Authenticity: Globalisation and Indigenous Culture. Who speaks for the Fourth World? Why is there an obsession with 'authenticity' whenever Indigenous people are being discussed? This study explores those questions by examining a combination of sources, ranging from international museum collections to the advertising campaigns of multinational companies; from literature to the cultural festivals of the Olympic Games. The research is original, comparative, empirical. It explores the intersectio ....Authenticity: Globalisation and Indigenous Culture. Who speaks for the Fourth World? Why is there an obsession with 'authenticity' whenever Indigenous people are being discussed? This study explores those questions by examining a combination of sources, ranging from international museum collections to the advertising campaigns of multinational companies; from literature to the cultural festivals of the Olympic Games. The research is original, comparative, empirical. It explores the intersections between postcolonial and cultural studies to speak -- not for Indigenous peoples -- but to the non-Indigenous representation of First Nations. Why? Because this provides key insights into the future of race relations in western democracies.Read moreRead less
Autobiography of a People: Aboriginal Writing in Queensland, 1890s-1930s. As the recent "history wars" confirm, Australians today care deeply about the colonial past, because its legacies are "all around us and within" (as Oodgeroo noted). This project advances knowledge and conceptual understanding in the key areas of colonial race relations, Indigenous self-representation, and Indigenous literacy. Aboriginal autobiography is an especially effective tool for stimulating the empathetic imaginati ....Autobiography of a People: Aboriginal Writing in Queensland, 1890s-1930s. As the recent "history wars" confirm, Australians today care deeply about the colonial past, because its legacies are "all around us and within" (as Oodgeroo noted). This project advances knowledge and conceptual understanding in the key areas of colonial race relations, Indigenous self-representation, and Indigenous literacy. Aboriginal autobiography is an especially effective tool for stimulating the empathetic imagination, and bridging social, temporal and geographical distances between people. This research will strengthen the nation's social fabric by promoting inter-racial understanding, and by adding historical depth to present thinking about contemporary Aboriginal attitudes to literacy.Read moreRead less
Affective Communities: Anti-Imperial Thought and the Politics of Friendship. This project is a study of five friendships between anti-imperial Europeans and South Asians at the turn of the nineteenth-century. Its aim is to offer a reading of anti-colonial politics as the product of numerous transnational collaborations, friendships and conversations between western and non-western dissidents. It will extend the theoretical paradigms of postcolonial studies by challenging orthodox understandings ....Affective Communities: Anti-Imperial Thought and the Politics of Friendship. This project is a study of five friendships between anti-imperial Europeans and South Asians at the turn of the nineteenth-century. Its aim is to offer a reading of anti-colonial politics as the product of numerous transnational collaborations, friendships and conversations between western and non-western dissidents. It will extend the theoretical paradigms of postcolonial studies by challenging orthodox understandings of the colonial encounter as a violent and antagonistic clash between western power and non-western dissidence. New information will also be brought to bear on the history of the Indo-European colonial encounter.Read moreRead less
Mobile Indonesians: social differentiation and digital literacies in the twenty first century. This is the first dedicated study of the social implications of mobile telephony's recent and rapid popularisation throughout the country. This project will study metropolitan, urban and rural users to understand how mobile phones create the new and unexpected social networks which will shape tomorrow's Indonesians.
Cultural Research for the 21st Century: Building Cultural Intelligence for a Complex World. This project will advance our knowledge of the complex cultural challenges facing 21st century Australia, and how these challenges can be addressed through engaged cultural research. It will promote cultural innovation by enabling public institutions to develop effective responses to the increasing complexity of their operating environments, especially in light of society's proliferating cultural diversit ....Cultural Research for the 21st Century: Building Cultural Intelligence for a Complex World. This project will advance our knowledge of the complex cultural challenges facing 21st century Australia, and how these challenges can be addressed through engaged cultural research. It will promote cultural innovation by enabling public institutions to develop effective responses to the increasing complexity of their operating environments, especially in light of society's proliferating cultural diversity. The project will expand the national innovation system by building the capacity of cultural researchers (and humanities and social science researchers more generally) to conduct collaborative and interdisciplinary research that contributes to the solution of important social and cultural problems. Read moreRead less
Seeking the state: Incorporating the state on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. This study will provide significant theoretical insight into the functioning of the state both regionally and internationally by providing a local perspective on how Cocos Malays bring the state into their daily lives. Because they lie between Indonesia and Northwest Australia, the Cocos Islands play an important role in Australia's defence, security, and quarantine interests. The Malays residing there constitute an impor ....Seeking the state: Incorporating the state on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. This study will provide significant theoretical insight into the functioning of the state both regionally and internationally by providing a local perspective on how Cocos Malays bring the state into their daily lives. Because they lie between Indonesia and Northwest Australia, the Cocos Islands play an important role in Australia's defence, security, and quarantine interests. The Malays residing there constitute an important minority and one of Australia's oldest Islamic communities. This project is a fieldwork-based analysis of the way community members negotiate their identity as Australian citizens and Malay Muslims in relation to the state.Read moreRead less
A cultural history of West Australian popular music, 1945 to 2010. The Valentines, The Triffids, The John Butler Trio all had their origins in the western Australian musical scene. This is the first cultural history of West Australia's popular music industry. It documents the life and times of its musical artists, bands, managers, recording studios, relevant radio programs since 1945.
Outside-Domestication: towards an anthropology of the spaces of negotiated being. All institutions today encourage innovation. Yet the word is not mentioned anywhere in the world when it comes to ethnic relations policy. This project looks at spaces of social relations that fall outside state rule. Rather than seeing them as a threat we examine if they offer material for a much-needed innovative inter-cultural politics.
Old Atrocities, New Media: Terror Images and the Visual-Military Complex. This research centres on the relations between twenty-first century visual technologies and the age-old practice of the massacre-atrocity. It takes as its major case study the atrocities at the end of the war in Sri Lanka in 2009. The most graphic form of knowledge about these mass deaths and rapes was produced through digitally transmitted visual images. The research asks how new forms of recording and circulating images ....Old Atrocities, New Media: Terror Images and the Visual-Military Complex. This research centres on the relations between twenty-first century visual technologies and the age-old practice of the massacre-atrocity. It takes as its major case study the atrocities at the end of the war in Sri Lanka in 2009. The most graphic form of knowledge about these mass deaths and rapes was produced through digitally transmitted visual images. The research asks how new forms of recording and circulating images of atrocity, whether in the form of trophy photographs or other digital documents, shape the reception of, and responses to, atrocity. These questions are contextualised against a broader examination of the historical and evolving relations between visual media and atrocity images from the Holocaust to Abu Ghraib.Read moreRead less
Culture in Transition: Creative Labour and Social Mobilities in the Asian Century. Australia's role in the Asian region is changing with the rise of China and India. This Project will benefit Australian communities by increasing knowledge about how the emergence of these nations impacts upon economic growth and innovation, intercultural relations and efforts of social inclusion. The Project will develop new media strategies to inform citizens about how labour relations and mobilities are shiftin ....Culture in Transition: Creative Labour and Social Mobilities in the Asian Century. Australia's role in the Asian region is changing with the rise of China and India. This Project will benefit Australian communities by increasing knowledge about how the emergence of these nations impacts upon economic growth and innovation, intercultural relations and efforts of social inclusion. The Project will develop new media strategies to inform citizens about how labour relations and mobilities are shifting in this regional context. It will also increase public awareness of the changing forms of global urbanism in Chinese and Indian cities and reposition Australian cultural research and policy in ways adequate to the economic and social challenges posed by the so-called Asian century.Read moreRead less