Faculty of Arts
From dominance to decline: what went wrong for Australia's retail giants?
Iconic Australian department store David Jones has been handed over to administrators. Despite more than a century of trade, its model was built on something far less sustainable, and it could no longer paper over the cracks.
Think witches belong to Halloween? Their story starts 4,500 years ago
This Halloween, trick-or-treaters the world over will don pointy black hats and drag along a broom as they trawl the neighbourhood in pursuit of lollies. This typical representation of the “witch” originates from medieval European witch trials. But the concept of witchcraft is much older.
Meet the Filmmaker Behind They Persist - a love letter to figuring ourselves out
Meet Macquarie filmmaker Tristan Woodington, whose queer short film They Persist began with a conversation on a train and became an exploration of identity, memory and the versions of ourselves that live on in other people.
Governments have turned care into a commodity. It’s failing us all
From birth to death, we all need to be cared for, but as years of headlines have shown, Australia’s care economy faces big challenges. Academics examine how the country’s increasingly for-profit models of care are failing those they’re supposed to protect.
Who Gets to be Remembered? This PhD student is rethinking disability from ancient evidence to inclusive exhibitions
PhD researcher Hannah Vogel is challenging how we understand disability in the ancient world – and bringing these often-overlooked stories to life through a museum exhibition, making archaeology more accessible.
What uterus transplants can teach us about reproductive autonomy, access and equality
As uterus transplantation moves from experimental medicine to clinical reality, Associate Professor Mianna Lotz – Discipline Chair in Philosophy at Macquarie University - is helping shape international debate on consent, bodily autonomy and the risks carried by women.
World’s oldest shipwreck discovered off coast of Turkey
A shipwreck off the coast of Turkey is the oldest shipwreck in the world, our team of archaeologists believes. Here, and perhaps even earlier, lie the foundations of extensive trade routes as we know them today.
It’s about time we talked seriously about male contraception
For decades, preventing pregnancy has largely been considered women’s responsibility. Now, as new male contraceptives edge closer to reality, Professor Lisa Wynn explores why it took so long, and whether the balance could finally be changing.
In honour of the International Day of the Girl, Dr Intan Paramaditha shares her own journey of finding her voice
From a girl with a typewriter in Jakarta to a Harvard fellowship, Macquarie University’s Dr Intan Paramaditha has spent her life finding her voice - and using it to reclaim feminist histories erased by political violence – and share them across the globe.
New research looks at how screens are actually being used in Australian classrooms - with surprising results
New research into screen use in Australian classrooms has revealed an uncomfortable truth for the school screen-time debate: Parents were recommending more hours of device use for their children than limits set by teachers.
Changing the face of ageism: “It’s a ‘you’ problem, not the older person’s problem"
There’s no stopping this mother, daughter duo. One is a well-known author, speaker and commentator in the media. The other is a scholar who helped shape her daughter’s resilience and staunch views on ageism, feminism and a champion for mature age students. Here, Jane and Kate Caro fire up the age-old debate on ageism.
Like sand through an hourglass, these are the clues of ancient lives
Macquarie archaeology student Leonie van den Berg is investigating an ancient Egyptian pottery deposit at Dra Abu el-Naga, exploring what it can reveal about funerary rituals, cultic practices and the people who lived thousands of years ago.