What is safe about “safe migration”? Migration management in the Mekong. The project seeks to examine the claims that new policy models make about assuring the safety of labour migrants. What is safe about safe migration? Regulation of labour migrants is a central policy concern in Asia, Australia and elsewhere. In an attempt to address anti-trafficking, several donors, United Nations agencies, nongovernment organisations and Governments have launched ‘safe migration’ programs which, rather than ....What is safe about “safe migration”? Migration management in the Mekong. The project seeks to examine the claims that new policy models make about assuring the safety of labour migrants. What is safe about safe migration? Regulation of labour migrants is a central policy concern in Asia, Australia and elsewhere. In an attempt to address anti-trafficking, several donors, United Nations agencies, nongovernment organisations and Governments have launched ‘safe migration’ programs which, rather than focusing solely on the legal status of migrants, seek to develop mechanisms (eg hotline numbers) to assure their safety. This research examines the claims of safety that this shift from anti-trafficking to safe migration has engendered, and whether and in what terms labour migrants might be consequently safer’. Project results may inform aid programs and government policies.Read moreRead less
The future of the Pacific: youth leadership and civic engagement. This project aims to investigate how youth in the Pacific develop and demonstrate the forms of leadership and civic engagement needed for positive outcomes for their countries. New knowledge is expected to be generated about what influences Pacific youth to engage with the profound challenges facing their region, through Pacific-wide research and three case studies using participatory and collaborative methodologies. Expected outc ....The future of the Pacific: youth leadership and civic engagement. This project aims to investigate how youth in the Pacific develop and demonstrate the forms of leadership and civic engagement needed for positive outcomes for their countries. New knowledge is expected to be generated about what influences Pacific youth to engage with the profound challenges facing their region, through Pacific-wide research and three case studies using participatory and collaborative methodologies. Expected outcomes include interdisciplinary contributions to Pacific and youth studies and applied outputs. This should provide significant benefits including enhanced capacity for governments, development agencies and donors to develop policy and programming measures to nurture the future leadership of the Pacific region. 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.
Transnational seafood commodity chains and the coastal poor in the maritime frontiers of the Asia-Pacific. This research aims to understand the social mechanisms by which access to the benefits of transnational seafood commodity chains in the Asia-Pacific are gained, maintained and controlled. This project will use a conceptual framework that focuses on key social relations of gender, class and ethnicity, and the key societal changes of land-use change, migration and conservation. This project o ....Transnational seafood commodity chains and the coastal poor in the maritime frontiers of the Asia-Pacific. This research aims to understand the social mechanisms by which access to the benefits of transnational seafood commodity chains in the Asia-Pacific are gained, maintained and controlled. This project will use a conceptual framework that focuses on key social relations of gender, class and ethnicity, and the key societal changes of land-use change, migration and conservation. This project offers a novel research framework for a pressing cluster of economic, environmental and social challenges in the Asia-Pacific, and will inform research and policy for poverty reduction, economic development, environmental management and food security. Read moreRead less
Governing the blue economy in maritime Asia-Pacific. This project aims to examine the drivers, character and effects of Blue Economy governance, a highly influential agenda intended to reconcile economic growth with ocean conservation. Analysis of Blue Economy governance in China and the Philippines seeks to reveal how this agenda is represented, contested and implemented at regional, national and local scales. Expected outcomes include new knowledge concerning the influence and impacts of marit ....Governing the blue economy in maritime Asia-Pacific. This project aims to examine the drivers, character and effects of Blue Economy governance, a highly influential agenda intended to reconcile economic growth with ocean conservation. Analysis of Blue Economy governance in China and the Philippines seeks to reveal how this agenda is represented, contested and implemented at regional, national and local scales. Expected outcomes include new knowledge concerning the influence and impacts of maritime governance in the region. This project has the potential to inform more socially equitable and environmentally sustainable governance outcomes.Read moreRead less
Food system resilience in Indonesia: A moral economy approach. This project aims to understand and enhance food security in Indonesia and beyond. It examines culture-specific moral concepts, embedded in food systems and daily practices, that affect food security. For 60 years, the dominant approach to food security has been to boost supply by industrialising agriculture and liberalising trade, but this market-based approach has failed. One billion people are food insecure. The project will condu ....Food system resilience in Indonesia: A moral economy approach. This project aims to understand and enhance food security in Indonesia and beyond. It examines culture-specific moral concepts, embedded in food systems and daily practices, that affect food security. For 60 years, the dominant approach to food security has been to boost supply by industrialising agriculture and liberalising trade, but this market-based approach has failed. One billion people are food insecure. The project will conduct case studies of three food systems to examine how moral economies ameliorate market failures locally and how different rural development programs disrupt or enhance their capacity to do so. The data produced could inform food security-friendly development of trade policies and provide the evidence base for UN efforts toward a global food solidarity pact.Read moreRead less
Economic, political and cultural brokers in remote Papua New Guinea. This project aims to understand the role of brokers in shaping flows of knowledge and wealth at in resource frontiers in Papua New Guinea; the intent is to investigate the demands that brokers service, their positioning, and the tensions they mediate. The project plans to generate new knowledge by studying cultural, political and economic brokers in a region where encounters with church, state and corporations are comparatively ....Economic, political and cultural brokers in remote Papua New Guinea. This project aims to understand the role of brokers in shaping flows of knowledge and wealth at in resource frontiers in Papua New Guinea; the intent is to investigate the demands that brokers service, their positioning, and the tensions they mediate. The project plans to generate new knowledge by studying cultural, political and economic brokers in a region where encounters with church, state and corporations are comparatively recent. Expected outcomes include contributions to the scholarly literature on brokerage, and building capacity of PNG researchers. This should provide significant benefits, informing better management of processes that threaten viability of development projects, legitimacy of the state, and stability of communities.Read moreRead less
Survival and growth of children in rural East Timor: the influences of family structure, resources and local environment on child outcomes. Families can moderate or exacerbate ecological challenges to child survival and growth. Rural families must balance labour needs with consumption and are challenged by unexpected environmental changes. The project will assess the characteristics of rural East Timorese families that are associated with positive outcomes in child survival and growth.
Social, economic and health vulnerabilities in Indonesia. This project aims to study and provide ways to overcome vulnerability in Indonesia. Half the Indonesian population is still clustered around the poverty line, contributing to their vulnerability. This project will identify vulnerable groups and why they are vulnerable. Using a common framework of the life course in eight Indonesian field sites, this project will investigate whether social networks and welfare programs reduce vulnerability ....Social, economic and health vulnerabilities in Indonesia. This project aims to study and provide ways to overcome vulnerability in Indonesia. Half the Indonesian population is still clustered around the poverty line, contributing to their vulnerability. This project will identify vulnerable groups and why they are vulnerable. Using a common framework of the life course in eight Indonesian field sites, this project will investigate whether social networks and welfare programs reduce vulnerability, and pinpoint strategies for reducing vulnerabilities in the future. The project expects to show how vulnerable citizens in Indonesia can be made more secure, helping to build a more stable and prosperous region.Read moreRead less
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.