Journal

Griffith Review 55: State of Hope edited by Julianne Schultz and Patrick Allington

Item: Griffith Review 55
Author: Robert Crocker

by Robert Crocker •

June-July 2017, no. 392

Griffith University/Text Publishing, $27.99 pb, 306 pp, 9781925498295

Journal

Griffith Review 55: State of Hope edited by Julianne Schultz and Patrick Allington

by Robert Crocker •

June-July 2017, no. 392

South Australia remains something of a national contradiction in terms, and this is brought out well in this richly diverse and varied collection of essays and stories. Shifting its focus away from Adelaide to many of South Australia’s older industrial and pre-industrial centres, including Whyalla, Port Augusta, the Riverland, and Clare, Griffith Review’s State of Hope is no tourist guide and does not contain any particularly useful historical overview for those who might want one. However, the editors ask an important question which those living in other states often want to know: what makes South Australia so different? The answers, and there are many, come together piece by piece in the reading of this collection. Few readers will be left unrewarded by at least some of the assembled guests at this particular literary dinner party.

Robert Crocker

Robert Crocker, D.Phil (oxon), teaches the history and theory of design, and design for sustainability, in the School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia. Beginning his academic career as a historian of early modern science and philosophy, he became interested in social and environmental sustainability whilst working as a volunteer for a local pedestrian advocacy group in South Australia. This led him to develop an interest in other aspects of social and environmental sustainability, and particularly the role of consumption and technology in generating our present environmental crisis. Recent publications include Somebody Else’s Problem: Consumerism, sustainability and design (Greenleaf, 2016) and two edited volumes, Motivating Change: Sustainable design and behaviour in the built environment (Routledge, 2013) and Designing for Zero Waste: Consumption and technologies in the built environment (Routledge 2012). He is the Deputy Director of the China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, and the editor of the Journal for Design, Business and Society (Intellect, UK).