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Dr Vaughan Higgins

Senior Lecturer in Sociology

Vaughan Higgins has been with the School of Humanities , Communications and Social Sciences since 2000 and is currently Senior Lecturer in Sociology, and Head of the Sociology and Social Research Section. He is co-editor of the International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food .

Classes taught by Vaughan include:
  • Global Sociology
  • Interpretation and Meaning in Sociology
  • Globalisation and Change in Regional Australia
  • Sociological Reflections on Everyday Life
  • Sociology of Health and Illness

Research Interests / Publications

Vaughan 's research interests, and areas of postgraduate supervision expertise, include globalisation, rural and agricultural regulation, environmental sociology, sociology of science and technology, governmentality and governance.
Recent research projects:

2005 – Changing Mechanisms for Agri-Environmental Governance in Australia (Monash Small Grant, with Jacqui Dibden and Chris Cocklin).

2003 – Governing the Enterprising Farmer (Monash Small Grant)

Recent publications:

Books:

Rural Governance: International Perspectives (2006, co-edited with Lynda Cheshire and Geoffrey Lawrence), Routledge: Abingdon , UK .

Agricultural Governance: Globalization and the New Politics of Regulation (2005, co-edited with Geoffrey Lawrence), Routledge: Abingdon , UK .

Constructing Reform: Economic Expertise and the Governing of Agricultural Change in Australia (2002) Nova Science: New York

Articles/Book chapters (since 2002):

Higgins, V., Dibden, J. and Cocklin, C. (2008) ‘Building Alternative Agri-Food Networks: Certification, Embeddedness and Agri-Environmental Governance', Journal of Rural Studies (in press).

Higgins, V. (2007) ‘Performing Users: The Case of a Computer-Based Dairy Decision-Support System', Science, Technology and Human Values , 32(3): 263-286.

Higgins, V., Dibden, J. and Cocklin, C. (2007) ‘Market-Oriented Initiatives for Agri-Environmental Governance: Environmental Management Systems in Australia ', in D. Maye, L. Holloway and M. Kneafsey (eds), Alternative' Food Geographies: Representation and Practice , Oxford : Elsevier.

Lockie, S. and Higgins, V. (2007) ‘Roll-Out Neoliberalism and Hybrid Practices of Governing in Australian Agri-Environmental Governance', Journal of Rural Studies, 23: 1-11 .

Cheshire , L., Higgins, V. and Lawrence, G. (2007) ‘Introduction: Governing the Rural', in L. Cheshire, V. Higgins and G. Lawrence (eds), Rural Governance: International Perspectives, Routledge: Abingdon , UK .

Cheshire , L., Higgins, V. and Lawrence, G. (2007) ‘Rural Governance and Power Relations: Theorising the Complexity of State-Citizen Interactions', in L. Cheshire, V. Higgins and G. Lawrence (eds), Rural Governance: International Perspectives, Routledge: Abingdon , UK .

Higgins, V. (2006) ‘Re-figuring the Problem of Farmer Agency in Agri-Food Studies: A Translation Approach', Agriculture and Human Values , 23(1): 51-62.

Higgins, V. (2005) ‘Governing Agriculture through the Managerial Capacities of Farmers: The Role of Calculation', in V. Higgins and G. Lawrence (eds), Agricultural Governance: Globalization and the New Politics of Regulation , Routledge: London .

Higgins, V. and Lawrence, G. (2005) ‘Introduction: Globalization and Agricultural Governance', in V. Higgins and G. Lawrence (eds), Agricultural Governance: Globalization and the New Politics of Regulation , Routledge: London .

Higgins, V. and Kitto, S. (2004) ‘Mapping the Dynamics of New Forms of Technological Governance in Agriculture: Methodological Considerations', Environment and Planning A, 36: 1397-1410.

Herbert-Cheshire, L. and Higgins, V. (2004) ‘From Risky to Responsible: Expertise and the Governing of Community-Led Rural Development', Journal of Rural Studies, 20(3): 289-302.

Higgins, V. and Natalier, K. (2004) ‘Governing Environmental Harms in a Risk Society', in R. White (ed.), Controversies in Environmental Sociology , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Higgins, V. (2004) ‘Government as a Failing Operation: Regulating Administrative Conduct ‘at a Distance' in Australia ‘, Sociology, 38(3): 457-476.

Kitto, S. and Higgins, V. (2003) ‘Online University Education: Liberating the Student?' Science as Culture , 12(1): 23-58.

Higgins, V. (2002) ‘Self-Reliant Citizens and Targeted Populations: The Case of Australian Agriculture in the 1990s', ARENA journal , 19: 161-177.

Higgins, V. and Lockie, S. (2002) ‘Re-discovering the Social: Neo-liberalism and Hybrid Practices of Governing in Rural Natural Resource Management',Journal of Rural Studies , 18(4): 419-428.


Contact Details

Phone:
03 9902 6327 or 5122 6327

Fax:
03 9902 6359 or 5122 6359

Office:
1E127

Email:
Vaughan.Higgins@arts.monash.edu.au

Address:
School of Humanities, Communications & Social Sciences
Monash University, Gippsland Campus
Northways Road,
Churchill, Victoria 3842
 

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