Professor Bronwyn Davies

Professor Bronwyn Davies

Biography

Bronwyn Davies is a research professor at the University of Western Sydney and leader of the research node Narrative Discourse and Pedagogy, an interdisciplinary research group based in the College of Arts. NDP works at the intersections of the social sciences, the performative, visual and literary arts, and philosophy. The distinctive features of NDP are, on the one hand, its innovative social science research methodologies incorporating elements of the visual, literary and performative arts, and, on the other, its strong base in the conceptual work of poststructuralist philosophers such as Butler, Deleuze and Foucault. It explores the discursive practices and relations of power through which particular social worlds are constituted. Bronwyn is well known for her work on gender, for her work with collective biography, and her writing on poststructuralist theory. Her recent work has focussed on the development of a critique of neoliberalism as it impacts on subjectivities at work, with a particular focus on university work. Her work on body-landscape relations, and on enabling pedagogies, is now turning toward the development of a theory of place in pedagogical settings, and on working across the boundaries between the arts and social sciences.

Areas of Expertise

Discourse analysis; Poststructuralist theory; Gender studies

Awards / Honours

- Honorary Doctorate University of Uppsala, 2008.
- James Cook University Research Excellence Award, 2000, $10000
- James Cook University Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Research, 1993, $2000

Grants / Current Projects

- Enabling Place pedagogies in rural and urban Australia. Australian Research Council Discovery Grant with M. Somerville, K. Power and S. Gannon, 2006-2008 $160,000.

- Doing the Knowledge, With Morgan, G., and Toner, P., University of Western Sydney Office of Research Services Research Partnerships Program 2005 $15,235.

- Enabling Pedagogies, with Bezzina, M., Edwards, J., Halse, C., Robinson, K., Gannon, S., Watkins, M., and Ferfolja,T., Greater Western Sydney Postdoctoral Research Fellowships Scheme 2004-2007 $235,000.

- A psychosocial approach to subjectivity and the changing Australian labour market, with Bansel, P. and Walkerdine. V, Australian Research Council Discovery Grant 2003-2006 $225,000.

- Reconceptualising pedagogies, with Gannon, S., Laws, C., and Edwards. J, University of Western Sydney Office of Regional Development 2003 $18,000

Selected Publications

Books
Davies, B. (Ed.). (2008). Judith Butler in Conversation: Analysing the texts and talk of everyday life. (1-273). New York: Routledge.

Davies, B. & Gannon, S. (2006). Doing Collective Biography (pp. 1-200). Maidenhead: Open University Press. (2)

Davies, B. & Kasama, H. (2004). Gender in Japanese Preschools. Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tales in Japan (pp. 1-145). NJ: Cresskill, Hampton Press. (4)

Davies, B. (2000). A Body of Writing 1989-1999 (pp. 1-191). Walnut Creek: Alta Mira Press. (66 )

Davies, B. (2000). (In)scribing Body/landscape Relations (pp. 1-277). Walnut Creek: Alta Mira Press. (20)

Davies, B. (1996). Power/Knowledge/Desire: Changing School Organisation and Management Practices (pp. 1-259). Canberra: Department of Employment, Education and Youth Affairs. (28)

Davies, B. (1994). Poststructuralist Theory and Classroom Practice (pp. 1-127). Geelong: Deakin University Press. (112)

Davies, B. (1993). Shards of Glass. Children Reading and Writing Beyond Gendered Identities. Sydney (pp. 1-205). Sydney: Allen and Unwin. (309) 2nd Edition (2003) NJ Cresskill: Hampton Press. (62)

Davies, B. (1989). Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tales. Preschool Children and Gender (pp. 1-152). Sydney: Allen and Unwin. (99) 2nd Edition (2003) NJ Cresskill: Hampton Press. Translated into Swedish by Christer Wallentin (2003), Hur flickor och pojkar goÖr kÖn. Stockholm, Liber (pp. 1-228). Translated into German by Das Argument (1992): Frosche und Schlangen und Feministiche Marchen. Zeitschrift fur Philosophie und Sozialwissenschaften (pp. 1-187). Translated into Spanish by Ediciones Cátedra (1994): Sapos y culebras y Cuentos feministas. Universitat de Valencia, Instituto de la Mujer (pp. 1-256) Chapter 1 translated into Swedish by Tilda Maria Forselius, Bli pojke? Bli flicka? Locus. 3/97 17-31. Received the Outstanding Book Award from the American Education Association. Reprinted in part in S. Scott & S. Jackson (Eds) Gender: A Reader. London, Routledge (2001).

Davies, B. (1988). Gender, Equity and Early Childhood (pp. 1-42). Curriculum Development Centre: Canberra, Schools Commission. (22)

Davies, B. (1982). Life in the Classroom and Playground. The Accounts of Primary School Children (pp. 1-206). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. (Published in the Social Worlds of Childhood series, edited by Rom Harré). (67)

Book Chapters

Davies, B. (forthcoming 2009) Legitimation in post-critical, post-realist times, or whether legitimation? In Paul Hart (ed) Sage Companion to research. (accepted Jan 2008)

Davies, B. (forthcoming 2008). Writing on an immanent plane of composition: opening oneself to difference. In A. Jackson & L. Mazzei (Eds.) Voice in Qualitative Inquiry: Challenging Conventional, Interpretive and Critical Conceptions in Qualitative Research. New York: Routledge.

Davies, B. (2008) Practicing collective biography. In A. Hyle and J. Kauffman (Eds.) Dissecting the Mundane: International perspectives on memory-work. (pp. 58-74) University Press of America

Davies, B. (submitted). Deleuze and writing. In L. Stone & J. Marshall (Eds.), Handbook on Poststructuralism and Education. Netherlands Sense: Publishers.

Davies, B. (2008). Re-thinking ‘behaviour’ in terms of positioning and the ethics of responsibility. In A. M. Phelan & J. Sumsion (Eds.), Provoking Absences: Critical Readings in Teacher Education. (pp. 173-186) Sense Publishers: Netherlands.

Davies, B. (2006). Identity, Abjection and Otherness: Creating the self, creating difference. In M. Arnot & M. Mac an Ghaill, The Routledge Falmer Reader in Gender and Education (pp. 72-90). London: Routledge. (previously published as Identity, abjection and otherness: creating the self, creating difference. International Journal for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood 2 (1): 58-80, 2004.) (3)

Journal Articles

Davies, B (2007) Re-thinking gender in terms of positioning, relations of power, and the ethics of responsibility. Språk och kön I nutida och historiskt perspektiv, 71, 33-44.

Davies, B. (2006). Subjectification: the relevance of Butler’s analysis for education. British Journal of Sociology of Education. Special issue. Troubling identities: reflections on Judith Butler’s work for the Sociology of Education, 27(4), 425-438. (JIF 0.632) (6) (Paper included in ASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts database from Proquest CSA).

Davies, B. (2006). Women and transgression in the halls of academe. Studies in Higher Education: Special issue. Transgressive Possibilities: Gender in Higher Education, 31(4), 497-509. (JIF 0.538)

Davies, B. (2005). Winning the hearts and minds of academics in the service of neoliberalism. Dialogue, 24(1), 26-37. (5)

Davies, B. (2005). Emerging trends in researching children and youth: a review essay. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26 (1), 137-145. (JIF 0.632) (1)

Davies, B. (2005). The Fairy Who Wouldn’t Fly: a story of subjection and agency. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5 (2), 151 - 174. (1)

Davies, B. (2005). The impossibility of intellectual work in neoliberal regimes. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, (26) 1, 1-14. (7)

Davies, B. (2004). Identity, abjection and otherness: creating the self, creating difference. International Journal for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood, 2 (1), 58-80. (3) Reprinted (2006). In M. Arnot & M. Mac an Ghaill (Eds.), The Routledge Falmer Reader in Gender and Education, 72-90.

Davies, B. (2004). Introduction: Poststructuralist lines of flight in Australia. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 17(1), 3-9. (1)

Davies, B. (2003). Death to critique and dissent? The policies and practices of new managerialism and of “evidence-based practice”. Gender and Education, 15(1), 89-101. (46) (JIF 0.767) Reprinted (2005). In B. Francis & C. Skelton (Eds.), A Feminist Critique of Education, 1-320. Routledge.