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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.
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
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
Victorian Fishers: an ethnographic study. The project will study fishers and their families in three Victorian coastal communities- Lakes Entrance, the Corner Inlet ports, and Portland - to investigate how the character of fishing communities and perceptions of fishing as a way of life are affected by socio-economic context. The project will contribute new conceptual understandings of the construction of identity in fishing communities, establish a basis for studying diversity in discourse and p ....Victorian Fishers: an ethnographic study. The project will study fishers and their families in three Victorian coastal communities- Lakes Entrance, the Corner Inlet ports, and Portland - to investigate how the character of fishing communities and perceptions of fishing as a way of life are affected by socio-economic context. The project will contribute new conceptual understandings of the construction of identity in fishing communities, establish a basis for studying diversity in discourse and practice in contexts where access to marine resources is governed by legislative control and scientific advice, and has the potential to provide input to policy development within the Victorian and Commonwealth fishing industryRead 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
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
Social engagement in Spiritualism. This project aims to investigate the sociological, anthropological and historical dimensions of Spiritualism in Australia, a small but highly influential religious movement. 19th century Spiritualist ideas about the afterlife have shaped many citizens’ beliefs that individual personality survives death in a family-centred spirit realm. Combining both sociological and anthropological approaches, the project will map the production and effect of belief on family, ....Social engagement in Spiritualism. This project aims to investigate the sociological, anthropological and historical dimensions of Spiritualism in Australia, a small but highly influential religious movement. 19th century Spiritualist ideas about the afterlife have shaped many citizens’ beliefs that individual personality survives death in a family-centred spirit realm. Combining both sociological and anthropological approaches, the project will map the production and effect of belief on family, civic participation and ethics. This project aims to give scholars a fuller, more accurate view of religious dynamics in Australia.Read moreRead less
The Maronites of Lebanon: Arab Christians in the Era of ISIS. This project aims to capture ethnographically the way Maronite culture is evolving in response to regional pressures. The Maronites of Lebanon were the dominant community of modern Lebanon. Since the end of the civil war (1975–90), they have lost their economic power to the Sunnis associated with the Gulf capitalism that has rebuilt Lebanon. They have also lost their military and political power to the Shi'a who have accumulated milit ....The Maronites of Lebanon: Arab Christians in the Era of ISIS. This project aims to capture ethnographically the way Maronite culture is evolving in response to regional pressures. The Maronites of Lebanon were the dominant community of modern Lebanon. Since the end of the civil war (1975–90), they have lost their economic power to the Sunnis associated with the Gulf capitalism that has rebuilt Lebanon. They have also lost their military and political power to the Shi'a who have accumulated military strength through their struggle against Israel's occupation and their links to Iran. The Maronites are also declining numerically and, most dramatically today, like all Arab Christians, living with the spectre of Islamic fundamentalism in the region, particularly the threat of ISIS (Islamic State).Read moreRead less
Social, Environmental and Economic Sustainability in the Context of Melanesian Mining Projects. This is an interdisciplinary study of Melanesian understandings of socio-economic and environmental sustainability in the context of mining projects. It entails research into traditional ecological knowledge and assessment of ways that local understandings and expectations compromise programs based on Western scientific principles. It will examine local ideas about land use and food security, and the ....Social, Environmental and Economic Sustainability in the Context of Melanesian Mining Projects. This is an interdisciplinary study of Melanesian understandings of socio-economic and environmental sustainability in the context of mining projects. It entails research into traditional ecological knowledge and assessment of ways that local understandings and expectations compromise programs based on Western scientific principles. It will examine local ideas about land use and food security, and the social and cultural factors that determine responses to impacts of mining projects. The project will involve collaborative, interdisciplinary research, integrating social and cultural analysis and environmental and agrarian studies. It will contribute to current debates on environmentalism, mining impact and sustainable development.Read moreRead less