Constitutional resilience in South Asian democracies. This project aims to find out whether constitutional design could, and should, be used to make constitutional democracies more resilient. Democratic constitutionalism is facing serious challenges, not only in new fragile democracies, but also older established ones. The project will investigate the role that the constitutional accommodation of salient ethnocultural and ideological groups, the autonomy of non-partisan constitutional watchdog i ....Constitutional resilience in South Asian democracies. This project aims to find out whether constitutional design could, and should, be used to make constitutional democracies more resilient. Democratic constitutionalism is facing serious challenges, not only in new fragile democracies, but also older established ones. The project will investigate the role that the constitutional accommodation of salient ethnocultural and ideological groups, the autonomy of non-partisan constitutional watchdog institutions, and the adaptability of the constitution to changing circumstances could play in securing its resilience against serious threats. Relying on conceptual and empirical methods, using case studies from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, to answer these questions, the project will produce a better understanding of constitutional resilience, and the features that promote it to allow constitution makers and reformers to better protect democracy, human rights and the rule of law. This will provide significant national benefit for Australia as it deepens its engagement with South Asia, and the world more generally.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101486
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$429,936.00
Summary
Reproductive crimes in international law: Lessons from Cambodia. This project aims to critically examine the international community’s response to forced pregnancy and other crimes that violate reproductive rights, through a case study of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia. By analysing court documents and interviewing Tribunal lawyers, it expects to identify legal and practical barriers to prosecuting these crimes. It also seeks to provide the first comprehensive account of Khmer Rouge era re ....Reproductive crimes in international law: Lessons from Cambodia. This project aims to critically examine the international community’s response to forced pregnancy and other crimes that violate reproductive rights, through a case study of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia. By analysing court documents and interviewing Tribunal lawyers, it expects to identify legal and practical barriers to prosecuting these crimes. It also seeks to provide the first comprehensive account of Khmer Rouge era reproductive crimes, to be made available on a public database that will shed light on this largely overlooked aspect of Cambodian history. Other expected outcomes include formulating new strategies for prosecuting reproductive crimes in international courts, thus contributing to the global push for gender justice.Read moreRead less
Eurasian exchange and artistic transformation in art. This project aims to bring European and Chinese art history into dialogue. It explores the early Italian Renaissance in the larger geopolitical context of Mongol Eurasia and the Yuan Empire, to address the questions of influence, contact, and exchange. In reframing the development of early European art as a fundamentally cross-cultural phenomenon, this project aims to offer a better understanding of the roots of our own global visual culture. ....Eurasian exchange and artistic transformation in art. This project aims to bring European and Chinese art history into dialogue. It explores the early Italian Renaissance in the larger geopolitical context of Mongol Eurasia and the Yuan Empire, to address the questions of influence, contact, and exchange. In reframing the development of early European art as a fundamentally cross-cultural phenomenon, this project aims to offer a better understanding of the roots of our own global visual culture. The project will benefit and enrich the study of cross-cultural contact and exchange in art history as a larger field, leading to the re-examination of art in the Australasian region.Read moreRead less
Islam, Europe and modernity: the French Revolution and the Muslim world, 1789-1799. This project challenges ideas about radical differences between Islam and the West by returning to the historical roots of the modern world. It shows that Muslims too had a share in the global experience of the French Revolution, by drawing on new historical evidence from archives in France, Europe and the Arab world.
Ayahs and Amahs: Transcolonial Servants in Australia and Britain 1780-1945. This project looks at female domestic care workers from India and China who travelled to Australia and elsewhere during the period of British colonialism. Accompanying colonial families along circuits of empire between Australia, Asia, and the UK over two centuries, these were extraordinarily mobile women. By exploring the historical experiences and cultural memories of these earliest global domestic workers, the project ....Ayahs and Amahs: Transcolonial Servants in Australia and Britain 1780-1945. This project looks at female domestic care workers from India and China who travelled to Australia and elsewhere during the period of British colonialism. Accompanying colonial families along circuits of empire between Australia, Asia, and the UK over two centuries, these were extraordinarily mobile women. By exploring the historical experiences and cultural memories of these earliest global domestic workers, the project aims to illuminate a broader transcolonial history of domestic work. Expected outcomes include a number of publications and a website; and the project offers the social and cultural benefits to be gained by advancing our historical understanding of the forgotten cross-cultural relationships that have shaped our world today.Read moreRead less
Pearls, People, and Power: the Transformation of the Indian Ocean World. This multidisciplinary project aims to be the first transoceanic investigation of pearling in the Indian Ocean World (IOW), focusing on the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, India/Sri Lanka, Sulu Sea and northern Australia. It will use commodity-based historical analyses and object-centred biographies to undertake comparative studies of labour systems, trade networks and the cultural value of pearls/pearl shell during an era marked by ....Pearls, People, and Power: the Transformation of the Indian Ocean World. This multidisciplinary project aims to be the first transoceanic investigation of pearling in the Indian Ocean World (IOW), focusing on the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, India/Sri Lanka, Sulu Sea and northern Australia. It will use commodity-based historical analyses and object-centred biographies to undertake comparative studies of labour systems, trade networks and the cultural value of pearls/pearl shell during an era marked by the spread of European imperialism and industrialisation. The project includes historical, ethnographic and film components and is expected to produce texts, films and museum displays. It is also designed to deliver a new understanding of the IOW past, and a new appreciation of Australia's place in IOW history.Read moreRead less
Investigating Holocene India - Australia Connections using Ancient Genomics. A number of studies of human migration suggest that after initial colonisation of Australia around 45,000 years ago, these people remained largely isolated until the arrival of Europeans. In contrast recent studies have suggested that a wave of migration from India into Australia occurred approximately 4,230 years ago. However, a major drawback of these recent studies is that sequence data used was from modern indigenou ....Investigating Holocene India - Australia Connections using Ancient Genomics. A number of studies of human migration suggest that after initial colonisation of Australia around 45,000 years ago, these people remained largely isolated until the arrival of Europeans. In contrast recent studies have suggested that a wave of migration from India into Australia occurred approximately 4,230 years ago. However, a major drawback of these recent studies is that sequence data used was from modern indigenous Australians who were potentially admixed with Europeans. To address this issue we will sequence complete genomes from sub-fossil bones of ancient Indian and Indigenous Australian people and directly investigate this possible India-Australia connection.Read moreRead less
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101125
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,158.00
Summary
Australindia: An environmental history of Australia, India and Empire. This project intends to examine the trajectory of environmental ideas and practices between India and Australia between 1788 and 1901. At this time, India and the Australian colonies served as important laboratories for environmental ideas and practices. Examining colonial Australia in terms of these environmental connections may broaden perspectives on Australian history and allow us to reassess the development of colonial u ....Australindia: An environmental history of Australia, India and Empire. This project intends to examine the trajectory of environmental ideas and practices between India and Australia between 1788 and 1901. At this time, India and the Australian colonies served as important laboratories for environmental ideas and practices. Examining colonial Australia in terms of these environmental connections may broaden perspectives on Australian history and allow us to reassess the development of colonial understandings of the Australian environment. The project aims to examine how people have understood and adapted to changing natural and human systems and to illuminate the ways in which the Australian environment continues to bear the legacies of empire.Read moreRead less
Countering the Cold War: interactions between Australia and India, through the lens of the women's movements, 1945 - 1975. This project traces how international interactions between Australian and Indian women's activists were sustained and expanded during the Cold War. Understanding these nuanced interactions in difficult circumstances offers insights into how to nurture today's relationships between students, businesses and the cultural industries of both countries.