Comparative Border Studies. While borders are of increasing interest to Australian scholars and policy-makers, much existing research in Australia is focused on issues of border security or border integrity. There is an urgent need to supplement this work with theoretical and empirical insights drawn from the field of border studies. North America is a key site for international research in this field. Collaboration with North American scholars is thus an important step in developing and expandi ....Comparative Border Studies. While borders are of increasing interest to Australian scholars and policy-makers, much existing research in Australia is focused on issues of border security or border integrity. There is an urgent need to supplement this work with theoretical and empirical insights drawn from the field of border studies. North America is a key site for international research in this field. Collaboration with North American scholars is thus an important step in developing and expanding Australian expertise in border studies. This project will provide the intellectual environment and collaborative networks necessary to establish the first dedicated Centre for Border Studies in Australia.Read moreRead less
Economics, politics and culture in early post-independence Indonesia. Recent events in East Timor have highlighted the problems faced by new states after the initial honeymoon following independence is over. By examining the experience of Indonesia in the 1950s from the longer perspective of the 21st century, this project aims to better understand the significance of apparently simple but highly significant decisions made in the first years after decolonization and comparable major regime chang ....Economics, politics and culture in early post-independence Indonesia. Recent events in East Timor have highlighted the problems faced by new states after the initial honeymoon following independence is over. By examining the experience of Indonesia in the 1950s from the longer perspective of the 21st century, this project aims to better understand the significance of apparently simple but highly significant decisions made in the first years after decolonization and comparable major regime changes.Read moreRead less
Education reform and social transformation in rural China. This project will increase Australian understanding of China's transformation from a rural, agricultural nation into an urban industrialized one. It will also build a collaboration between the Australian National University and the Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, which will facilitate the ability of Australian postgraduate students to undertake field research in China.
Migration, Ethnicity and Workforce Segmentation in the Asia-Pacific. Globalisation has produced new polarised patterns in working populations, including ethnically segmented labour. The related dynamics of work, ethnicity and labour segmentation have very significant long-term consequences. Systematic studies are available for advanced economies, but are far less developed for newly industrialised countries. This program investigates these changes in major Asia-Pacific urban-industrial centres. ....Migration, Ethnicity and Workforce Segmentation in the Asia-Pacific. Globalisation has produced new polarised patterns in working populations, including ethnically segmented labour. The related dynamics of work, ethnicity and labour segmentation have very significant long-term consequences. Systematic studies are available for advanced economies, but are far less developed for newly industrialised countries. This program investigates these changes in major Asia-Pacific urban-industrial centres. Innovative analyses from large-scale datasets and from strategic localised case studies will meet this shortfall in knowledge. They will also connect with more extensive ongoing studies of social transformations. Research outcomes and theoretical re-assessments will be presented in two workshops, and published in refereed journals and a book.Read moreRead less
A comparative study on women's policy machinery in Korea and Australia. This project aims to contribute to the better understanding of women's policy machinery in Korea and Australia in order to develop more effective policymaking and implementation. This topic is theoretically and empirically under researched. The project, as a major comparative study on women's policies in two countries will make a significant contribution to the understanding of women's policy making process in a specific nat ....A comparative study on women's policy machinery in Korea and Australia. This project aims to contribute to the better understanding of women's policy machinery in Korea and Australia in order to develop more effective policymaking and implementation. This topic is theoretically and empirically under researched. The project, as a major comparative study on women's policies in two countries will make a significant contribution to the understanding of women's policy making process in a specific national context. This research will investigate the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. Appropriate mechanisms through which the mainstreaming of gender can take place are considered, and the levels of governance involved - the relationship between gender mainstreaming and state structures, and the effect of this relationship on policy implementation will be examined. Thus, this research will contribute to the better understanding of how and by what processes women's interests are represented to the state policy making structures.Read moreRead less
A historical approach to the development of households. The LI Grant will enable our team to participate in international discussion to build new knowledge about households and families. We will exchange expertise with the UK specialist partners, gaining access to the latest quantitative scholarship in urban household history, providing qualitative analyses using innovative reading techniques in return. The exchange will result in new methodologies to uncover non-nuclear family relationships and ....A historical approach to the development of households. The LI Grant will enable our team to participate in international discussion to build new knowledge about households and families. We will exchange expertise with the UK specialist partners, gaining access to the latest quantitative scholarship in urban household history, providing qualitative analyses using innovative reading techniques in return. The exchange will result in new methodologies to uncover non-nuclear family relationships and household forms as we continue archival research. Presenting our findings to UK scholars through the proposed schedule of visits, symposia, residencies, e-networking and collaborative publication, will facilitate international consideration of the research questions generated by our project.Read moreRead less
Echoes of the earliest Homo sapiens movement out of Africa. The "Out of Africa" and "Multiregional Evolution" theories have proposed sharply different accounts for the origins of our species Homo sapiens. These have converged on opposite readings of the Australian human fossil record. Recent perspectives resulting from research on Pleistocene Australian mitochondrial DNA, and by osteologists on early Homo sapiens remains in Africa and Israel, hint at a chapter, as yet unwritten, in our species' ....Echoes of the earliest Homo sapiens movement out of Africa. The "Out of Africa" and "Multiregional Evolution" theories have proposed sharply different accounts for the origins of our species Homo sapiens. These have converged on opposite readings of the Australian human fossil record. Recent perspectives resulting from research on Pleistocene Australian mitochondrial DNA, and by osteologists on early Homo sapiens remains in Africa and Israel, hint at a chapter, as yet unwritten, in our species' Late Pleistocene dispersal from Africa. This project's collaborative research on fossils from Sri Lanka and Australasia will explore and test the implications for the colonisation history of the Indian Ocean region.Read moreRead less
Cultures of Trade in the Indian Ocean. A decline in cultural understandings in the IO is threatening trade opportunities. 'Value', accordingly, must be understood both in economic and cultural terms. Another outcome of this collaboration will be an analysis of the ways in which current regional security issues are being posed, and it is essential to have an international network of scholars to provide an appropriate comparative perspective. By giving us a clearer understanding of the impact of c ....Cultures of Trade in the Indian Ocean. A decline in cultural understandings in the IO is threatening trade opportunities. 'Value', accordingly, must be understood both in economic and cultural terms. Another outcome of this collaboration will be an analysis of the ways in which current regional security issues are being posed, and it is essential to have an international network of scholars to provide an appropriate comparative perspective. By giving us a clearer understanding of the impact of culture on commercial relations and of Australia's place in the Indian Ocean Region, the project will help Australia to build strong, peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with its neighbours.Read moreRead less
Testimonial narratives in the post-colonial era. This project aims to benefit the Australian public by analysing some of the ways testimony has been used as a means of coming to terms with the past in Australia. It aims to amplify the significance of Australian collections, such as the Bringing Them Home Oral History archive at the National Library, both within Australia and internationally, and thereby bring Australian materials and experiences into transnational discussions of testimony and co ....Testimonial narratives in the post-colonial era. This project aims to benefit the Australian public by analysing some of the ways testimony has been used as a means of coming to terms with the past in Australia. It aims to amplify the significance of Australian collections, such as the Bringing Them Home Oral History archive at the National Library, both within Australia and internationally, and thereby bring Australian materials and experiences into transnational discussions of testimony and contested histories. It aims to benefit the research communities in Canada and Australia by providing an interpretative framework for researching and teaching testimonial materials, and by strengthening links between the two countries.Read moreRead less
Enlightened Explorations?: Revisioning Gender and Sexuality in British and French Exploratory Voyages of the Pacific. This project aims to compare the representations of gender and sexuality on British and French exploratory voyages of the Pacific from the late eighteenth to the mid- nineteenth century. Starting from the islands of Samoa (Tcherkézoff ) and Vanuatu (Jolly), we will consider the centrality of gender and sexuality in categorizations of different ?races? or ?nations? and especially ....Enlightened Explorations?: Revisioning Gender and Sexuality in British and French Exploratory Voyages of the Pacific. This project aims to compare the representations of gender and sexuality on British and French exploratory voyages of the Pacific from the late eighteenth to the mid- nineteenth century. Starting from the islands of Samoa (Tcherkézoff ) and Vanuatu (Jolly), we will consider the centrality of gender and sexuality in categorizations of different ?races? or ?nations? and especially the distillation of the contrast between Polynesia and Melanesia. These voyages were foundational not just for enduring European visions of the Pacific but for Islander perceptions of and relations with Europeans, and later transformations of indigenous patterns of gender and sexuality.Read moreRead less