It can be read and understand by the new readers.

What is Narrative Analysis

Abstract: Recording of presentation introducing narrative analysis, outlining what it is, why it can be a useful approach, how to do it and where to find out more. Presentation given at methods@manchester seminar at University of Manchester on 4 March 2010.

Power, approach, and inhibition. Власть, напористость и подавленность

Abstract: Статья посвящена вопросам влияния власти на поведение человека. Авторы рассматривают данные различных источников, в которых увеличение власти связывается с напористостью, а ее уменьшение - с подавленностью. Конкретно, власть ассоциируется с: а) позитивным аффектом; б) вниманием к вознаграждению и к свойствам других, удовлетворяющим личные цели; в) автоматической переработкой информации и резкими суждениями; г) расторможенным социальным поведением. Уменьшение власти, напротив, ассоциируется с: а) негативным аффектом; б) вниманием к угрозам и наказаниям, к интересам других и к тем характеристикам я, которые отвечают целям других; в) контролируемой переработкой информации и совещательным типом рассуждений; г) подавленным социальным поведением. Обсуждаются также последствия этих паттернов поведения, связанных с властью, и потенциальные модераторы.