Andrew Singleton

Introduction Various governments around the world implemented ‘stay at home’ orders, colloquially known as lockdowns, in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Existing research suggests that these lockdowns had significant impacts upon the lived-experiences of temporality of many people, with widespread reports of anomalous experiences of temporal passage and difficulties with judgments of temporal duration. Methods We conducted a phenomenologically framed online survey of 830 people in the state of Victoria, Australia, focused on temporal experiences of the state’s COVID-19 Pandemic lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. This survey used an adjusted version of the Transdiagnostic Assessment of Temporal Experience (TATE) scale (Stanghellini et al 2022) to get clearer about the frequency and intensity of the temporal anomalies and disruptions of these lockdowns. Results Our survey results confirm much of the existing research regarding the widespread prevalence of anomalous temporal experiences. In particular, we found that around half of our participants reported slowness, feeling out of sync (with others and the world), and persistent worry about the future during the lockdowns, with these reported disruptions falling sharply after restrictions ended in late 2021. Conclusion By juxtaposing these survey results with existing work in the phenomenology of depression, we contend that many people experienced depressive-like temporal experiences under lockdown. We also outline the need for further phenomenologically informed research of this kind, which conjoins both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Increasing numbers of adults and young people in contemporary societies are identifying as ‘spiritual but not religious’ or as ‘spiritual and religious’ (Fedele and Knibbe 2020; Halafoff, Singleton...

Review of: Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu, Tom Bratrud (2022) New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 276 pp., ISBN 978 1 80073 464 7 (hbk), £99

Holocaust museums around the world are distinctive in their emphasis on educational missions premised on the idea of “never again”, a deep belief that increasing public awareness of the history and contemporary significance of the Holocaust – the mass murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi regime during World War Two – can prevent the future recurrence of such events. In the Australian context, tens of thousands of school students visit Holocaust museums every year to participate in learning programs designed to impart powerful historical and moral lessons about the Holocaust, its antecedent conditions, and its ongoing relevance. The aspirations attached to these programs and the scale at which they are delivered stand in stark contrast to the lack of empirical evidence to support their efficacy. This research protocol describes an extensive four-year research study designed to evaluate the presumed linear relationship between Holocaust education programs and ethical, moral, and affective learning that leads to durable attitudinal and behavioural change. Funded through the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects scheme, the study will assess the impact of Holocaust museums’ education programs on high school students from diverse demographics, including the extent to which participation influences the views and actions of young people in relation to racial and identity-based discrimination. The research design is longitudinal and transdisciplinary, integrating qualitative, quantitative, and participatory techniques across three case studies. By strategically employing rapid ethnographic assessment procedures, archival research, analysis of museum representational practices, surveys, and visual research methods, we will examine both the educational intent behind Holocaust education programs and their actual impacts on a large sample of Australian Year 10 students. We expect the results of the research to be used by our project partners to develop Holocaust education programs that effectively engage students on cognitive and affective levels.

This article examines the Religion in Australia survey (RIA) that was conducted in 1966. Led by sociologist Hans Mol, this was the first major survey of religion in Australia. Mol’s findings were published in his landmark monograph, Religion in Australia (1971), which is arguably the most comprehensive work ever written on the religious lives of Australians. To reveal the varieties of Christian belief and practice, Mol developed a typology that categorised Australians into different kinds of believers (not unbelievers). However, Mol’s efforts were circumscribed by the computational, statistical and practical limitations of the time, and he barely engaged with the secularisation literature or other social developments. Using cutting-edge statistical procedures (latent class analysis), this article re-examines Mol’s empirical study of Australian religion and offers deeper and more complex insights into the ‘religious patterns of the Australian population’ in the 1960s. The article highlights Mol’s pioneering empirical sociology of religion and the contribution that he made to the understanding of post-war religion in Australia.