Dr Ruth Barcan

Dr Ruth Barcan joined the Department of Gender Studies in 2004, after working at the University of Melbourne and the University of Western Sydney. Her research interests include nudity and nudism; feminist cultural studies approaches to the body; alternative therapies and New Age practices; and pedagogy.

She is the author of Nudity: A Cultural Anatomy (Berg 2004), and the co-editor of Imagining Australian Space: Cultural Studies and Spatial Inquiry (UWA Press 1999) and Planet Diana: Cultural Studies and Global Mourning (Research Centre in Intercommunal Studies, UWS Nepean, 1997). She is the author of numerous articles in areas such as the body in culture, consumer culture, and teaching.

Ruth is an active member of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia. She has given two invited plenary addresses to the annual conference of this association. These addresses focused on the teaching of cultural studies to undergraduates, and in particular the question of values. The first focused on the question of hope in teaching; the second on students' responses to the question of what they valued in cultural studies. Both addresses attracted much favourable attention.

Barcan's interest in the values and politics of teaching has been recognised in other ways. A trained teacher, she won a prestigious Department of Education award (CAUT, 1997) to investigate task-based ways of teaching critical theory to undergraduates.

Her current research project is on alternative therapies, and she is writing a book for Berg Publishers on alternative therapies and the senses.

Monograph

Barcan, R. (2004). Nudity: A Cultural Anatomy. Oxford & New York: Berg Publishing. Series: "Body, Dress, Culture."

http://www.bergpublishers.com/?TabId=730@currentreview=1

Edited Collections

Barcan, R. and Buchanan, I. (eds.) (1999). Imagining Australian Space: Cultural Studies and Spatial Inquiry. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, for the Centre for Studies in Australian Literature

Re:Public (eds.) (1997). Planet Diana: Cultural Studies and Global Mourning. Kingswood, NSW: Research Centre in Intercommunal Studies, UWS Nepean (Re:Public is the corporate editorial name. Editors were Ien Ang, Ruth Barcan, Helen Grace, Elaine Lally, Justine Lloyd, Zoë Sofoulis).

Book Chapters

Barcan, R. (2010, forthcoming). "'Mobility is the Key': Bodies, Boundaries and Movement in Kate Grenville's Lilian's Story." Revised version in Kate Grenville: Essays and Interviews. Ed. Sue Kossew. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi. Ser. Cross/Cultures.

Barcan, R. (2009, forthcoming). "Intuition and Reason in the New Age: A Cultural Study of Medical Clairvoyance." In David Howes (ed.). Sixth Sense Reader. Oxford: Berg Publishers.

Barcan, R. (2009, forthcoming). "Public Toilets as Technologies of Separation and Concealment." Outing the Water Closet: Sex, Gender and the Public Restroom. Ed. Harvey Molotch & Laura Noren. New York: NYU Press.

Barcan, R. (2008). "Alternative Therapies as Disciplinary Practices: The Uses and Limitations of a Foucauldian Approach." In Nicole Anderson & Katrina Schlunke (eds) Cultural Theory in Everyday Practice. South Melbourne: Oxford UP, 2008. 14-27.

Barcan, R. (2005). "Nudism". In Steele, Valerie (ed.), Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons (3 vols), 2:458-460.

Barcan, R. (2005). "Nudity". In Steele, Valerie (ed.), Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons (3 vols), 2:460-461.

Barcan, R. and Fogarty, M. (1999). "Performing The Piano" (revised version). In Coombs, F. and Gemmell, S. (eds.) Piano Lessons: Approaches to The Piano. Sydney: John Libbey, 3-18.

Barcan, R. (1999). "Privates in Public: The Space of the Urinal". In Imagining Australian Space: Cultural Studies and Spatial Inquiry. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, for the Centre for the Study of Australian Literature, 75-92.

Barcan, R. and Buchanan, I. (1999). "Introduction". In Imagining Australian Space: Cultural Studies and Spatial Inquiry. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, for the Centre for the Study of Australian Literature, 7-11.

Barcan, R. (1997). "Space for the Feminine". In Re:Public (eds.) Planet Diana: Cultural Studies and Global Mourning. Kingswood, NSW: Research Centre in Intercommunal Studies, UWS Nepean, 37-43.

Refereed Journals

Barcan, R. and Johnston, J. (2005). "The Haunting: Cultural Studies, Religion and Alternative Therapies". In Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies 7 (Fall): 63-81 (special issue on Cultural Studies and Religion).

Johnston, J. and Barcan, R. (2006). "Subtle Transformations: Imagining the Body in Alternative Health Practices." In International Journal of Cultural Studies 9.1 (March 2006): 25-44.

Barcan, R. (2005). "Dirty Spaces: Communication and Contamination in Men's Public Toilets.". In Journal of International Women's Studies 6.2 (June 2002). Bridgewater State College. http://www.bridgew.edu/SoAS/jiws/Jun05/Barcan.pdf (Accessed 7 July 2005.)

Barcan, R. (2004). "Regaining what Mankind has lost through Civilisation: Early Nudism and Ambivalent Moderns". In Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture 8.01 (Jan. 2004): 1-20.

Barcan, R. (2003). "The Idleness of Academics: Reflections on the Usefulness of Cultural Studies". In Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 17.4 (2003): 363-377.

Barcan, R. (2002). "Female Exposure and the Protesting Woman". In Cultural Studies Review 8.2 (Nov. 2002): 62-82.

Barcan, R. (2002). "Problems Without Solutions: Teaching Theory and the Politics of Hope". In Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 16.3 (2002): 343-356.

Barcan, R. (2002). "In the Raw: 'Home-Made' Porn and Reality Genres". In Journal of Mundane Behavior 3.1 (2002) http://www.mundanebehavior.org

Barcan, R. (2001). "The Moral Bath of Bodily Unconsciousness: Female Nudism, Bodily Exposure and the Gaze". In Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 15.3 (2001): 305-19.

Barcan, R. (2000). "Home on the Rage: Nudity, Celebrity, and Ordinariness in the Home Girls/Blokes Pages". In Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 14.2 (July 2000): 145-58.

Barcan, R. (2000). "Breathing Space". In UTS Review 6.1 (May 2000): 130-49.

Barcan, R. (1999). "Teaching and the Complexities of Consumerism, Radical Teacher 55 (1999): 34-39.

Barcan, R. (1999). "Regal Baring". In Meanjin 58.1 (1999): 6-9.

Barcan, R. (1999). "Hansonism, 'Caring', and the Lament for Modernity". In Meanjin 57.4 (1998): 748-758.

Barcan, R. (1998). "'Mobility is the Key': Bodies, Boundaries and Movement in Kate Grenville's Lilian's Story". In Ariel: A Review of International English Literature 29.2 (April 1998): 31-55.

Barcan, R. (1997). "The Global Confessional: Growing Up with the Media" In Continuum, 11.2 (1997): 82-94.

Barcan, R. (1997). "On Symbolic Grounds: Climbing Mt Kosciusko". In Heat 6 (Nov. 1997): 32-44.

2007 "Public Toilets as Technologies of Separation and Concealment." Invited paper, Outing the Water Closet: Sex, Gender and the Public Toilet, New York University, Nov. 2007.

2006 "Paradigm Switching: Medical intuition in a postmodern society". Negotiating the Sacred III: Religion, Medicine & the Body. ANU, Canberra, Nov. 2006.

2005 With Jay Johnston. "Fixing the Self: Healing in Some Alternative Therapies." Annual conference of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia. Sydney, Dec. 2005

2005 With Jay Johnston. "Subtle Transformations: Imagining the Body in Alternative Health Practices." Paper presented to Body Modification Mark II conference, Macquarie University, Mar. 2005.

9-11 December 2004 Ordinary Affects and Everyday Pedagogy
Panellist, Cultural Studies Association of Australasia Annual Conference,
Fremantle, WA

2003 Dr Ruth Barcan – Invited Address: A Journey Without Signposts: The Cultural and Social Meanings of Skin and Hair, Australasian Menopause Congress, Hobart, November

2002 Dr Ruth Barcan – Invited Keynote Address: The Idleness of Academics: Reflections on the Usefulness of Cultural Studies, Cultural Studies Association of Australia Conference, Melbourne, December

2002 Dr Ruth Barcan – Paper: ‘Regaining What Mankind has Lost Through
Civilisation': Early Naturism and Ambivalent Moderns, Controlling Bodies: The Regulation Of Conduct 1650- 2000 Conference, University Of Glamorgan, Wales, June

2001 Dr Ruth Barcan – Invited Keynote Address: Problems Without Solutions:Teaching Theory and the Politics of Hope, Cultural Studies Association of Australia Conference, Hobart, December

2000 Dr Ruth Barcan – Paper: The Moral Bath of Bodily Unconsciousness: Female Beach Nudism, Bodily Exposure and the Gaze, On the Beach Conference, Cultural Studies Association Conference, Brisbane, December

1999 Dr Ruth Barcan – Paper: Home on the Rage: The Home Girls Phenomenon, presented at the Synthetics conference, Cultural Studies Association Conference, Sydney, December

1999 Dr Ruth Barcan – Invited paper: Nudity, Commodity, Celebrity, UTS’s Ultimo seminar series, Sydney, October

1997 Dr Ruth Barcan – Invited Panel Paper: Space for the Feminine, on the death of Princess Diana, presented as part of Global Mourning panel session, Objects of Belonging Conference, Sydney, October

Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies (Halifax)
Book Review Editor: Cultural Studies Review (Melbourne University Press)

Current Teaching

• GCST4101 Arguing the Point