This is the original Focus Australia page constructed in 1998 prior to the running of the Focus Australia Program.
Link to Full Focus Australia Page with frames
Focus Australia: A program of study Down Under
Also known as FocOz
Dr. Dave Richard (Biology), Dr. Rachana Sachdev (English) and Dr. ML Klotz (Psychology) announce the establishment of a Focus Australia (FocOz) program that will teach three courses in the spring semester of 1999, and include a two-week trip to Australia during the summer . The program will include a course in Biological Issues in Australia, one in Australian Literature and Post-Colonialism, and one on Environmental Psychology. The itinerary for June 1999 includes stays in Sydney and Cairns (as a base to visit the Great Barrier Reef, Cape Tribulation and the rainforest of the Cape York Peninsula). This program is along the same lines as other Focus programs in that a program of detailed study at Susquehanna will provide the background for the "bush" experience.
Active Image Map of Australia
If you have any questions about this program, or about your eligibility for this program, please do not hesitate to call one of us
Dr. Dave Richard: (717) 372-4206. richard@susqu.edu
Dr. M.L. Klotz: (717) 372-4382. email klotz@susqu.edu
Dr. Rachana Sachdev: (717) 372-4200. email rsachdev@susqu.edu
Back to Dr. Richard's Courses_and_syllabi. page.
Overview of the Focus Australia Program
Australia has occupied a unique peripheral position in world history and politics ever since its "discovery" in 1770 by Captain James Cook - it was the one nation primarily composed of the "dominant" British race (and not just the Irish) which retained the status of a colony until the twentieth century. It is one of two nations in the Southern hemisphere (alongside New Zealand) that has a predominantly white population yet has not played a significant role as a liaison in global political or economic relations. Australia has remained in the minds of many westerners as a land of ancestral criminals and exotic animals (made somewhat more familiar by Crocodile Dundee movies and Australian beer commercials). This marginal historical position is quite seriously at odds with the promise associated with Australia due to its geographical position and population. A study of the discrepancy between the potential and the reality may be useful in increasing our understanding of the dynamics of power and in redefining the boundaries between white and non-white, privileged and underprivileged nations.
One of the strengths of the proposed triad is the unusual diversity of origin of the faculty involved: an American (Klotz), a Southeast Asian (Sachdev), and a Briton (Richard). This mix of Asian, British and American backgrounds, which is particularly relevant to the Australian experience, will expose the students to multiple issues, ideas and perspectives. To enhance this sense of richness and diversity, and to develop a solid knowledge-base, we are planning to have considerable overlap in our courses.
In the three courses proposed for the spring of 1999, we will try to focus attention on this largely misunderstood country in an attempt to connect it in more concrete ways to the knowledge and experiences of the students involved. The courses include a study of the wildlife, discussion of environmental issues, and a comparison of Australian literature with mainstream English and American literature. Even though our interests in Australia are not primarily comparative, comparisons with the US and Great Britain will form an integral part of the methodology of study. Working both collectively and individually, we will ensure that the students are introduced to the history and culture of Australia in at least a basic way.
Students should enroll in as many of the following courses as possible. While it is preferable that students enroll in all of them, it is not essential.
Environmental Psychology. Dr. M.L. Klotz. Department of Psychology. (4 credit hours)
Environmental psychology is the study of the psychological processes governing human interaction with both natural and built environments. The course will be divided into 3 units: how we perceive and are influenced by environments, how we act upon environments, and how we react to environmental problems. For each unit, examples from both the US and Australia will be used.
Research has shown that many factors influence perception of and reactions to environments, including personality, arousal level, and past experiences. Research also indicates that environmental dimensions such as controllability and complexity have an impact on our reactions. We will explore the current theories of environmental perception, with an emphasis on research supporting these theories.
Humans, more than any other animals, have the ability to act upon and change their own environments. These actions may be relatively benign, such as turning on a light after dark or planting a garden. However, humans also have the potential to radically alter entire ecosystems. We will explore both types of actions, and the psychological processes that drive them.
Australia is currently facing many of the same ecological problems that the US experienced in the previous decades (e.g., overgrazing of pasture, deforestation, rapid urban growth). We will examine the current ecological problems in Australia and analogous problems in the US, with an emphasis on similarities and differences in the reactions of residents of the two countries.
Australian Literature and Post-Colonialism. Dr. Rachana Sachdev. Department of English (4 credit hours)
Even though Australia was never legally a British colony, Australian literature has often been read under the rubric of post-colonial literature. The rationale for reading Australian literature as post-colonial stems from the fact that Australia had been marginalized in similar ways to colonized nations until the late twentieth century, and within the British commonwealth had held the position of an "inferior" nation which did not have a literary tradition to call its own. Furthermore, the status of Australia as the convict colony made its position doubly suspect in the literary and the political spheres. In this course, we will be looking at a broad history of Australian literature, tracing its origins from the records of the convicts and the nineteenth-century writings inspired by British writers to some of the post-modern writings over the last fifty years. In particular, we will be focusing on contemporary Australian drama which reflects in its remarkable success the very definitions of what is Australian literature. The purpose of this course will be to extend analyses of world politics and literature a little further by including those nations which are left out of the binary of white-black, first world-third world established in the 1970s and 80s, and to problematize easy categorizations of privileged and underprivileged.
Biological Issues in Australia. Dr. David S. Richard. Department of Biology (2 credit hours)
Australia presents a series of unique opportunities for the study of scientific issues. It represents a truly isolated biosystem with many plants and animals that are found only in this large and diverse country. The biology of some of these animals, especially the marsupials, will be examined in comparison with equivalent animals in North America. For example, the absence of indigenous large cat and dog species has resulted in convergent evolution of some marsupial species to fill the equivalent niches.
The aboriginal peoples of Australia had developed a life style that was well adapted to the resources available in the "bush" before British colonial influences were exerted. Some of these cultural and scientific adaptations will be discussed.
Agriculture has long been a major economic factor in the development of Australia. This has resulted in the over exploitation and deforestation of large areas of the country, especially by sheep farming. The effects of introducing new species into an existing ecosystem, either as a "crop" such as sheep, or others such as the rabbit will be examined, as will later efforts at biological control of the latter.
One of the most unique biological sites anywhere in the world is the Great Barrier Reef which extends for about one thousand miles along the eastern coast of Australia. It is proposed to include study of coral reef ecosystems and a site visit/dive to examine the reef structure in more detail. Dive qualifications for students/faculty can either be obtained in the US or in Australia on site.
Australia's vast mineral resources will be examined in a geological context, together with a discussion of the social, economic, and medical aspects of the exploitation of these resources. The travel-study seminar will complement this course by enabling students to visitthe Blue Mountains, the Great Barrier Reef and reserves such the Daintree National Park.
Please note that although the Biological Issues in Australia is listed as a 500 level course, it is intended for students of all levels. The 500 notation simply identifies it as a topics course.