A/Prof Paul Brown

Overview

Paul Brown contributes to interdisciplinary environmental studies at UNSW, and his research takes in social, political and cultural dimensions of environmental policy. He specializes in waste issues, nuclear controversy and the linkage between arts and environment. He is also a playwright and filmmaker, and uses oral history and community development approaches (including verbatim theatre) within his research projects.

Research Summary

Key research projects are:
* a longitudinal study of industry-community relations around Botany Bay, in southeastern Sydney; with particular reference to the implications of toxic waste stockpiles.
* a reassessment of nuclear facilities, nuclear waste and Twentieth Century nuclear bomb testing; as an example of the evolving relationships between technology and society.
* development of a three part performance using oral history from the veterans of British nuclear testing at Maralinga and Monte Bello
* collaborations with Indian and Thai scholars in research programs covering ecological sustainability, climate change and estuarine waterways

Teaching

In Session 2 2012 I will be giving some of the lectures in ARTS2243 Waste and Society.

Publications

EXAMPLES:

Toxic waste and public participation

* Brown PF (2009) Toxic Waste in our midst: towards an interdisciplinary analysis. Journal of Environmental Management 90, 1559-1566.
* Brown PF and Benn S (2009) Toxic Risk and Governance: the case of hexachlorobenze. Journal of Environmental Management 90, 1557-1558.
* Benn S and Brown PF (2009) Decision making in the risk society: challenges for organisational legitimacy. Journal of Environmental Management, 90.
* Rae I and Brown PF (2009) Managing the Intractable: communicative structures for management of HCB and other scheduled wastes. Journal of Environmental Management, 90.
* Brown PF and Hillier N et al (2009) Our Battle with Hexachlorobenzene: Resident perspectives on toxic waste in Botany. Journal of Environmental Management, 90, 1605-1612.
* Brown PF based on an interview with Nancy Hillier, (2002) The Ratbag of Botany, in McPhillips K, Local Heroes: Australian Crusades from the Environmental Frontline. Pluto Press, Sydney.

Knowledge, culture and the creative arts

* Bandyopadhyay DN, Brown PF, and Conti C, eds. (2011) Landscape, Place and Culture: Linkages between Australia and India, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle.
* Brown PF ed. (2010) Verbatim: staging memory and community. Currency Press, Sydney.
* Brown PF (2008) Knowledge Power and Cultural Policy: social understanding through the Arts, in Anderson, L (ed), Making Meaning Making Money: Directions for the Arts and Cultural Industries in the Creative Age, Cambridge Scholars Press, Cambridge.
* Brown PF and Crittenden XR (2007) Nature Moves Centre Stage: Eco-centrism in Community Theatre. About Performance, 7, 99-116.
* Brown PF (2006) British Nuclear Testing: Communicating Maralinga in Performance. Journal Royal Society of New South Wales, 139 (1/2), 39-50.
* Brown PF (2006) Maralinga: Theatre from a Place of War, in McAuley, G. (ed), Ground Work: The Politics of Place and Performance. Peter Lang, Berne.
* Mills D and Brown PF (2004) Art and Wellbeing: Confirming the connections between Community Cultural Development and Health, Ecologically Sustainable development, Public Housing and Place, Rural Revitalisation, Community Strengthening, Active Citizenship, Social Inclusion and Cultural Diversity. Australia Council for the Arts, Sydney.

Creative Works

* Brown PF and the Maralinga Research Group (2006) Half a Life: Stage Play based on testimonies of Australia’s nuclear veterans. For the Australian Nuclear Veterans Association, British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, Alphaville, and Belvoir Street Theatre.
* Brown PF (2004) Room 207 Nikola Tesla, Stage Performance and Installation of electrical experiments. Producer Thor Blomfield; seasons at Newtown Theatre and Canberra Theatre, X-Ray Theatre, Sydney.
* Brown PF (2003) Sixty Thousand Barrels, Documentary film about toxic waste and community participation in Botany. SBS Independent, Film Finance Corporation and Alphaville, Sydney.
* Brown PF (2001) Aftershocks: community theatre about the Newcastle earthquake, Playscript and Introduction, Currency Press, Sydney.

Affiliations and Memberships

School of Humanities
Institute of Environmental Studies

Contributions

I am Chair of the Botany Bay HCB Community Participation and Review Committee. This committee is the clearing house and public consultation forum for the ongoing work on hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste stored at the Botany Industrial Park, on the northern shores of Botany Bay in southeastern Sydney.

Other Information

I contribute to the programs of the Institute of Environmental Studies at UNSW. Visit the institute's website for more information.

Personal Links

To find more about current projects, search on the following keywords:
* Half a Life Maralinga
* Toxic risk and governance Botany
* Art and Wellbeing

Interests

* Environmental Management of the UNSW campus
* Sustainable urban housing, including development of my own house
* Comparative studies of environment and society, between Australia and other countries in our region.
* Creative arts, especially performance, as a way to make ecological knowledge.