War crimes and the Japanese military, 1941-1945. During the Second World War, Japanese military forces in Asia and the Pacific committed extraordinary atrocities against prisoners-of-war, civilian internees and local populations. These atrocities shocked Japan's Western enemies, not least because Japanese military behaviour in the early 20th century had been celebrated as remarkably humane. This project seeks to explain Japanese wartime brutality, identifying the specific circumstances in which ....War crimes and the Japanese military, 1941-1945. During the Second World War, Japanese military forces in Asia and the Pacific committed extraordinary atrocities against prisoners-of-war, civilian internees and local populations. These atrocities shocked Japan's Western enemies, not least because Japanese military behaviour in the early 20th century had been celebrated as remarkably humane. This project seeks to explain Japanese wartime brutality, identifying the specific circumstances in which it occurred and considering the particular wartime context. It challenges the prevalent explanation of Japanese wartime violence which locates the causes of brutality in deeply rooted aspects of Japanese national culture. This research is expected to contribute to understandings of war and violence.Read moreRead less
Repatriation and release of Japanese war criminals 1946-1958: Southeast Asia, Japan and the Great Powers. Japanese war criminals held in Southeast Asia were repatriated and released in Japan from the late 1940s. Releases were negotiated between Japan and the nation that had convicted the prisoner. The project provides new understandings of the emergence of Southeast Asian states in regional diplomacy and of Japan's re-emergence as a regional power.
Mekong governance: State officials at the margins of empire. This project aims to bring a historical perspective to a zone of ongoing conflict, disorder and international competition. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the British, French and Siamese imperial powers posted officials to the upper Mekong. This project will explore how their cross-empire interaction created a zone of hybrid and compromised governance which blurred the political demarcation between Burma, Indochin ....Mekong governance: State officials at the margins of empire. This project aims to bring a historical perspective to a zone of ongoing conflict, disorder and international competition. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the British, French and Siamese imperial powers posted officials to the upper Mekong. This project will explore how their cross-empire interaction created a zone of hybrid and compromised governance which blurred the political demarcation between Burma, Indochina and Siam. It aims to show how officials at the margins of empire created some of the region’s contemporary governance challenges. The project could influence policies and programmes that promote development and stability in the region.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100069
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
The archaeology of the north coast of Bali: a strategic crossroads in early trans-Asiatic exchange. New archaeological excavations on the north coast of Bali and a comparative study of materials across Southeast Asia aim to document the growth of Trans-Asiatic exchange networks during the Late Metal Age, and particularly the strategic significance of Bali and eastern Indonesia for the trade in spices that linked Asia with the Mediterranean.
The archaeological and biological foundations of Southeast Asia, 2500 to 1000 BC. This project investigates the origins and ancestral migrations of the populations of Southeast Asia. It focuses on the period around 2000 BC when 'Neolithic' societies, populations and languages spread across the region. The project will examine evidence for migration, food production and population ancestry in Vietnam, the Philippines and adjacent regions.
Landscape, resources and human migration during the Southeast Asian Neolithic. The Southeast Asian Neolithic (2500 to 500 BC) was a time of powerful linguistic and biological expansion, especially amongst those early agricultural societies that surrounded the South China Sea. This project will concentrate on: reconstructing the landscapes of Neolithic settlement, greatly different from the vast lowland alluvial landscapes that feed such concentrated populations today; reconstructing the economy ....Landscape, resources and human migration during the Southeast Asian Neolithic. The Southeast Asian Neolithic (2500 to 500 BC) was a time of powerful linguistic and biological expansion, especially amongst those early agricultural societies that surrounded the South China Sea. This project will concentrate on: reconstructing the landscapes of Neolithic settlement, greatly different from the vast lowland alluvial landscapes that feed such concentrated populations today; reconstructing the economy of Neolithic food production, especially the archaeological histories of the major crops and domestic animals; and, reconstructing and comparing the material culture of the initial Neolithic, with its immense network of population expansion involving China, Southeast Asia and Oceania. Read moreRead less
Recycling modernity: an anthropological study of India's mobile phone repair and recycling economies. This project helps us understand the implications that consumer capitalism and e-waste has on emerging economies. It will be the first anthropological study to examine the repair and recycling economies of India, seeking a new theoretical framework for understanding the paradox of India's consumer culture.
Politics of public health in the Asia-Pacific region: the League of Nations Health Organization and the Japanese Empire, 1921-41. The project's outcomes will deepen public knowledge of how key actors in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia, interacted with the League of Nations in shaping norms of global health governance. It will also show the continued engagement of these regional actors in a period of military confrontation.
Divergent pathways to tropical agriculture in Australasia and Wallacea. The project aims to address a major question in world archaeology: why did some people develop agriculture, while others did not? It plans to establish plant macrofossil and microfossil reference collections for three wet tropical regions: highland Papua New Guinea, Moluccas in eastern Indonesia, and western Arnhem Land in Australia. It then plans to use previously excavated archaeobotanical assemblages to establish robust p ....Divergent pathways to tropical agriculture in Australasia and Wallacea. The project aims to address a major question in world archaeology: why did some people develop agriculture, while others did not? It plans to establish plant macrofossil and microfossil reference collections for three wet tropical regions: highland Papua New Guinea, Moluccas in eastern Indonesia, and western Arnhem Land in Australia. It then plans to use previously excavated archaeobotanical assemblages to establish robust plant-use chronologies for these regions. In this way, the project seeks to develop capacity for tropical archaeobotany within Australia and to revolutionise concepts of plant exploitation, domestication and cultivation in tropical Australasia and Wallacea during the Holocene (last c.11 500 years).Read moreRead less
Understanding Japan's human-centred environmentalism. Japanese environmental activism has influenced attitudes and policymaking on the environment in Japan and worldwide for half a century. This project will demonstrate the strengths and limitations of Japan’s human-centred environmentalism and will encourage us to reconsider the tension between human satisfaction and environmental protection.