Archive for the 'Book' Category

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Welcoming the Stranger

Published on October 14, 2010 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

mammad_coverWelcoming the Stranger: Narratives of Identity and Belonging in an Iranian Diaspora by Mammad Aidani is now available from the On Diversity imprint.

About six million people are estimated to have left Iran since 1979. They are dispersed in Western countries, including Australia, where they form a relatively unknown community. To Western eyes, they left their birthplace due to a range of historical events—the 1979 revolution and its aftermath, the protracted war between Iran and Iraq. Arriving in the host country, they had to wait on the host to give them an identity that fitted the prevailing socio-political notions: they had to become either ‘migrants’ or ‘refugees’.

The voices in this book challenge the identities imposed on them. They see themselves as strangers, travellers, and their reception in Australia has been at odds with the ancient Persian notions of hospitality.

Welcoming the Stranger: Narratives of Identity and Belonging in an Iranian Diaspora allows Iranians to speak through their stories of displacement and cultural trauma. Their voices bring to the fore questions about identity, hospitality, displacement and language which challenge how the West welcomes people who ‘come knocking on the door’.


Series: On Diversity

Published on August 4, 2010 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments Tags: .

We are accepting book proposals for the imprint On Diversity.

Common Ground is setting new standards of rigorous academic knowledge creation and scholarly publication.

Unlike other publishers, we’re not interested in the size of potential markets or competition from other books. We’re only interested in the intellectual quality of the work.

If your book is a brilliant contribution to a specialist area of knowledge that only serves a small intellectual community, we still want to publish it. If it is expansive and has a broad appeal, we want to publish it too, but only if it is of the highest intellectual quality.

Disability Ethics

Published on May 19, 2010 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments

disabilityethics_frontDisability Ethics: A Framework for Practitioners, Professionals and Policy Makers by Paul Jewell is now available from the On Diversity imprint.

The social arrangements with which we are familiar work fairly well for most of us most of the time. We work, we earn, we pay taxes. We engage professionals when we need their advice. We expect that there will be doctors whose expertise can be relied upon if we are ill, that there will be schools staffed with knowledgeable teachers and courts presided over by fair judges. We vote for politicians who offer policies we favour. We require government to provide us with security, protect our freedom and assist those of us who cannot help themselves.

These social arrangements rest on some shared assumptions and values. They assume that people are, by and large, free, self-determining persons who respect each other’s rights and independence, and co-operate rationally and productively with each other. Our social arrangements are challenged when this assumption does not hold. What policies should government have in place for people who are not independent, or not rational, or not co-operative, or not productive? If, by some catastrophe, through accident, disability or mental illness, you became such a person, how should you be dealt with by professionals and government services? If, on the other hand, you are a professional, how should you go about making decisions for clients who are not well placed to make decisions for themselves? Are there standards of professional ethics that can deal with this situation? Are there ethical standards that can be applied by managers of service organizations, or by policy writers, or by government officials? Are there ethical standards that concerned citizens should demand of government, of service organizations and of professionals who provide for vulnerable people?

Drawing on the stories of people with disabilities and their service providers, Paul Jewell explores ethical theories, tests their practical application, and offers strategies essential to practitioners, managers, policy-makers and professionals who provide services to people with disabilities.

New Life, New Home: A Story of Retaining the Cultural Boundaries

Published on December 19, 2009 in Book. 0 Comments

golam-9781863356237-frontNew Life, New Home: A Story of Retaining the Cultural Boundaries by  Golam Sarwar Khan is now available from the On Diversity imprint.

The main thrust of this book is to focus on the consequences of involuntary migration of East Bengal (EB) Hindus in West Bengal (WB), Kolkata (Calcutta) city in particular. It attempts to analyse the resettlement struggles of the EB Hindu refugee-migrants , their family relations, marriage practices and problems of social interaction with the WB local Hindus over the years. In the course of their resettlement efforts, the EB Hindus urged to retain regional culture particularly in the context of matrimonial practices and family patterns, religious festivals and rituals and social norms and values. The analysis will be based on historical background of partition-migration as well as intensive fieldwork with the EB Hindu migrants and selected WB local Hindus for a long period of time.

More Conversations with Queer Young People

Published on June 12, 2009 in Book. 0 Comments

More Conversations with Queer Young People: To Be Read Aloud by Michael Crowhurst has now been published.

School settings are not always experienced as safe or welcoming places if you identify as a Queer Young Person. Making available the stories of Queer Young People, and asking people to read these aloud, is a very strategic way to generate change.
This workbook aims to make a contribution to the expansion of this cultures acceptance and acknowledgment of sexual and gender diversity because the wellbeing of Queer Young People, of all young people, is always compromised in settings that are not fully affirming of sexual and gender diversity.

This workbook is designed to be used as a professional development resource by teachers, youth workers and others who work with young people.

On Diversity Imprint Launched

Published on May 8, 2009 in Book. 0 Comments

Common Ground Publishing has now launched the new imprint On Diversity.

There is a selection of books already published and available in the bookstore:

You can now submit proposals or completed manuscript submissions of:

Books should be between 30,000 words and 150,000 words in length. They will be published simultaneously in print and electronic formats.

The Sociality of Refugee Healing

Published on May 4, 2009 in Book. 0 Comments

The Sociality of Refugee Healing: In Dialogue with Southern Sudanese Refugees Resettling in Australia – Towards A Social Model of Healing by Dr Peter Westoby has now been published.

This beautifully written book represents a journey. In response to a significant challenge from Sudanese community leaders, Peter Westoby embarked on a vibrant intellectual quest. In the process he has carved out new ways of understanding experiences of distress and healing. The Sociality of Refugee Healing will be an invaluable companion for practitioners, policy makers and anyone who cares about communities who have endured hardship.
David Denborough
Dulwich Centre, Adelaide, Author of ‘Collective narrative practice: responding to individuals, groups and communities who have experienced trauma’

This book proposes a socially-oriented model of healing, which augurs a fundamental shift in thinking about refugee settlement: instead of focusing on the past experiences of refugees it is the present world and context of settlement that should be the primary focus for healing work. This book, steeped in the author’s experience and extensive research, boldly and convincingly proposes a paradigmatic shift in the theory and practice of working with refugees. As such, the book provides an indispensible contribution to existing debates about refugee settlement and charts new ground for future inquiry.
Zlatko Skrbis
Professor of Sociology, The University of Queensland Continue reading ‘The Sociality of Refugee Healing’

Youth Identity and Migration

Published on April 30, 2009 in Book. 0 Comments

Youth Identity and Migration: Culture, Values and Social Connectedness edited by Fethi Mansouri has now been published.

The key objective of this book is to explore identity and wellbeing among young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The chapters collectively explore some of the most critical issues in research into second-generation migrants, namely identity formation, social connectedness and the role of social policy and intervention in dealing with these complex issues.

The book also focuses on the problematised nature of certain migrant groups, such as Muslim youth in the West. The book consists of thirteen chapters organised around three broad thematic sections, namely: migrant youth identity and social connectedness, focusing on cultural adaptation and wellbeing among migrant youth; global and educational perspectives on the social experiences of migrant youth, focusing in particular on comparative insights from Australia, France and the US; and the interaction of migrant youth with new media and its implications for social connectedness.