The Moral and Cultural Economy of Mobile Phones in the Pacific. Over the last decade, developing countries have experienced a digital revolution through the medium of the mobile phone. Basic handsets are now used for personal communication, social connection, internet access, electronic banking and money transfers. Through a comparative study of mobile telecommunications markets in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, this research will provide fresh insight into a transformative moment by examining how c ....The Moral and Cultural Economy of Mobile Phones in the Pacific. Over the last decade, developing countries have experienced a digital revolution through the medium of the mobile phone. Basic handsets are now used for personal communication, social connection, internet access, electronic banking and money transfers. Through a comparative study of mobile telecommunications markets in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, this research will provide fresh insight into a transformative moment by examining how companies, consumers and state actors shape the moral and cultural dimensions of economic life. The research will historically and ethnographically document the broad social consequences of new digital technologies in the Pacific region.Read moreRead less
Children's language learning and the development of intersubjectivity. How do children learn languages? How do they learn to understand the intentions and perspectives of others, and coordinate their own with them? Based on research in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, this project will answer these questions, showing how the two processes are related to each other by studying them in a cross-cultural way.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100795
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$412,606.00
Summary
Message sticks: Long-distance communication in Indigenous Australia. Message sticks are marked wooden objects that were once used throughout Indigenous Australia to convey important information between communities. The intended outcome of this project is to answer a central question: What role did message sticks play in Indigenous long-distance communication? Drawing on archival evidence and original fieldwork in the Top End, the project aims to be the first empirically grounded study of message ....Message sticks: Long-distance communication in Indigenous Australia. Message sticks are marked wooden objects that were once used throughout Indigenous Australia to convey important information between communities. The intended outcome of this project is to answer a central question: What role did message sticks play in Indigenous long-distance communication? Drawing on archival evidence and original fieldwork in the Top End, the project aims to be the first empirically grounded study of message sticks as a practice. The project expects to define message sticks as a class of material culture, explain their communicative dynamics, generate new cross-cultural insights, and strengthen collaborations between research institutions, museums and Indigenous cultural organisations. Read moreRead less
Visual Research in Social Aesthetics. Despite a few pioneering efforts beginning in the 1930s, visual anthropology (like anthropology itself) has largely confined its interest in aesthetics to studies of indigenous art. It has focused instead on technology, religion, economics, social structure, politics and ideology as the dominant forces in society. I believe this has limited the potential of visual anthropology, which is in fact ideally suited to studying the broader role of aesthetics in h ....Visual Research in Social Aesthetics. Despite a few pioneering efforts beginning in the 1930s, visual anthropology (like anthropology itself) has largely confined its interest in aesthetics to studies of indigenous art. It has focused instead on technology, religion, economics, social structure, politics and ideology as the dominant forces in society. I believe this has limited the potential of visual anthropology, which is in fact ideally suited to studying the broader role of aesthetics in human societies. The aim of this research is to examine how a reconsideration of the aesthetics of everyday life might form the basis for a revitalised visual anthropology.
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Digital relations: new media in Arnhem Land. Digital media provide powerful new ways for remote Indigenous Australians to participate in a globalising world. Research partnerships between clan groups, community-based Aboriginal organisations, and international institutes will reveal how Yolngu are creatively re-articulating contemporary social concerns and identities via new media forms.
Body, Language and Socialisation across Cultures. This project aims to advance the understanding of how people learn languages, and in the process become socialized into particular cultures and communities. To that end, it will bring together an international team of leading experts in the field, and focus in new ways on the interplay of speech and sign with other bodily forms of communication in a wide variety of cultures. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of multimodal communica ....Body, Language and Socialisation across Cultures. This project aims to advance the understanding of how people learn languages, and in the process become socialized into particular cultures and communities. To that end, it will bring together an international team of leading experts in the field, and focus in new ways on the interplay of speech and sign with other bodily forms of communication in a wide variety of cultures. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of multimodal communication and language socialization, and enhancement of Australian research capacity in these fields. This should lead to significant practical benefits, improving Australia's ability to adapt to cultural diversity and to counteract its disadvantages in schools and everyday life.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100388
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,040.00
Summary
Ethnicity and Assimilation in China: The Case of the Monguor in Tibet. China is currently addressing many issues associated with issues of minority cultural autonomy and ethnic differences. This project will explore the ongoing assimilation of the Monguor, an ethnic minority group in Tibet. It seeks to fill an important gap in our knowledge of ethnic tensions, autonomy and assimilation in contemporary China. Ethnographic fieldwork and discourse analysis of texts in Tibetan will be used to invest ....Ethnicity and Assimilation in China: The Case of the Monguor in Tibet. China is currently addressing many issues associated with issues of minority cultural autonomy and ethnic differences. This project will explore the ongoing assimilation of the Monguor, an ethnic minority group in Tibet. It seeks to fill an important gap in our knowledge of ethnic tensions, autonomy and assimilation in contemporary China. Ethnographic fieldwork and discourse analysis of texts in Tibetan will be used to investigate the impact of state and ethno-national assimilationist projects on ethnic minorities in China. This new analysis of China's ethnic dynamics and their geopolitical consequences is designed to strengthen our understanding of the region.Read moreRead less
Values and ethics in a global world: a semantic perspective. The question: "How are we to live?" is of fundamental importance, on an individual, social and international level. Yet in an increasingly global and pluralist world it remains difficult to articulate any values that are intelligible, let alone acceptable, to everyone. Although the literature on the subject is constantly growing, the very language of the current debate suffers from ethnocentrism, with culture-specific English words lik ....Values and ethics in a global world: a semantic perspective. The question: "How are we to live?" is of fundamental importance, on an individual, social and international level. Yet in an increasingly global and pluralist world it remains difficult to articulate any values that are intelligible, let alone acceptable, to everyone. Although the literature on the subject is constantly growing, the very language of the current debate suffers from ethnocentrism, with culture-specific English words like "fairness", "autonomy" and "tolerance" being widely used as would-be neutral conceptual tools. A framework for discussing ethics and values in a universal, non-ethnocentric perspective is urgently needed. This project aims at providing such a framework and putting it to work.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101607
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,220.00
Summary
Moving Stories: Emerging Documentary Desert Painting and Interactive New Media. New forms and practices of desert Aboriginal women's 'documentary' art and media that depart markedly from the Dreaming story-based traditions are emerging in a context of severe socio-economic disadvantage. The implications of this important 'witnessing' work have not yet been studied. This project is an innovative arts practice-led ethnographic study that will investigate the significance of experimental narrative- ....Moving Stories: Emerging Documentary Desert Painting and Interactive New Media. New forms and practices of desert Aboriginal women's 'documentary' art and media that depart markedly from the Dreaming story-based traditions are emerging in a context of severe socio-economic disadvantage. The implications of this important 'witnessing' work have not yet been studied. This project is an innovative arts practice-led ethnographic study that will investigate the significance of experimental narrative-based desert arts, focusing on documentary paintings and their transformation into interactive animated multi-lingual multimedia works. It will critically assess digitally creative intercultural collaboration as a key mode of contemporary Indigenous cultural survival and national cultural production.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100720
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Connecting, communicating and learning through new media: Indigenous youth and digital futures in remote Australia. This project examines the sociocultural and linguistic implications of digital technologies in remote Indigenous Australia. It will provide new perspectives to support policy development for youth engagement in the digital economy, as well as cultural and educational insights that will provide an important theoretical contribution to international youth media research.