Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of t ....Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of the postmodern self and their political effects. With a particular interest in emotional life, this study will provide critical information on how individuals and communities can manage creatively the uncertain conditions of postmodernity.Read moreRead less
Cooperative dual identity: A new approach to promote ethnic harmony between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians. This project makes a significant contribution to strengthening Australia's social fabric by promoting positive cooperation between Muslim and non-Muslim students. Cooperative contact and dual identity strategies will be innovatively integrated into school curricula using web technology to encourage positive intergroup interactions that are currently not commonplace. Researchers, policy- ....Cooperative dual identity: A new approach to promote ethnic harmony between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians. This project makes a significant contribution to strengthening Australia's social fabric by promoting positive cooperation between Muslim and non-Muslim students. Cooperative contact and dual identity strategies will be innovatively integrated into school curricula using web technology to encourage positive intergroup interactions that are currently not commonplace. Researchers, policy-makers, and teachers will have available a significantly effective long-term ethnic harmony strategy, which will be incorporated routinely into their research and practice. We expect this cutting edge research program to yield timely and influential findings, and advance Australia's position as a leader in the field of social and developmental psychology.Read moreRead less
A philosophical examination of how bodies support communal bonds and how these bonds can be disrupted. By explaining how bodies support open senses of belonging with others and to places, this project accounts for a key element of the social fabric that is usually overlooked in cognitive models of social and political interaction. This grounding of community in the corporeal and affective exposes a range of ways that communal bonds can be threatened or weakened which would be otherwise left out ....A philosophical examination of how bodies support communal bonds and how these bonds can be disrupted. By explaining how bodies support open senses of belonging with others and to places, this project accounts for a key element of the social fabric that is usually overlooked in cognitive models of social and political interaction. This grounding of community in the corporeal and affective exposes a range of ways that communal bonds can be threatened or weakened which would be otherwise left out of account. The study thereby points to the political conditions necessary to foster vibrant, healthy, and ethical community.Read moreRead less
In the shadow of Singapore: The limits of transnationalism in Insular Riau. This project will contribute to the process of safeguarding Australia, through a better understanding of our nearest neighbours. An enhanced understanding of nationalism and regionalism in Southeast Asia is central to the maintenance of effective bilateral and multilateral relations between Australia and its near neighbours. Cross-border tension between our ASEAN neighbours is potentially a problem for Australia, and thu ....In the shadow of Singapore: The limits of transnationalism in Insular Riau. This project will contribute to the process of safeguarding Australia, through a better understanding of our nearest neighbours. An enhanced understanding of nationalism and regionalism in Southeast Asia is central to the maintenance of effective bilateral and multilateral relations between Australia and its near neighbours. Cross-border tension between our ASEAN neighbours is potentially a problem for Australia, and thus of political and economic concern to all Australians.Read moreRead less
At the Border: Health, Immigration Restriction and the Imagining of Australia, 1901-2001. This project traces and analyses connections between public health policies and immigration policies between 1901 and 2001 in Australia. It interrogates the changing regulation of Australia's population through border control and health screening of aspiring immigrants and citizens, as well as tourists, refugees and illegal entrants. Infectious disease control may well have been a major instrument through w ....At the Border: Health, Immigration Restriction and the Imagining of Australia, 1901-2001. This project traces and analyses connections between public health policies and immigration policies between 1901 and 2001 in Australia. It interrogates the changing regulation of Australia's population through border control and health screening of aspiring immigrants and citizens, as well as tourists, refugees and illegal entrants. Infectious disease control may well have been a major instrument through which movement over the national borders, and naturalisation into the population, have been governed and policed. The project will illuminate the significance of these interconnecting policies and practices for the historical, legal, and cultural imagining of Australia.
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Grounded Cosmopolitanism and Branded Cities: Australia, Europe and Asia. This project builds on contemporary debates in the social sciences and humanities to forge a new understanding of city identity and the experience of urban residency in key global regions, Australia and Asia, and Europe. It will explore the ways in which regional assumptions can be tested in other locations, against other ecologies of residence, and within other trajectories of theoretical design. It will foster excellent n ....Grounded Cosmopolitanism and Branded Cities: Australia, Europe and Asia. This project builds on contemporary debates in the social sciences and humanities to forge a new understanding of city identity and the experience of urban residency in key global regions, Australia and Asia, and Europe. It will explore the ways in which regional assumptions can be tested in other locations, against other ecologies of residence, and within other trajectories of theoretical design. It will foster excellent new Australian researchers in order to develop postdoctoral research, extending Australian potential for international and regional research leadership.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354600
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Sources of Insecurity: Local, National and Global. Globalizing violence and the War on Terror have brought with them an acute sense of insecurity. The present study is intended to map and understand sources of that insecurity, both from ?below? and ?above?. From below, the project analyses the cultural-political and socio-economic conditions of violence on the ground, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. From above, it documents Western representations of recent arenas of violence. The aim of th ....Sources of Insecurity: Local, National and Global. Globalizing violence and the War on Terror have brought with them an acute sense of insecurity. The present study is intended to map and understand sources of that insecurity, both from ?below? and ?above?. From below, the project analyses the cultural-political and socio-economic conditions of violence on the ground, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. From above, it documents Western representations of recent arenas of violence. The aim of the project is to research the commonplace claim that it is reassertions of older forms of traditionalism or cultural and civilizational difference that are the well-spring of contemporary global violence, including terrorism.Read moreRead less
Intercommunal and Translocal Space in Fairfield: Tracking Indochinese Australian Lives. While providing important socio-cultural information about Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese communities in western Sydney, this project takes an innovative approach to the study of 'minority' communities in multicultural societies. By locating itself at the points of contact between communities, the proposed research recognises that subjects are often members of multiple social groups, and that they shift back a ....Intercommunal and Translocal Space in Fairfield: Tracking Indochinese Australian Lives. While providing important socio-cultural information about Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese communities in western Sydney, this project takes an innovative approach to the study of 'minority' communities in multicultural societies. By locating itself at the points of contact between communities, the proposed research recognises that subjects are often members of multiple social groups, and that they shift back and forth across their boundaries. Such a perspective enables one to avoid the fallacy of locating 'the multicultural' in minority subjects/cultures, and thus 'multicultural problems' within particular 'problem communities'. Rather, it situates the multicultural in the interstices between 'mainstream' and 'minority' AustraliaRead moreRead less
The Concept of Innocence and the Political Community: Australian identity and social health. In recent years, dispute, and even violence, has erupted in Australia between cultural groups and interests. By analysing the import of 'innocence' in Western social thought, and the cultural values corresponding to it, the project promotes a rethinking of the assumptions that underpin (and often undermine) relations between different cultures that make up the Australian community. In so doing, the proje ....The Concept of Innocence and the Political Community: Australian identity and social health. In recent years, dispute, and even violence, has erupted in Australia between cultural groups and interests. By analysing the import of 'innocence' in Western social thought, and the cultural values corresponding to it, the project promotes a rethinking of the assumptions that underpin (and often undermine) relations between different cultures that make up the Australian community. In so doing, the project addresses urgent questions posed by contemporary philosophy, and implicitly within Australian society, regarding the negotiation of differences between citizens and communities. The project thereby contributes to Australia's reputation in the field of social philosophy, particularly concerning cultural difference.Read moreRead less
Beyond the Beach: What it means to be Australian - A critical analysis of national, transgenerational, multicultural and self perspectives. The question ?What does it mean to be Australian?? raises issues of deep significance about our values, goals, loyalties, behaviours, and international image. Identity conceptions are fundamental to diverse national interest issues (e.g., social cohesion, multiculturalism, defence, promoting industry, social action/reform, immigration) and imagining our futu ....Beyond the Beach: What it means to be Australian - A critical analysis of national, transgenerational, multicultural and self perspectives. The question ?What does it mean to be Australian?? raises issues of deep significance about our values, goals, loyalties, behaviours, and international image. Identity conceptions are fundamental to diverse national interest issues (e.g., social cohesion, multiculturalism, defence, promoting industry, social action/reform, immigration) and imagining our future. This study will characterise: national identity; personal, ethnic, generational, regional and gender commonalities and variations; preferred futures; and moderating influences on identifying as Australian. Outcomes include new knowledge about contemporary national identity, multi-identity constructions, and processes underpinning identity formation; and advances in identity theory/research that will inform social, economic, and educational policy and practice.Read moreRead less