Humanities and Social Sciences

Media Studies Program

Staff Directory

Christopher Scanlon is a writer and commentator whose writing has been published in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Courier-Mail, The Canberra Times, Business Spectator, The Monthly, RealTime, Overland and Arena Magazine.

Since 1999, Christopher has been a co-editor of Arena Magazine, the Australian magazine of Left political, social and cultural commentary. He is also an online editor of Arena (www.arena.org.au).

Prior to joining the Media Studies program at La Trobe, Christopher worked at RMIT University's Globalism Institute where he worked on an ARC linkage project examining the links between participation in community and health and wellbeing. He has also previously taught in the politics program at La Trobe and Monash Universities and in the criminology and criminal justice program at Monash University.

In 2004, Christopher graduated from Monash University with a PhD in politics. His thesis presented a critical analysis of the way intellectuals and experts intervene in the reconstitution of social life, which focused on Third Way politics in the UK, the US and Australia.

In 2008, Christopher will be teaching Press and Society, Advanced Journalism and Design and Journalism Production Workshop.

Research interests include:

The media and the constitution of national communities
Political communication
Media policy
Technology and design aspects of media

Publications:

'Playing to type', The Age (A2 section) 17 May, 2008

'City surprise: Little Hummer Boy finds chorus of approval', Sunday Age , 20 April, 2008.

'Retail therapy: getting more than you mentally bargained for ', The Age , 19 April, 2008.

'The gatekeepers: wonders and woes of literary agents', Canberra Times , 12 April, 2008.

'Reaching up and out for the Sunrise', The Age (Green Guide), 29 November, 2007.

'A good title is vital', The Australian (Higher Education Supplement), 26 September, 2007.

'Live Long and Prosper', The Monthly , August, 2007.

'The PowerPoint of no return', The Age (A2 section), 2 June, 2007.

'There's more to obesity than eating', The Weekend Australian (Health section), 28 April, 2007.

'The secret is out: blame the victim', The Age (A2), 14 April, 2007.

'The elixir of life is to be in it, mixing', The Australian , 17 March, 2007.

'The rise of bit culture', Arena Magazine , no. 80, December-January 2005.

'The cult of creativity', The Age (Review Section), 5 February, 2005.

'Farewell to the working class', The Age (Review section), 17 April, 2004.

Opinion, editorial and commentary

'Footy system brings out best, worst', The Courier-Mail , 2 April, 2008.

'Claiming the high moral ground can be a low act', The Australian , 23 January, 2008.

'Connex doesn't like its passengers, and it shows, constantly', The Age , 23 January, 2008.

'Lessons for Rudd as social inclusion moves to top of agenda', Canberra Times , 21 January, 2008.

'Claiming the high moral ground can be a low act', The Australian , 23 January, 2008.

'Connex doesn't like passengers, and it shows '. The Age , 23 January, 2008.

'Lessons for Rudd as social inclusion moves to top of agenda', The Canberra Times , 21 January, 2008.

'Educating creative thinkers', Business Spectator , 5 January, 2008.

'More than one side to IVF debate', The Courier-Mail , 2 October, 2007.

'9/11 theories as factless as those of Bush', The Age , 10 September, 2001.

'A cookie-cutter approach to learning short-changes everyone', The Age , 17 July, 2007.

'Reckless abuse of power', The Courier Mail , 17 July, 2007.

'Changing Britain needs new song from son of a preacher man', The Age , 28 June 2007.

'Rudd's party-less democracy?', Arena Magazine , no. 89, June-July 2007.

'Dream large', Arena Magazine , no. 89, June-July 2007.

'The Access Card has stalled. So now let's really talk about it', The Age , 8 June 2007.

'Zero-tolerance drug policies too easily abandon the user ', The Age , 23 May, 2007.

'Fight over broadband is not just about speed', The Canberra Times, 14 May 2007.

'DIY Journalism is not a real alternative', The Age , 7 May 2007.

'Reporting of a horrific event becomes a crass spectacle ', The Age , 20 April, 2007.

'We've given away our privacy, a card's just the final blow ', The Age , 10 April, 2007.

'Rudd's theological underpinnings may already be shaky ', The Age , 3 April, 2007.

'Dealing in green: Why the Tasmanian Greens have got it right', Arena Magazine , no. 87 February-March 2007.

'Join the Navy and see a collaborative work environment', Arena Magazine , no. 87 February-March 2007.

'Responsibility for public transport's woes has been sold, too', The Age , 5 February, 2007.

'Democracy? We talk the talk but don't walk the walk', The Age , 25 January 2007.

'Bomb the buzz blitz', The Courier-Mail , 16 January, 2007.

'Love at first sight. Now Howard and Hanson will dance again', The Age , 11 December, 2006.

'Prejudice is something that other people have', The Age , 16 November, 2006.

'Just don't mention the war', The Age , 3 October, 2006.

'It's more than sick to keep propping up health insurers', The Age , 22 September, 2006.

'Cleverness doesn't always rule', The Sydney Morning Herald , 20 July, 2006.

'Gen X, gen Y — it's generation con, actually', The Age , July 24, 2006.

'A mobile slaughterhouse', Arena Magazine , June-July 2006.

'Debunking nuclear myth of greenhouse friendliness', The Age , 14 June, 2006 (with Alan Roberts).

'Recipe for happiness: What the "experts" say, not eating greasy food', The Sydney Morning Herald , 25 May, 2006.

'The nuclear non-option', Arena Magazine , April-May 2006.

'Speaking up for languages', The Age , 20 February, 2006.

'Hanson, Howard and the exhaustion of politics', Arena Magazine , February-March 2006 (with Matthew Ryan).

'Freedom in our time', Arena Magazine , no. 78, October-November 2005.

'Strip mining freedom', Arena Magazine , no. 77, June-July 2005.

'New Labour, new comedy', Arena Magazine , no. 77, June-July 2005.

'New Labour's anti-socialism: Control and community in Britain', Arena Magazine , no. 76, April-May 2005.

'Freedom's war', Arena Magazine, no. 76, April-May 2005 (with Matthew Ryan).

'There's something about Mary and Frederik that we like', The Age , 14 March, 2005.

'When the din of self-congratulation fades', Arena Magazine , no. 75, February-March 2005.

'It's the economy...and the culture', Blue Book no. 9, Australian Fabian Society Pamphlet no. 64, Arena Printing and Publishing, December 2004.

'Easing out and squeezing in', Arena Magazine, no. 73, October-November 2004.

'You can't legislate to repair society, Mr Latham', The Age , 2 February 2004.

'The problems with "social capital" ', The Age , 19 July 2003.

Reviews

'Return to nuance in the meaning of courage' (Review of Maria Tumarkin's Courage ), The Canberra Times , 10 November, 2007.

'The more things change…' (Review of David G. Coleman and Joseph M. Siracusa' Real World Nuclear Deterrence: The Making of International Strategy ), Arena Magazine , no. 89, June-July 2007.

'The history trap: ABC TV's Bastard Boys', RealTime , June-July 2007.

'Meaning of life in the love of strangers' (Review of Terry Eagleton's, The Meaning of Life ), The Canberra Times , 26 May, 2007.

'History too innocent' (Review of Melissa Reeve's The Spook ), RealTime , April-May 2007

'Diversity has never been black and white', The Weekend Australian (Review), 31 March 2007.

'Lost in translation' (Review of Not Yet It's Difficult's Apolitical dance), RealTime , February-March 2007.

'Dancing in the folds' (Review of BalletLab's Origami), RealTime, October-November, 2006.

'A few home truths' (Review of Alain de Botton's The Architecture of Happiness), The Age (A2 Section), 27 May, 2006.

'Richard Florida's Cities and the Creative Class', Local-Global: Studies in Community Sustainability , vol. 1, 2005.

'Creative mythmaking' (Review of Richard Florida's The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent), Arena Magazine , no. 78, August-September 2005.

'Terry Eagleton's theory' (Review of Terry Eagleton's After Theory), Arena Magazine, no. 74 December 2004-January 2005.

'We are family' (Review of Patricia Piccinini, Venice Biennale 2003, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria 17 April-27 June 2004), Arena Magazine, no. 71, June-July 2004 (with Kate Cregan).

'Reality TV. (Review of Sam Brenton and Reuben Cohen' Shooting People: Adventures in Reality TV), Arena Magazin e, no. 68, 2003.

Multimedia

Challenges and Possibilities: International Organisations and Women in Timor-Leste, Flash CD-ROM, 2005.

Stop Being Ignorant About West Papua , web-based Flash animation, 2002, (Requires Flash player )

Monographs

Creating Community: Celebrations, Arts and Wellbeing within and across Local Communities , Globalism Institute, Melbourne, 2006. Co-authors: Professor Paul James, Dr Kim Humpherys, Dr Martin Mulligan, Ms Pia Smith and Dr Nicky Welch.

Creating Resilient Communities: A Comparative Study of 'Sense of Place' and Community Wellbeing in Daylesford and Broadmeadows. A Report of an Investigation into the Impacts of Globalisation on Social Connectedness in Victorian Communities , Globalism Institute, Melbourne, 2004. Co-authors: Dr Martin Mulligan (primary author) with Professor Paul James and Dr Christopher Ziguras.

Challenges and Possibilities: International Organisations and Women in Timor-Leste , Forum Report, Melbourne, October 2005. With Dr Damian Grenfell and Ms Anna Trembath.

Book chapters

'Trends in Education for the Book Industry: Australian and International Experiences', in Bill Cope and Robin Freeman, eds. Developing 'Knowledge Workers' in the Printing and Publishing Industries , Common Ground, Altona, 2002, pp.91-106. With Dr Leanne Reinke and Dr Christopher Ziguras.

Refereed journal articles

'Theorising the decline of linguistic diversity', International Journal of the Sociology of Language , no. 182, 2006. Co-author: Professor Michael Singh.

'Managing risks and opportunities in multilingual knowledge economies: The possibilities of ethical investment movement to sustaining biolinguistic diversity', 3L Journal of Language, Linguistics and Literature , vol. 8 2003. Co-author: Professor Michael Singh.

'A step to the Left, or just a jump to the Right? Making sense of the Third Way in government and governance', Australian Journal of Political Science , vol. 36, no. 3 2001.

'The network of moral sentiments: The Third Way and community', Arena Journal , no. 15, 2000.