Cultural competence in supporting Cambodians recovering from conflict. This project will (1) reduce the impact of conflict for the next generation, a key to a healthy start to life and ageing well (2) guide interventions in regional settings (3) inform guidelines for refugee programs in Australia (4) highlight culture as redressing weakened traditional support structures of survivors of war in Australia and the region, supporting the Government's welfare reform and participation agendas (5) equi ....Cultural competence in supporting Cambodians recovering from conflict. This project will (1) reduce the impact of conflict for the next generation, a key to a healthy start to life and ageing well (2) guide interventions in regional settings (3) inform guidelines for refugee programs in Australia (4) highlight culture as redressing weakened traditional support structures of survivors of war in Australia and the region, supporting the Government's welfare reform and participation agendas (5) equip Australia to understand insecurities of globalisation and what survivors of war can be driven to do - unless their culture is used as an asset rather than a source of terror (6) enhance Australia's capacity to engage with its cultural environment (7) enhance capacity for AusAID to interpret itself to the rest of the world.Read moreRead less
The Clothing Industry in the Asia Pacific: Managing Constant Change. The dynamics of the garment industry have been central to industrialisation. This study will be the first examination of the changing nature of clothing manufacture. By tracing regional and international networks, and connecting them to patterns of legal and illegal movements of businesses, goods, money and people, it will show how changes in transnational business affect daily working life. It will highlight the outcome of tra ....The Clothing Industry in the Asia Pacific: Managing Constant Change. The dynamics of the garment industry have been central to industrialisation. This study will be the first examination of the changing nature of clothing manufacture. By tracing regional and international networks, and connecting them to patterns of legal and illegal movements of businesses, goods, money and people, it will show how changes in transnational business affect daily working life. It will highlight the outcome of trade liberalisation on the Asia Pacific, and contribute to safe-guarding Australia by providing a better understanding of the insecurities created by this rapidly changing industry.
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Spiritual Ecologies and Customary Governance in Post-conflict East Timor. This project examines the dynamics of a 'return to custom’ in post-conflict East Timor: a set of practices connecting ancestral house communities with complex ecologies upon which people's livelihoods and well-being depend. Drawing on extensive background experience and detailed comparative studies, the project plans to consider the contribution of custom and its inter-generational legacies to the development of sustainabl ....Spiritual Ecologies and Customary Governance in Post-conflict East Timor. This project examines the dynamics of a 'return to custom’ in post-conflict East Timor: a set of practices connecting ancestral house communities with complex ecologies upon which people's livelihoods and well-being depend. Drawing on extensive background experience and detailed comparative studies, the project plans to consider the contribution of custom and its inter-generational legacies to the development of sustainable social and environmental policies of governance. The project is designed to be both a timely study of social renewal in post-conflict societies, and a contribution to the possibilities of sustainable environmental and resource management in East Timor and the wider region.Read moreRead less
Encounters with Extinction: A multi-sited, multi-species approach to life at the edge of catastrophe in the Asia-Pacific region. This project explores people's relationships with five endangered charismatic animal species in our Asia-Pacific region. We investigate how people's lives - from local communities to activists and biologists - are bound up with these animals, for better and worse, as they slide towards extinction.
A reassessment of early human stone technology from a Southeast Asian perspective. The study of early stone technology is crucial to our understanding of human evolution worldwide, providing insight into the capabilities of our earliest ancestors. Current models focus on the evidence from Africa and Europe, potentially marginalising the importance of eastern Asia in the global development of early human stone technology. This impacts how nations and communities in our region interpret themselv ....A reassessment of early human stone technology from a Southeast Asian perspective. The study of early stone technology is crucial to our understanding of human evolution worldwide, providing insight into the capabilities of our earliest ancestors. Current models focus on the evidence from Africa and Europe, potentially marginalising the importance of eastern Asia in the global development of early human stone technology. This impacts how nations and communities in our region interpret themselves to the world and reduces the impetus of innovative research on this subject. The proposal aims to establish detailed comparisons between Southeast Asian and 'Western' technologies, providing a suitable framework through which current preconceptions can be more rigorously assessed.Read moreRead less
Farmers of the Future: the Challenges of Feminised Agriculture in India. Neoliberal economic policies are fundamentally transforming the social landscapes of rural India, causing a deep agrarian crisis. The agrarian changes accentuate the unequal consequences for poor women and men in relation to: production (labour, tenure); livelihood and food security; access to and ownership of assets such as land and water and access to agricultural innovations and institutions. This multiscalar project inv ....Farmers of the Future: the Challenges of Feminised Agriculture in India. Neoliberal economic policies are fundamentally transforming the social landscapes of rural India, causing a deep agrarian crisis. The agrarian changes accentuate the unequal consequences for poor women and men in relation to: production (labour, tenure); livelihood and food security; access to and ownership of assets such as land and water and access to agricultural innovations and institutions. This multiscalar project investigates the causes and consequences of feminisation of agriculture in India’s transitioning economy in order to understand how gender roles and relations are being re-shaped in communities and households in diverse socioeconomic and cultural contexts and agro-ecological areas.Read moreRead less
Mining voids and just transition: reimagining post-mining landscapes . This project aims to address the complex problem of how to deal with the long-term legacies of coal mining. Through a combination of ethnographic and Arts-Based Methods, the project will advance insight into how local communities in the Hunter Valley, NSW, experience socio-cultural impacts of environmental disturbance and mining legacies, particularly where final voids are present. It will generate new knowledge into potentia ....Mining voids and just transition: reimagining post-mining landscapes . This project aims to address the complex problem of how to deal with the long-term legacies of coal mining. Through a combination of ethnographic and Arts-Based Methods, the project will advance insight into how local communities in the Hunter Valley, NSW, experience socio-cultural impacts of environmental disturbance and mining legacies, particularly where final voids are present. It will generate new knowledge into potentials for reimagining post-mining landscapes and how such landscapes can support a just transition towards a post-mining future. Expected benefits include advancement of public discourses around mining legacies, research capacity building and theory development to support multi-stakeholder engagement and dialogue.Read moreRead less
Cultural resilience and changing selves in Central Australia. This project will examine the current world picture and self-understanding of Indigenous Australians in a remote desert community. The purpose is to create knowledge and foster recognition of the cultural capabilities that exist across the generations, since life-enhancing changes for Indigenous people cannot succeed without such knowledge.
Contingent development in regional India: ethnographies of neoliberal globalisation in Gujarat and West Bengal. This project aims to understand the regional impacts of globalisation in India by comparing and contrasting two regional towns and their hinterlands (Anand, Gujarat and Darjeeling, West Bengal). Develop a more comprehensive, localised and regionalised account of the neoliberal globalisation process in India.
The Life of Language and the Language of Life: reconsidering the division between the sciences and the humanities. This innovative theoretical approach will enable a close analysis of the common foundational concepts that connect the empirical and interpretive sciences. It will:
i) contribute to the knowledge base of the sociology and philosophy of science and social theory so that Australia is a leading expert in this field of inquiry.
ii) further the unique contribution of Australian 'femin ....The Life of Language and the Language of Life: reconsidering the division between the sciences and the humanities. This innovative theoretical approach will enable a close analysis of the common foundational concepts that connect the empirical and interpretive sciences. It will:
i) contribute to the knowledge base of the sociology and philosophy of science and social theory so that Australia is a leading expert in this field of inquiry.
ii) further the unique contribution of Australian 'feminisms of the body' to the ethical and political questions that surround the foundations of biological life.
iii) initiate different styles of dialogue between social and scientific researchers that will encourage more informed debate about the direction of Australian technological innovation.
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