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About this Blog


My name is Amy Isham, I have a doctorate in social science, specialising in Leadership in regional social and economic systems. I'm interested in what kinds of leadership fosters social and economic sustainability and in social cohesion. I'm using this blog as a kind of social geography of issues I am interested in. We can map the political changes in our world and the impacts this has had on our private lives, travel, work and the economy, but the social facts of our world shift more subtly and are harder to understand. I'm seeking to analyse our world using my training in social theory, ethnography and economic trends to make sense of our world. Seeking to increase social cohesion, dialogue and engagement rather than support the growing polarisation and unrest in Australian society. 
I believe the greatest change we can make in society starts with us reading widely, thinking generously and communicating respectfully.

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Persuasion

From rising COVID19 cases in construction to a mandatory vaccine requirement, the explosive strike and ensuing riots, it’s all escalated so quickly that it felt out of control. But could it have been prevented?  Although I am not endorsing the behaviour of a group that lists among its demands that the Australian government widely distribute ivermectin, vitamin C and zinc rather than vaccines, it’s helpful to look at the way the situation escalated, and why. It’s easy to separate ourselves from “them” and enjoy the moral higher ground and moral indignation of being part of the socially accepted, who are willing to comply with stay at home orders and be vaccinated. First, let’s look at what Premier Andrews demanded after allowing the COVID19 cases to rise in the construction industry for weeks before acting. “Construction workers state-wide will need to show evidence to their employer that they have had at least a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by 11.59pm on the 23rd of Septembe...
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Stigma, or The Sneetches and the Vaccine Mandate

 Now the Star-Belly Sneetches  Had bellies with stars.  The Plain-Belly Sneetches Had none upon thars.   Those stars weren't so big. They were really so small.  You might think such a thing wouldn't matter at all.    (Dr Seuss, 1957) In Erving Goffman’s 1963 book Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity, the term stigma is explained.  “The term stigma, then, will be used to refer to an attribute that is deeply discrediting, but it should be seen that a language of relationships, not attributes, is really needed” (Goffman, p, 13). What Goffman means by this is that stigma is not an automatic standard response from one person to another, but one determined by context. There is often an automatic stigma about certain indicators of “difference” in society. For instance, if we meet a person in a wheelchair, we may be tempted to treat them differently than others as an automatic response to their perceived inability to perform things ...
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Why Madame Bovary is both a cautionary fable and a creepy male gaze revenge fantasy.

Dance She Must, Over Field and Meadow, c1930. An illustration from The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen. From Hans Andersens Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen. [Hodder and Stoughton Limited for Boots Pure Drug Co. Ltd, London, c1930] I was entirely captured by Madame Bovary when I first read it. I was a young newly married woman like Emma, but unlike her, I was (mostly) happy and satisfied. I also lived in 2004 when women had a lot more freedom, opportunity and personal agency. I had lots in common with my husband, unlike Emma who found her husband under-educated and boorish.  Madam Bovary captivated me so much that I described it as my favourite novel for a decade. I felt that the cautionary message of discontent spiralling into infidelity, deceit, parental neglect and debt was one our culture needed, but what grasped me the most was Flaubert’s prose. His work avoids the cliched and flowery writing that was popular at the time he wrote and feels visceral and contemporary.  H...
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