Dr Michelle Duffy

Biography

Michelle Duffy is a lecturer at the Australian Centre. She was educated at RMIT and the University of Melbourne. Prior to working in academia, Michelle worked in research and development at CSL and ICI.

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Research

Michelle is a cultural geographer, with specific research interests in the ways non-representational processes such as performance, music, dance and sound can be used to articulate and understand notions of place, identity, belonging, community cohesion, alienation and social well-being. These interests have led to research exploring public space, events, emotion and affect, and performative aspects of identity formation. Other research interests include the policies and practices of local government with regards to cultural practice, Australian-Asian cultural relations, Australian Indigenous cultural practices, tourism and festival policies and practices, multiculturalism, and contemporary cultural theory.

Michelle is currently working on a number of funded projects that examine the role of the festival in urban, rural and remote communities. These projects seek to understand and define the processes of creating communal identity and social cohesion, with a particular focus on the ways music and sound are significant to the experience of the festival. Two of these projects examine the significance of festivals in rural Victoria. The first is the case study of the Boolarra Folk Festival, held in Gippsland, the second is a collaborative project with researchers from Wollongong University, Gordon Waitt and Chris Gibson, and focuses on festivals held in Daylesford-Hepburn Springs. With an Early Career Researcher’s Grant, Michelle is also undertaking research into women’s rituals and knowledges of exchange within the Garma Festival, an event hosted by the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land.

Michelle is currently developing a project with Dr Susan Lowish (Fine Arts, Melbourne) and the Pitjantjatjara Council, which will examine the development of Aboriginal art in the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of far north-western South Australia. Michelle’s component of this project explores the significance of place in art, cultural practices and social relations in this community.

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Publications

Books

• Ros Bandt, Michelle Duffy and Dolly MacKinnon (eds), Hearing Places: Sound Place Time and Culture, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007.

Articles

• Michelle Duffy, Gordon Waitt, Chris Gibson, (2007) ‘Get into the groove: the role of sound in generating a sense of belonging through street parades’, in Altitude (available at www.altitude21c.com)
• Nichola Wood, Michelle Duffy, Susan Smith (accepted; 2007), ‘The Art of Doing (Geographies of) Music’, in Environment & Planning D: Society & Space
• Michelle Duffy, Melissa Permezel, (accepted; September 2007) 'Negotiating cultural difference in local communities: the role of the body, dialogues and performative practices in local communities', in Geographical Research
• Michelle Duffy, (2005) 'Performing identity within a multicultural framework', in Social and Cultural Geography (special issue on music and place), 6 (4): 677-692
• Michelle Duffy, (2003) 'We feel we found ourselves again': (re)creating identity through performance in the community music festival', in Australasian Music Research, 7: 103-112
• Michelle Duffy, (2000) 'Lines of drift: festival participation and performing a sense of place', in Popular Music, 19(1): 51-64
• Michelle Duffy, (2000) 'Australian Soundscapes: the Connections between Music, Place and Identity', in Australian Studies, 15 (1): 111-122

Chapters and other entries

• Michelle Duffy, entry on ‘Festival/spectacle’ for The International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography, Rob Kitchin and Nigel Thrift (editors-in-chief), Elsevier, to be published 2008
• Michelle Duffy, ‘Inhabiting soundscapes: “To learn from and to listen to one another…” in Ros Bandt, Michelle Duffy, Dolly MacKinnon (eds) Hearing Places: Sound Place Time and Culture, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, pp. 321-334
• Michelle Duffy, ‘White Australia and multiculturalism', in Kate Darian-Smith and Kiera Lindsey (eds), Snapshot Two: Australian People, in the Snapshots of a Nation series, International Australian Studies Association, 2006, pp. 12-16
• Michelle Duffy, 'Lifestyle', in Kate Darian-Smith and Kiera Lindsey (eds), Snapshot Two: Australian People, in the Snapshots of a Nation series, International Australian Studies Association, 2006, pp. 29-33
• Michelle Duffy, 'Indigenous Australians', in Kate Darian-Smith and Kiera Lindsey (eds), Snapshot Two: Australian People, in the Snapshots of a Nation series, International Australian Studies Association, 2006, pp. 17-22
• Michelle Duffy, 'Community Festivals', in John Whiteoak and Aline Scott-Maxwell (eds), Companion to Music and Dance in Australia, Currency Press, 2003, pp. 275-276
• Michelle Duffy, 'Western Australian Aboriginal Musicals' in John Whiteoak and Aline Scott-Maxwell (eds), Companion to Music and Dance in Australia, Currency Press, 2003, pp. 447-448
• Michelle Duffy, 'Unruly performances: Challenges to the constitution of spatialised identities within the community music festival' (July 2004) conference proceedings for Journeys of Expression III: tourism and festivals as transnational practice, Innsbruck University (CD)

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Teaching 2007

Michelle teaches Australian Studies subjects and co-ordinates a number of international programs, which reflect her research interests in various aspects of Australian studies including Australian Indigenous cultures and people, Australian performance practices, cultural diversity in contemporary Australia, rural and public culture, as well as broader issues in cultural geography.

102-005 Exploring Central Australia
102-507 Themes in International Studies
102-511 Imaging Australian Spaces

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Postgraduate supervision

Michelle supervises postgraduates in a range of diverse fields, most notably Australian Studies, cultural geography, cultural and performative practices (music, dance), community events, and Australian Indigenous studies.

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