Dr Louise St Guillaume

Lecturer and Discipline Coordinator, Sociology
BA Hons (UNDA), PhD (UNDA)

Email: louise.st.guillaume@nd.edu.au
Phone: 8204 4122

  • Biography

    Dr Louise St Guillaume is Discipline Coordinator of Sociology in the School of Arts and Sciences at The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) (Sydney campus).

    In 2015 Dr St Guillaume completed her PhD in the discipline of Sociology at UNDA (Sydney campus). Her PhD, 'The Same but Different', examined how people with a partial capacity to work are governed in policy changes to the income support system and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

    Her current research interests include disability, income support, asylum and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social policy in Australia.

  • Teaching areas

    • Sociology
    • Social justice
    • Social policy

  • Research interests and current projects

    • Disability policy in Australia particularly in relation to the Australian social security system and disability care and support
    • Policy which governs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples particularly in relation to work and the Australian social security system
    • Asylum policy
    • Intersectionality
    • Southern Disability Theory
    • Governmentality

    Possible research topics:
    I am open to supervising projects in the areas above.

  • Research supervision

    PhD Supervision

    • 2020: Dominic Golding (current). Making lives visible: The absence of culturally and linguistically diverse people with disabilities in The National Disability Strategy (NDS). Co-supervisor: Prof Cate Thill.

    Masters Supervision

    • 2019: Veronica Nelson (current). University graduates with disability and participation in employment: an exploratory study. Co-supervisor: Prof Cate Thill.

    Honours Supervision

    • 2020: Lily Reid (current). Violence that claims to care: An examination into the governing techniques of Australian ag-gag policy.
    • 2018: Georgia Coe (First Class Honours). Beyond ‘Mental Illness’: An exploration into the ways in which the Social and Emotional Wellbeing approach is negotiated in contemporary policy associated with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples ‘mental health’.
      Co-supervisor: Dr Denise Buiten
    • 2016: Alex Hidden (First Class Honours). ‘Virtually inhuman’: An analysis of disability in the video game ‘Life is Strange’.
      Co-supervisor: Prof Cate Thill.

  • Books

    Soldatic, K., & St Guillaume, L. (Eds.). (2021). Social suffering in the neoliberal age. Routledge. (Forthcoming).

  • Book chapters

    • McCluskey, K., St Guillaume, L., & DaSilva, D. (2021). Representations of ability and disability in the Pictorial Vitae of beata Fina in Fifteenth Century San Gimignano. In K. Watson & T. H. Wiles (Eds). Routledge Companion to Art and Disability. Routledge. (Forthcoming).
    • St Guillaume, L. (2021). Enabling  and discipling the economic participation of people with disability at the intersection of Job Seeker and the Information Linkages and Capacity Building program. In K. Soldatic & L. St Guillaume (Eds.). Social suffering in the neoliberal age. Routledge. (Forthcoming).
    • St Guillaume, L., Finlay, E., & Lam, C. (2018). Alternative Australia: (Re)constructing, ‘normality’ through Australian celebrities. In J. Raphael & C. Lam (Eds.), Personas and places: Negotiating myths, stereotypes and national identities (pp. 42-61). Toronto, New York: WaterHill Publishing.
    • Finlay, E. & St Guillaume, L. (2017). The Silent DisCo: Celebrity, disability and 'Rights not Charity'. In J. Raphael and C. Lam (Eds.). 'Becoming Brands: Celebrity, Activism and Politics' (pp. 32-43). Toronto: WaterHill Publishing.

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • Soldatic, K., & St Guillaume, L. (2019). Social Suffering in the neoliberal age: Classificatory logic and systems of governance: Book of abstracts. Western Sydney University. https://doi.org/10.26183/5d11963012d59.
    • McCluskey, K., St Guillaume, L., & DaSilva, D. (2021). Representations of ability and disability in the Pictorial Vitae of beata Fina in Fifteenth Century San Gimignano. In K. Watson & T. H. Wiles (Eds). Routledge Companion to Art and Disability. Routledge. (Forthcoming).
    • St Guillaume, L., & Thill, C. (2018). An intersection in population control: Welfare reform and Indigenous people with a partial capacity to work in the Australian Northern Territory. Disability and the Global South, 5(2), 1508-1530.
    • St Guillaume, L., & Finlay, E. (2018). Disabled mobility and the production of impairment: The case of Australia’s migration policy framework. Asia Pacific Review, 59(1), 119-131.
    • St Guillaume, L., & Finlay, E. (2018). The complexity of Adam Hills: Celebrity and disability. Celebrity Studies, 9(1), 126-130.
    • Lam, C., & St Guillaume, L. (2018). Grant’ing a voice: The representation, activity and agency of Stan Grant. Celebrity Studies, 9(1), 139-146.
    • St Guillaume, L. (2011) Critical race and disability framework: A new paradigm for understanding discrimination against people from non-English speaking backgrounds and Indigenous people with disability. Critical Race and Whiteness Studies e-journal, 7(1), 1-19. Retrieved from http://www.acrawsa.org.au/files/ejournalfiles/162CRAWSGuillaume714.pdf.

  • Conference papers

    • St Guillaume, L., & Coe, G. (2020). ‘I think I made my situation worse’:  Job Seeker, people with disability and the social production of mental illness. Paper presented at the Mental Health Seminar at The Australian National University.
    • St Guillaume, L. (2019). Whitlam's legacy and Australian disability social policy: What about people with a partial capacity to work? Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, Western Sydney University.
    • St Guillaume, L. (2019). Demerits, penalty zones and a “Newstart”: What about people with a partial capacity to work? Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, Western Sydney University.
    • St Guillaume, L., Sakakibara, J., Piteo, SEM., & Chalmers, T. (2019, November). The complexity of work-integrated learning and teaching research methods in practice. Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, Western Sydney University.
    • St Guillaume, L. (2019, July). Enabling and disciplining social and economic participation:
      How people with a partial capacity to work are governed at the intersection of Centrelink and the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building tier of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Paper presented at Social Suffering in the Neoliberal Age: Classificatory Logic and Systems of Governance Symposium, Western Sydney University.
    • St Guillaume, L., & Finlay, E. (2018, December). Indigenous people with a partial capacity to work, income management and the Community Development Programme. Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, Deakin University.
    • St Guillaume, L., Sakakibara, J., & Reyna, J. (2018, December). An interdisciplinary work-integrated learning approach to teaching research methods to sociology and business students. Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, Deakin University.
    • St Guillaume, L. (2018, December). The value of applied sociology for teaching sociology. Presentation at The Australian Sociological Association Conference, Deakin University.
    • St Guillaume, L., Finlay, & Lam, C. (2017, November). Alternative Australia Panel: Stan Grant, Adam Hills and Dami Im. Panel presented at CMCS Conference: Bridging Gaps: National identity in persona, branding and activism, University of Western Australia.
    • St Guillaume, L. & Finlay, E. (2016, December). Disabled mobility: Forced migration, offshore processing and the production of impairment under Australian migration controls. Paper presented at Symposium on Transnational People-Movement and Social Rights, University of Sydney.
    • Finlay, E. & St Guillaume, L. (2016, July). More to the DisCo than Shak(ing) it Off: Celebrity, disability and ‘Rights not Charity’. Paper presented at CMCS International Conference Series: Bridging Gaps: What are the media, publicists, and celebrities selling?, Barcelona, Spain.
    • St Guillaume, L. & Thill, C. (2015, June). Listening across systems: Governing disability at the intersection of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and income support system in Australia. Paper presented at Critical Social Futures: Querying Systems of Disability Support Symposium, University of New South Wales.

  • In the Media:

    • St Guillaume, L. quoted in an article by Luke Henriques-Gomes ‘Sick or disabled people on Newstart face unrealistic obligations to find work’. The Guardian. 5 March 2020.
    • St Guillaume, L. interviewed for radio by Fiona Wyllie. ‘Newstart, poverty and disability’. ABC Statewide Drive. 5 March 2020.

  • Professional affiliations

    • Convener of the Teaching Sociology Thematic Group of The Australian Sociological Association
    • Member of the The Australian Sociological Association
    • Honorary Fellow, Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University
    • Council member of the Australian Catholic Council for Pastoral Research

  • Community engagement

    2016-2020 St Scholastica’s College, Glebe
    Presenting to Year 11 Society and Culture students ‘What is Sociology and why is it important?’

    2019 St Joseph’s Catholic High School, Albion Park
    Presenting to Year 12 Society and Culture students ‘What is Sociology and why is it important?’

    2019 St Scholastica’s College, Glebe
    Presenting to Year 12 Society and Culture students on ‘Whitlam’s legacy and Australian disability social policy: What about people with a partial capacity to work?’

    2015 St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School, Arncliffe
    Presenting to Year 6 students ‘What is the Northern Territory intervention?’

    2013 Red Earth|Connecting students to remote Indigenous Australia

    2009 Refugee Council, NSW Adult Migrant English Service, Department of Education and Training Adult Migrant English Program Consortium

  • Industry Engagement

    • Partner: Welfare Rights Network and Economic Justice Australia
      Project: Disability Support Pension access for people with psychiatric and psychological impairments

      Period: December 2020 – June 2021
    • Partner: Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association
      Project: Community Voices program evaluation
      Period: November – December 2020
    • Partner: Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association
      Project: National Disability Insurance Access and Appeals for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds with disability

      Period: June – December 2020
    • Partner: St Vincent De Paul Society
      Project: Motivations and barriers to second-hand consumption by young people

      Period: January – December 2020

  • Awards

    2020   

    • Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association
      Project title: Access and NDIS appeals for people from CALD backgrounds with disability
      Amount received: $20,000

    2019

    • E.G. Whitlam Fellowship 2019 at the Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University
      Amount received: $30,000

    2017

    • Research Incentive Scheme funding, The University of Notre Dame Australia
      Amount received: $1200

    2016

    • ‘Best Paper’ at the Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies Conference 'Bridging Gaps: What are the media, publicists, and celebrities selling?' in Barcelona, Spain

    2015

    • Nominated for an early career Teaching Award in the Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Promoting Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Supervision, The University of Notre Dame Australia

    2014 

    • Parliamentary Library Summer Research Scholarship

    2011 

    • University Postgraduate Award, The University of Notre Dame Australia

    2010 

    • Outstanding Academic Achievement in 2010 for Honours, First Place, The University of Notre Dame Australia
    • Winner of the Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association (ACRAWSA) essay competition (Non-Indigenous submission)
    • Winner of the Shop Distributive Alliance (SDA) Tertiary Education Assistance Program (TEAP)

    2009

    • Commendation for Upper Sociology, The University of Notre Dame Australia
    • Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Volunteer Work, The University of Notre Dame Australia

  • Other

    Public Lectures

    • St Guillaume, L. (2020). Newstart, poverty and disability. The Whitlam Institute. Western Sydney University.

    Reports & Government Submissions

    • St Guillaume, L. (2020). Newstart, poverty, disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University.
    • St Guillaume, L., & The Whitlam Institute. (2019). Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee’s Inquiry into the Adequacy of Newstart Allowance and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia: Submission. Parliament of Australia.

    Expert Evidence & Parliamentary Debate

    • Referenced in the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs Report, Adequacy of Newstart and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. Parliament House, Canberra. April 2020.
    • Presented expert testimony to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee’s Inquiry into the Adequacy of Newstart Allowance and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia: Senate Hearing. Australian Senate. Sydney, Australia, October 2020.