Researcher biography
Dr Peter Westoby spent 20 years in youth, community and organisation development practice prior to entering academia. He's worked in Australia, India, the Philippines, PNG, South Africa and Uganda. He lives in Brisbane, Australia, but feels more than at home in South Africa and the UK particularly. His research and practice interests are in community development, community-based education-training, dialogue theory and practice, forced migration studies, peace and conflict studies, and the social/solidarity economy. He loves bush walking, hanging out in independent bookshops, and good coffee.
Publications
Books
Westoby, Peter (2016). Soul, community and social change : theorising a soul perspective on community practice. Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate. doi: 10.4324/9781315562919
Westoby, Peter (2015). Creating us: community work with soul. Lismore, NSW, Australia: Tafina Press.
Lyons, Kristen, Richard, Carol and Westoby, Peter (2014). Carbon violence: the real cost of carbon markets. The impacts of green resources and plantation forestry in Uganda. Oakland, CA United States: Oakland Institute.
Westoby, Peter (2014). Theorising the practice of community development: a South African perspective. Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Westoby, Peter and Dowling, Gerard (2013). Theory and practice of dialogical community development: international perspectives. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, U.K.: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203109946
Westoby, Peter (2009). The sociality of refugee healing: In dialogue with southern Sudanese refugees resettling within Australia - Towards a social model of healing. Ausralia: Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd.
Westoby, Peter and Dowling, Gerard (2009). Dialogical Community Development with depth, hospitality and solidarity. West End, Brisbane: Tafina Press.
Book Chapters
Shevellar, Lynda and Westoby, Peter (2018). Wicked problems and community development – an introductory essay. The Routledge Handbook of Community Development Research.. (pp. 3-19) edited by Lynda Shevellar and Peter Westoby. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315612829-1
Westoby, Peter and Shevellar, Lynda (2016). Safeguarding the soul of community-based organisations – in dialogue with Lynda Shevellar. Soul, community and social change: theorising a soul perspective on community practice. (pp. 75-87) edited by Peter Westoby. Farnham, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Westoby, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2016). Soul, song, music and social change - in dialogue with Kristen Lyons. Soul, community and social change: theorising a soul perspective on community practice. (pp. 107-118) Farnham, Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate. doi: 10.4324/9781315562919-8
Westoby, Peter and Shevellar, Lynda (2012). Introduction. Learning and mobilising for community development: a radical tradition of community-based education and training. (pp. 1-12) edited by Peter Westoby and Lynda Shevellar. Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Shevellar, Lynda and Westoby, Peter (2012). Tracing a tradition of community-based education and training. Learning and mobilising for community development: a radical tradition of community-based education and training. (pp. 25-40) edited by Peter Westoby and Lynda Shevellar. Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Shevellar, Lynda and Westoby, Peter (2012). Conclusion: a community-based education and training framework. Learning and mobilising for community development: a radical tradition of community-based education and training. (pp. 205-220) edited by Peter Westoby and Lynda Shevellar. Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Westoby, Peter and Sokhela, Sipho (2012). The 'Craft' of Community-based Education and Training: The South African National Council of YMCAs and Youth Empowerment. Learning and Mobilising for Community Development: A Radical Tradition of Community-Based Education and Training. (pp. 191-201) edited by Peter Westoby and Lynda Shevellar. London, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Westoby, Peter and Shevellar, Lynda (2012). A perspective on community-based education and training. Learning and mobilising for community development: a radical tradition of community-based education and training. (pp. 13-24) edited by Peter Westoby and Lynda Shevellar. Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Westoby, Peter and Morris, Ken (2011). 'Community as dialogue' and 'dialogical community development' with(in) schools. Schools, communities and social inclusion. (pp. 140-155) edited by Dorothy Bottrell and Susan Goodwin. South Yarra, VIC, Australia: Palgrave Macmillan.
Westoby, Peter (2010). Story of working with southern Sudanese refugees in Brisbane and Logan. Community development stories, method and meaning. (pp. 57-72) edited by Anne Ingamells, Athena Lathouras, Ross Wiseman, Peter Westoby and Fiona Caniglia. Altona, Vic., Australia: Common Ground.
Westoby, P. (2010). The Waiters Union and community development. Learnings: Lessons we are learning about living together. (pp. 189-196) edited by Dave Andrews and Helen Beazley. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Community Initiatives Resource Association; Frank Communications.
Journal Articles
Westoby, Peter (2017). Review of Politics, power and community development, Edited by Rosie Meade, Mae Shaw and Sarah Banks, Policy Press, Bristol, UK, 2016, 260 pages, ISBN 978-1-44731-1. Community Development Journal, 52 (4), 734-736. doi: 10.1093/cdj/bsx033
Westoby, Peter (2017). Everything's coming together, as everything's falling apart. New Community, 15 (57-58), 36-39.
Lyons, Kristen, Westoby, Peter and Nel, Adrian (2017). Reforming global carbon markets or re-imagining alternative climate solutions and sustainabilities? An analysis of selected NGO strategies in Uganda. Journal of Political Ecology, 24 (1), 324-341. doi: 10.2458/v24i1.20812
Westoby, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2017). The place of social learning and social movement in transformative learning: a case study of sustainability schools in Uganda. Journal of Transformative Education. doi: 10.1177/1541344617696970
Walkas, Holle L., Westoby, Peter and Soal, Sue (2017). Learning from the literature on community development for the implementation of community renewables in South Africa. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, 28 (1), 35-44. doi: 10.17159/2413-3051/2017/v28i1a1592
Lyons, Kristen and Westoby, Peter (2016). Weighing up the evidence: a response to Fischer et al. Journal of Rural Studies, 47, 269-270. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.06.015
Westoby, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2016). Privatising development and environmental management: undermining social license in the Ugandan plantation forest sector. Environmental Sociology, 2 (3), 1-10. doi: 10.1080/23251042.2016.1163963
Westoby, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2016). Community organising in the oil conflict zone: Friends of the Earth Uganda ‘Sustainability School’ advocacy initiative. Chain Reaction, 126, 46-47.
Westoby, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2016). ‘We would rather die in jail fighting for land, than die of hunger’: a Ugandan case study examining the deployment of corporate-led community development in the green economy. Community Development Journal, 51 (1), 60-76. doi: 10.1093/cdj/bsv005
Westoby, Peter (2015). Missing and marginal voices: working across difference and for justice. New Community, 14: 1 (53), 71-77.
Lyons, Kristen and Westoby, Peter (2015). The darker side of green. Chain Reaction, 123.
Lyons, Kristen and Westoby, Peter (2014). Carbon markets and the new ‘Carbon Violence’: A Ugandan study. International Journal of African Renaissance, 9 (2), 77-94. doi: 10.1080/18186874.2014.987956
Shevellar, Lynda, Westoby, Peter and Connor, Meredith (2014). Flirting with danger: practice dilemmas for community development in disaster recovery. Community Development, 46 (1), 26-42. doi: 10.1080/15575330.2014.968855
Lyons, Kristen and Westoby, Peter (2014). Carbon colonialism and the new land grab: plantation forestry in Uganda and its livelihood impacts. Journal of Rural Studies, 36, 13-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.06.002
Westoby, Peter (2014). Exploring the interface between community development and cooperative development within South Africa – a challenge of theory, practice and policy. Development in Practice, 24 (7), 827-839. doi: 10.1080/09614524.2014.943155
Westoby, Peter and Kaplan, Allan (2014). Foregrounding practice – reaching for a responsive and ecological approach to community development: a conversational inquiry into the dialogical and developmental frameworks of community development. Community Development Journal, 49 (2) bst037, 214-227. doi: 10.1093/cdj/bst037
Westoby, Peter (2014). Theorising dialogue for community development practice – an exploration of crucial thinkers. Journal of Dialogue Studies, 2 (1), 69-86.
Westoby, Peter (2014). The multiple truths of asylum in Australia: non-truths, cracks and silences. New Community, 12 (45), 15-20.
Westoby, Peter and Shevellar, Lynda (2014). Beware the trojan horse of professionalization: A response to De Beer et al. (2012) Africanus 42(2): review. Africanus, 44 (1), 67-74.
Shevellar, Lynda and Westoby, Peter (2014). “Perhaps?” and “Depends!” The possible implications of disaster related community development for social work. Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, 16 (2), 23-35.
Westoby, Peter, Toon, Paul and Morris, Ken (2014). A dialogical inquiry into practice frameworks within Jabiru Community College: re-centering young people and community within a social constructionist frame. National Society for the Study of Education. Yearbook, 113 (2), 555-574.
Westoby, Peter, Paul Toon, M. F. and Morris, Ken (2014). A dialogical inquiry into practice frameworks within jabiru community college: Re-centering young people and community within a social constructionist frame. Teachers College Record, 116 (14), 555-574. doi: 10.1177/016146811411601411
Lyons, Kristen and Westoby, Peter (2013). Carbon markets and the failed promise of new green gold: plantation forestry in Uganda. Chain Reaction (119), 20-21.
Westoby, Peter and Botes, Lucius (2013). ‘I work with the community, not the parties!’ The political and practical dilemmas of South Africa’s state-employed Community Development Workers. British Journal of Social Work, 43 (7), 1294-1311. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcs058
Westoby, Peter (2012). Global challenges for community development practice: in dialogue with the wisdom of six thinkers. New Community Quarterly, 10-4 (39), 10-14.
Westoby, Peter and van Blerk, Rubert (2012). An investigation into the training of community development workers within South Africa. Development in Practice, 22 (8), 1082-1096. doi: 10.1080/09614524.2012.714354
Westoby, Peter and Ingamells, Ann (2012). Teaching community development personal practice frameworks. Social Work Education, 31 (3), 383-396. doi: 10.1080/02615479.2010.550913
Owen, John R. and Westoby, Peter (2012). The structure of dialogic practice within developmental work. Community Development, iFirst (3), 306-319. doi: 10.1080/15575330.2011.632093
Westoby, Peter and Simpson-Hope, Grace (2011). Re-thinking 'tradition' and community development practice: integrating Derrida's 'trace' and Peile's 'creative synthesis' into a reconceptualising of 'traditions' and community development practice. European Journal of Social Work, 14 (2), 213-227. doi: 10.1080/13691451003744358
Storey, Donovan, Muhidin, Salut and Westoby, Peter (2010). Planning for social inclusion in a multicultural urban South East Queensland. Australian Planner, 47 (3), 142-151. doi: 10.1080/07293682.2010.508202
Westoby, Peter and Owen, John (2010). The sociality and geometry of community development practice. Community Development Journal, 45 (1) bsp005, 58-74. doi: 10.1093/cdj/bsp005
Westoby, Peter (2010). Community-based training for conflict prevention in Vanuatu: Reflections of a practitioner-researcher. Social Alternatives, 29 (1), 15-19.
Westoby, Peter (2010). Dialogue and disentanglement: Navigating tensions for sustainable community economic development within Vanuatu. The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 6 (1), 81-92.
Westoby, Peter (2010). "We have plenty": Re-thinking custom and community economic development within Vanuatu. Journal of Development Support, 2, 20-38.
Westoby, Peter and Ingamells, Ann (2009). A critically informed perspective of working with resettling refugee groups in Australia. British Journal of Social Work, 40 (6), 1759-1776. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcp084
Westoby, Peter, Missen, Frances and Toon, Paul (2009). Education for liberation and citizenship: Community practice within Albert Park Flexible Learning Centre (APFLC). New Community Quarterly, 7 (3), 41-47.
Westoby, Peter, Hope-Simpson, Grace and Owen, John (2009). Stability without strangling: The ongoing story of the community initiatives resource association, 2003-2008. New Community Quarterly, 7 (2), 21-25.
Westoby, Peter (2009). Deconstructive, dialogical and developmental practices as the cornerstones of an approach to community development in Vanuatu. Journal for Development Support, 1 (1), 50-68.
Ingamells, Ann and Westoby, Peter (2008). Working with young people from refugee backgrounds in Australia. European Journal of Social Work, 11 (2), 161-173. doi: 10.1080/13691450701532180
Westoby, Peter (2008). Developing a community-development approach through engaging resettling Southern Sudanese refugees within Australia. Community Development Journal, 43 (4), 483-495. doi: 10.1093/cdj/bsm017
Westoby, Peter (2008). Navigating the territory of diverse discourses of community development within Vanuatu. New Community Quarterly, 6 (1), 46-51.
Jensen, Paul and Westoby, Peter (2008). Restorative justice: An integrated model for resettling young Sudanese. New Community Quarterly, 6 (3), 13-19.
Westoby, P. and Ingamells, A. (2007). Youth work: A deconstructive approach for those who work with young refugees. Youth Studies Australia, 26 (3), 52-59.
Westoby, P. and Brown, A. M. (2007). Peaceful community development in Vanuatu: A reflection on the Vanuatu kastom governance partnership. Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, 3 (3), 77-81. doi: 10.1080/15423166.2007.390449351269
Brough, Mark, Gorman, Don, Ramirez, Elvia and Westoby, Peter (2003). Young refugees talk about well-being: A qualitative analysis of refugee youth mental health from three states. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 38 (2), 193-208. doi: 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2003.tb01142.x
Conference Papers
Westoby, Peter (2014). Does Community Development Work?. The University of Queensland School Seminar Series, Murdoch Uni, Melbourne Uni, Victoria Uni., Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, 2014-27th March, 2015.
Westoby, Peter (2013). Reflections on community-based action learning with Vanuatu leaders: building capacity for sustainable peace-building. 8th ALARA World Congress 2010, Melbourne, Australia, 6-9 September 2010. Sydney, Australia: Sydney University Press.
Westoby, Peter (2005). Flirting with Spirituality within Community Development Practice. Flirting with Spirituality, Maleny, Queensland, September, 2005.
Generic Document
Lyons, Kristen and Westoby, Peter (2015). Climate Change Efforts are Hurting Africa’s Rural Poor. Carbon News.
Working Paper
Peter Westoby (2007). Sudanese Refugee Narratives of Social Distress. School of Social Work and Applied Social Sciences, The University of Queensland.
Newspaper Articles
Lyons, Kristen and Westoby, Peter (2016, 03 25). Green resources hedging around growing international calls for radical reform of its plantation forestry practices Oakland Institute Blog
Research Reports
Lyons, Kristen, Richards, Carol and Westoby, Peter (2014). The darker side of green plantation forestry and carbon violence in Uganda. Oakland, CA, United States: The Oakland Institute.
Connor, Meredith, Shevellar, Lynda and Westoby, Peter (2013). Getting back on your feet: community development work and natural disasters. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Community Development Unit, School of Social Work and Human Services, The University of Queensland.