Beyond Empire: Transnational religious networks and liberal cosmopolitanisms. This project aims to study religion as a dimension of international affairs between 1860 and 1950. It will examine the contribution of faith-based activity, networking and thought to global governance and peace building institutionalised in the United Nations, universal human rights and humanitarianism that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. The project will explore the emergence of these faith-based cosm ....Beyond Empire: Transnational religious networks and liberal cosmopolitanisms. This project aims to study religion as a dimension of international affairs between 1860 and 1950. It will examine the contribution of faith-based activity, networking and thought to global governance and peace building institutionalised in the United Nations, universal human rights and humanitarianism that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. The project will explore the emergence of these faith-based cosmopolitanisms at the interstices of multi-faith, multi-cultural and multi-racial webs of connection and their significance for Australian, regional and global history. This could show how secular and inter-faith activisms can produce cosmopolitan visions of practical co-existence.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100496
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$446,291.00
Summary
Standardising Halal: interpreting the tension between global and local. This project aims to advance understanding of how halal standardisation has been reimagined in the context of global Muslim cultural diversity. It investigates the halal cultural economy—finance, food, travel, fashion, media, and cosmetics—in Malaysia and Indonesia. Using innovative interdisciplinary approaches, in particular anthropology and Islamic textual analysis, this project expects to generate a new level of understan ....Standardising Halal: interpreting the tension between global and local. This project aims to advance understanding of how halal standardisation has been reimagined in the context of global Muslim cultural diversity. It investigates the halal cultural economy—finance, food, travel, fashion, media, and cosmetics—in Malaysia and Indonesia. Using innovative interdisciplinary approaches, in particular anthropology and Islamic textual analysis, this project expects to generate a new level of understanding of halal industries. Expected outcomes include identifying major players and unpacking local cultural responses to the global move to homogenise halal practices. Australia is the world’s second-largest halal food exporter: this research should benefit its businesses’ expansion into contemporary halal industries.Read moreRead less
Socio-cultural Factors and the Use of Therapeutic Opioids in Indonesia. This project aims to determine how legal, policy and socio-cultural factors influence the use of therapeutic opioids in Indonesia. The project expects to generate a nuanced understanding of the impact of non-medical considerations in contested areas of health policy through its multidisciplinary and multi-scalar approach. We expect outcomes to include a robust model of influences on decision-making that can be applied in Ind ....Socio-cultural Factors and the Use of Therapeutic Opioids in Indonesia. This project aims to determine how legal, policy and socio-cultural factors influence the use of therapeutic opioids in Indonesia. The project expects to generate a nuanced understanding of the impact of non-medical considerations in contested areas of health policy through its multidisciplinary and multi-scalar approach. We expect outcomes to include a robust model of influences on decision-making that can be applied in Indonesia and adapted for use in other national contexts. This should provide significant benefits, including an innovative training program to empower doctors and pharmacists to make evidence-based decisions about the potential risks and benefits, both medical and social, of opioid-based treatment options.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101517
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$336,367.00
Summary
Through the Lens of Sufism: Global Dissemination of Knowledge in Islam. This project aims to investigate the intellectual legacy of Sufism on Islamic thought. Using an interdisciplinary approach it expects to generate new knowledge about the influence of Sufism since the thirteenth century, through a detailed analysis of newly-identified medieval texts and their transmission and dissemination throughout knowledge systems. Expected outcomes of the project include a challenge to conventional under ....Through the Lens of Sufism: Global Dissemination of Knowledge in Islam. This project aims to investigate the intellectual legacy of Sufism on Islamic thought. Using an interdisciplinary approach it expects to generate new knowledge about the influence of Sufism since the thirteenth century, through a detailed analysis of newly-identified medieval texts and their transmission and dissemination throughout knowledge systems. Expected outcomes of the project include a challenge to conventional understandings about the chronology and structures of Islamic thought, and the first global mapping of Islamic intellectual networks. The project should provide significant benefits including an improved appreciation of the influences on, and complexities of, Islamic thought in the modern world.Read moreRead less
Forging antiquity: Authenticity, forgery, and fake papyri. This project aims to situate typology of forged papyri in a historical analysis of the development of forgery, authentication techniques, and public debates over forgeries from the 19th century to the present day. The project will contextualise technical study of fakes within authentication strategies in ancient papyri, traditional and emerging de-authentication practices, and the cultural context of forgery. A typology of forged papyri ....Forging antiquity: Authenticity, forgery, and fake papyri. This project aims to situate typology of forged papyri in a historical analysis of the development of forgery, authentication techniques, and public debates over forgeries from the 19th century to the present day. The project will contextualise technical study of fakes within authentication strategies in ancient papyri, traditional and emerging de-authentication practices, and the cultural context of forgery. A typology of forged papyri will enable collecting institutions to better assess fakes, permit easier detection of forgeries in antiquities markets, and provide a tool for scholars asked to assess the authenticity of papyri offered for sale or donation.Read moreRead less
Improving Spiritual Health Care for LGBT Australians. Research has demonstrated that attempts to change the sexual and gender orientation of LGBT people do not work, but little is known about their impacts or the extent of their practice in Australia. This project aims to investigate the history, scale and nature of LGBT conversion therapy in Australia. Robust data on Australian conversion practices will be collected through a national survey, life history interviews and focus groups with spirit ....Improving Spiritual Health Care for LGBT Australians. Research has demonstrated that attempts to change the sexual and gender orientation of LGBT people do not work, but little is known about their impacts or the extent of their practice in Australia. This project aims to investigate the history, scale and nature of LGBT conversion therapy in Australia. Robust data on Australian conversion practices will be collected through a national survey, life history interviews and focus groups with spiritual and mental health care providers. These data will be used to establish the impacts of conversion practices and develop resources to support improved spiritual care of LGBT people. The findings will benefit society, supporting social cohesion in the fraught area of religious and LGBT rights.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100230
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$377,402.00
Summary
Transnational networks of Salafi Clerics. This project aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the transnational networks of the ultra-orthodox Salafi Sunni Muslim clerics. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the areas of Islamic studies and religion in society by studying transnational religious actors. This project offers new insights on the workings of Salafi clerical networks, and how these clerics attempt to influence and operate in Muslim societies. Since Salafism is bl ....Transnational networks of Salafi Clerics. This project aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the transnational networks of the ultra-orthodox Salafi Sunni Muslim clerics. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the areas of Islamic studies and religion in society by studying transnational religious actors. This project offers new insights on the workings of Salafi clerical networks, and how these clerics attempt to influence and operate in Muslim societies. Since Salafism is blamed for providing the ideological foundations for extremism, the project provides significant benefits to the scholarly community as well as for policy makers, intelligence professionals and the general public in Australia and worldwide.Read moreRead less
Interreligious Relations between Muslims and People of other Faiths. Traditional Islamic law and theology developed a wide range of negative positions about people of other faiths. Based on extensive fieldwork, this project aims to understand how and to what extent prominent Muslim religious leaders are transforming these negative positions to positive ones today in Australia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Singapore. The project will lead to an evidence-based understanding of the potential for future ....Interreligious Relations between Muslims and People of other Faiths. Traditional Islamic law and theology developed a wide range of negative positions about people of other faiths. Based on extensive fieldwork, this project aims to understand how and to what extent prominent Muslim religious leaders are transforming these negative positions to positive ones today in Australia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Singapore. The project will lead to an evidence-based understanding of the potential for future interreligious harmony in these countries. Since positive interreligious relations are of domestic, regional and global concern for social cohesion and peace and security, the outcomes of this project will be of significant interest to both scholars and policymakers in Australia.Read moreRead less
Building India: Religion, craft and infrastructure in contemporary Asia. This project aims to show how Hinduism and the god Vishwakarma—literally, Maker of the Universe—frame and propel the infrastructural systems key to India’s rise as a 21st century economic powerhouse. The project will explore the unprecedented growth of Vishwakarma worship across India’s infrastructural and business enterprise sectors, and its role in mobilising a creative class of professionals. It will also investigate its ....Building India: Religion, craft and infrastructure in contemporary Asia. This project aims to show how Hinduism and the god Vishwakarma—literally, Maker of the Universe—frame and propel the infrastructural systems key to India’s rise as a 21st century economic powerhouse. The project will explore the unprecedented growth of Vishwakarma worship across India’s infrastructural and business enterprise sectors, and its role in mobilising a creative class of professionals. It will also investigate its role in instilling a spirit of craftsmanship among workers in Prime Minister Modi’s Make-in-India campaign. The project aims to deepen Australian understanding of Asian religion and economy as it seeks to navigate trade and investment opportunities in Asia.Read moreRead less
The history of inebriation and reason from Plato to the Latin Middle Ages. This project aims to uncover the undetected but pervasive dichotomy between spiritual inebriation and physical drunkenness from antiquity to the Middle Ages. While Christian theologians, inspired by Plato, celebrated inebriation as a metaphor for a hyper-rational state in which the soul transcends the limitations of reason, Christian moralists, inspired by Stoic philosophy, condemned physical drunkenness as fall from reas ....The history of inebriation and reason from Plato to the Latin Middle Ages. This project aims to uncover the undetected but pervasive dichotomy between spiritual inebriation and physical drunkenness from antiquity to the Middle Ages. While Christian theologians, inspired by Plato, celebrated inebriation as a metaphor for a hyper-rational state in which the soul transcends the limitations of reason, Christian moralists, inspired by Stoic philosophy, condemned physical drunkenness as fall from reason. The project will analyse the cultural and intellectual history of inebriation with the aim of changing appreciation of how medieval thinkers inherited and transformed pagan classical ideas about drinking. Inebriation provides a hitherto unexplored path to rewriting the history of reason, urging us to consider our culturally-ingrained reactions to drinking.Read moreRead less