Imagining the Asian Child: Towards an Anthropology of New Asian Childhoods. This innovative study will be of both popular and scholarly interest. The future of childhoods is a key concern in Australia and globally, with growing anxieties about a number of related issues: declining birthrates, ageing populations and allegedly rising welfare burdens, youth crime, and children's experiences in families. Asian and family studies are both acknowledged scholarly strengths in Australia: the project, ....Imagining the Asian Child: Towards an Anthropology of New Asian Childhoods. This innovative study will be of both popular and scholarly interest. The future of childhoods is a key concern in Australia and globally, with growing anxieties about a number of related issues: declining birthrates, ageing populations and allegedly rising welfare burdens, youth crime, and children's experiences in families. Asian and family studies are both acknowledged scholarly strengths in Australia: the project, drawing on the principal investigator's expertise in both fields, will place regional developments in a global context, and will appeal to a range of social scientists and cultural theorists interested in comparative studies of family and childhoods.Read moreRead less
Relatively Speaking: Kinship Matters in Vanuatu. Where the absence of state welfare makes reliance on kin a necessity, the same obligations are seen by Aid donors in the Pacific as inhibiting economic advancement and civil probity.An understanding of whether or not transformations and/or continuities in the field of kinship,marriage and gender are implicated in the future development of a nation like Vanuatu in which Australia invests considerable aid and the stability of which is consequential ....Relatively Speaking: Kinship Matters in Vanuatu. Where the absence of state welfare makes reliance on kin a necessity, the same obligations are seen by Aid donors in the Pacific as inhibiting economic advancement and civil probity.An understanding of whether or not transformations and/or continuities in the field of kinship,marriage and gender are implicated in the future development of a nation like Vanuatu in which Australia invests considerable aid and the stability of which is consequential in the region, demonstrates a clear national interest in this project.Read moreRead less
Global capital, local understandings: changing ecologies of knowledge in response to a major resource extraction project in Papua New Guinea. The project will identify effects of a major development project in Papua New Guinea on the relationships local people have to land, neighbours and the globe. This will contribute to understanding processes of social change, and provide a basis for interpreting changes in a country that is of crucial significance to Australia.
God, Blood, Country: An Ethnographic Study of Christian Institutions and Political Processes in Fiji. This Discovery project addresses the Australian government's commitments to law and justice in the Pacific by seeking to understand Christian institutions' roles in national political processes, focusing specifically on Fiji. Understanding the ways that citizens of the region see links between religious and political authority is a vital first step toward understanding present conflicts and pot ....God, Blood, Country: An Ethnographic Study of Christian Institutions and Political Processes in Fiji. This Discovery project addresses the Australian government's commitments to law and justice in the Pacific by seeking to understand Christian institutions' roles in national political processes, focusing specifically on Fiji. Understanding the ways that citizens of the region see links between religious and political authority is a vital first step toward understanding present conflicts and potential means of securing peace.Read moreRead less
Medical travel in Asia: Therapeutic quests for hearts and hips. This project is of relevance to Australia not only as a source country of medical tourists seeking services overseas but as a country increasingly concerned to market its services in the region. An empirical study of this trade will provide greater understanding of the social impact of medical travel for our citizens. As an ageing population, it is expected that increased numbers of Australians may choose to pursue such treatments i ....Medical travel in Asia: Therapeutic quests for hearts and hips. This project is of relevance to Australia not only as a source country of medical tourists seeking services overseas but as a country increasingly concerned to market its services in the region. An empirical study of this trade will provide greater understanding of the social impact of medical travel for our citizens. As an ageing population, it is expected that increased numbers of Australians may choose to pursue such treatments in the region. This study will contribute to Research Priority Four through a better economic, social and political understanding of our region. It will enhance Australia's international reputation for scholarship in the social sciences.Read moreRead less
Managing Modernity : Capitalism, Globalisation and Governance in Melanesia. Australia's relations with its closest neighbours in the Pacific have been significantly reassessed as a consequence of the 'war on terror'. The goals of community development and national participation in global projects in Melanesian nation states have become linked to the issue of national security in the region. By revealing the significant impediments to and positive vectors for stability in Melanesian states, this ....Managing Modernity : Capitalism, Globalisation and Governance in Melanesia. Australia's relations with its closest neighbours in the Pacific have been significantly reassessed as a consequence of the 'war on terror'. The goals of community development and national participation in global projects in Melanesian nation states have become linked to the issue of national security in the region. By revealing the significant impediments to and positive vectors for stability in Melanesian states, this research will provide better understandings of a region that is increasingly depicted as subject to corruption, violence and the failure of democracy. Read moreRead less
Violence, Religion and Well-being in Contemporary Burma (Myanmar): A Medical Anthropological Study of Everyday Life Under Dictatorship. For 40 years, Burma has been controlled by a military dictatorship with human rights abuses occurring daily. Terror and political violence are used as tools of repression. An in-depth ethnographic study will be conducted into the relationship between emotional/psychological distress and the violence and fear that pervades everyday Burmese life. The project will ....Violence, Religion and Well-being in Contemporary Burma (Myanmar): A Medical Anthropological Study of Everyday Life Under Dictatorship. For 40 years, Burma has been controlled by a military dictatorship with human rights abuses occurring daily. Terror and political violence are used as tools of repression. An in-depth ethnographic study will be conducted into the relationship between emotional/psychological distress and the violence and fear that pervades everyday Burmese life. The project will test the hypothesis that religion plays an important role in mediating responses to fear. No other study has been conducted of everday life under this dictatorship, or of survival strategies created to alleviate fear. Outcomes will include refereed articles, a major monograph on the subject and the development of a new methodology appropriate for aiding victims of terror and torture.Read moreRead less
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
Angulimala walks - from understanding violence in Cambodia to building cultural competence in Australian international development. The purpose of this project is to make sure that people affected by violence in formerly war-torn countries like Cambodia (including those who migrated to Australia) are helped in culturally appropriate ways. The project will lead to a framework for 'cultural competence' to be used by Australia's international development and health sectors.
Becoming at home: the good starts for refugee youth cohort, transition to early adulthood and settlement outcomes. This project follows a cohort of young adults with refugee backgrounds who have been living in Australia for around ten years, and will examine settlement and social integration outcomes. This study will provide a robust evidence-base that can inform humanitarian settlement policy and programs.