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Religious clerics, medical authorities, and sexuality in Islamic interpretations of reproductive health technologies in Egypt. Taking reproductive health in Egypt as a case study, this research investigates how religious and secular authorities interact to shape access to and availability of medical technologies. The resulting ethnography and research articles will broaden international understandings of the relationship between Islam, sexuality, and modernity.
The Professions, Human Rights, and the State: law and medicine in the transition from repression to democracy. This study contributes to an ?anthropology of democracy? examining the processes of political transition beyond the state. It investigates the role of the health and legal professions with regard to human rights abuses occurring during and after state repression taking the cases of Argentina and South Africa. It explores the way the legal and health professions extend human rights thro ....The Professions, Human Rights, and the State: law and medicine in the transition from repression to democracy. This study contributes to an ?anthropology of democracy? examining the processes of political transition beyond the state. It investigates the role of the health and legal professions with regard to human rights abuses occurring during and after state repression taking the cases of Argentina and South Africa. It explores the way the legal and health professions extend human rights through their respective ethical responsibilities thereby enhancing citizenship in the post-transition period. It will provide important insights into the roles professions play in mediating between civil society and the state in a transnational context.Read moreRead less
The Western Nation-State, Cultural Pluralism and the Transnational Circulation of Political Emotions in the Shi'a Lebanese Diaspora. At its most general level, this research aims to expose and explain the importance of emotions in the formation of all cultures. In so doing it opens the way for a more complex understanding of some of the invisible but important forces that shape intercultural relations within culturally plural nations. It will thus open the possibilities for ameliorating and refi ....The Western Nation-State, Cultural Pluralism and the Transnational Circulation of Political Emotions in the Shi'a Lebanese Diaspora. At its most general level, this research aims to expose and explain the importance of emotions in the formation of all cultures. In so doing it opens the way for a more complex understanding of some of the invisible but important forces that shape intercultural relations within culturally plural nations. It will thus open the possibilities for ameliorating and refining government policies concerned with the management of pluralism. At a more particular level, the research hopes to produce critical knowledge about diasporic Arab Muslim cultures that will ameliorate the thorny relations these cultures have today with western governments.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200724
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$167,200.00
Summary
Australian understandings of infectious disease symptoms in the COVID era. This project aims to study how Australians interpret symptoms of acute infectious diseases and how those beliefs shape their health-seeking behaviour. Using mixed social science methods, the project will document how Australians decide when to seek medical treatment at clinics or hospitals and when to stay at home, how they believe disease spreads and how they decide whether to go to work, school, social commitments, shop ....Australian understandings of infectious disease symptoms in the COVID era. This project aims to study how Australians interpret symptoms of acute infectious diseases and how those beliefs shape their health-seeking behaviour. Using mixed social science methods, the project will document how Australians decide when to seek medical treatment at clinics or hospitals and when to stay at home, how they believe disease spreads and how they decide whether to go to work, school, social commitments, shops, or stay home when unwell, and what they think about government health policy regarding infectious disease in the wake of COVID-19. Humans spread diseases through culturally coded patterns of behaviour, and this project will offer critical public health insights in an era of infectious disease epidemics and pandemics.Read moreRead less
State-building from the perspective of local communities. Notions of society and state originating in Christian belief are universal in the Pacific yet remain largely unaccounted for in development work and theories of state-building. Using the Solomon Islands as a case study, this project seeks to address the question of how people living in so-called "failed states" think about the nature of the state, the sources of its shortcomings and the possibilities of alternative state forms. The projec ....State-building from the perspective of local communities. Notions of society and state originating in Christian belief are universal in the Pacific yet remain largely unaccounted for in development work and theories of state-building. Using the Solomon Islands as a case study, this project seeks to address the question of how people living in so-called "failed states" think about the nature of the state, the sources of its shortcomings and the possibilities of alternative state forms. The project is expected to advance theoretical understanding of state-building and provide evidence for the importance of integrating local belief contexts into international development practice.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180101214
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$392,622.00
Summary
Midwives, social recovery and the politics of health in Aceh, Indonesia. This project aims to better enable policy makers to reduce health inequalities. It will address the question of how healthcare workers care for their communities during periods of violence and social recovery, by documenting the experiences of midwives in the Indonesian province of Aceh during a period of conflict (1976-2005) and up to the present. The outcomes are expected to support efforts to reduce Aceh’s high rates of ....Midwives, social recovery and the politics of health in Aceh, Indonesia. This project aims to better enable policy makers to reduce health inequalities. It will address the question of how healthcare workers care for their communities during periods of violence and social recovery, by documenting the experiences of midwives in the Indonesian province of Aceh during a period of conflict (1976-2005) and up to the present. The outcomes are expected to support efforts to reduce Aceh’s high rates of infant and maternal mortality, and to identify new ways to understand and address the complex health inequalities that face many contemporary societies.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100503
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Desire and the political field: decision-making and political moralities from 'culture village' to Vientiane, Laos. This project critically assesses the 'culture village' model of development currently adopted by the Government of Laos. The project seeks to understand the logic of this development model, assess its impacts on the ethnic Katu village residents, and use these insights to develop an analysis of culture and development in modern state and decision making.
The Life of Language and the Language of Life: reconsidering the division between the sciences and the humanities. This innovative theoretical approach will enable a close analysis of the common foundational concepts that connect the empirical and interpretive sciences. It will:
i) contribute to the knowledge base of the sociology and philosophy of science and social theory so that Australia is a leading expert in this field of inquiry.
ii) further the unique contribution of Australian 'femin ....The Life of Language and the Language of Life: reconsidering the division between the sciences and the humanities. This innovative theoretical approach will enable a close analysis of the common foundational concepts that connect the empirical and interpretive sciences. It will:
i) contribute to the knowledge base of the sociology and philosophy of science and social theory so that Australia is a leading expert in this field of inquiry.
ii) further the unique contribution of Australian 'feminisms of the body' to the ethical and political questions that surround the foundations of biological life.
iii) initiate different styles of dialogue between social and scientific researchers that will encourage more informed debate about the direction of Australian technological innovation.
Read moreRead less
Open Cuts to Land and Culture: Rural Community Engagement with Large-Scale Industrial Development. The effects of coal mining and combustion on local communities have not been adequately researched even though export-oriented coal production is a key element of Australia's economy in the 21st century. Increasing numbers of rural Australian communities are affected by profound changes to climate, environment and social life associated with open-cut mining and coal-fired power stations. This resea ....Open Cuts to Land and Culture: Rural Community Engagement with Large-Scale Industrial Development. The effects of coal mining and combustion on local communities have not been adequately researched even though export-oriented coal production is a key element of Australia's economy in the 21st century. Increasing numbers of rural Australian communities are affected by profound changes to climate, environment and social life associated with open-cut mining and coal-fired power stations. This research examines the impact of these developments in the Hunter Valley of NSW, from the point of view of local communities. The understandings we gain will offer government, corporate and community stakeholders the prospect of mutually beneficial outcomes in dealing with these impacts. Read moreRead less
The Politics of Moral Order: How Peripheralised Communities are Made and Masked. The focus of this research is two peripheralised communities, one in Central Australia, and the other Kingston, Jamaica. It will analyse their anomalous economies, the welfare economy in Central Australia and the drug economy in downtown Kingston, in order to demonstrate how cultural difference and disprivilege are masked by a politics of moral order. The project will therefore explore a central feature of modernity ....The Politics of Moral Order: How Peripheralised Communities are Made and Masked. The focus of this research is two peripheralised communities, one in Central Australia, and the other Kingston, Jamaica. It will analyse their anomalous economies, the welfare economy in Central Australia and the drug economy in downtown Kingston, in order to demonstrate how cultural difference and disprivilege are masked by a politics of moral order. The project will therefore explore a central feature of modernity and demonstrate striking structural parallels, both mythic and social, at sites with different histories and cultures.Read moreRead less