Intercommunal and Translocal Space in Fairfield: Tracking Indochinese Australian Lives. While providing important socio-cultural information about Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese communities in western Sydney, this project takes an innovative approach to the study of 'minority' communities in multicultural societies. By locating itself at the points of contact between communities, the proposed research recognises that subjects are often members of multiple social groups, and that they shift back a ....Intercommunal and Translocal Space in Fairfield: Tracking Indochinese Australian Lives. While providing important socio-cultural information about Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese communities in western Sydney, this project takes an innovative approach to the study of 'minority' communities in multicultural societies. By locating itself at the points of contact between communities, the proposed research recognises that subjects are often members of multiple social groups, and that they shift back and forth across their boundaries. Such a perspective enables one to avoid the fallacy of locating 'the multicultural' in minority subjects/cultures, and thus 'multicultural problems' within particular 'problem communities'. Rather, it situates the multicultural in the interstices between 'mainstream' and 'minority' AustraliaRead moreRead less
Values and ethics in a global world: a semantic perspective. The question: "How are we to live?" is of fundamental importance, on an individual, social and international level. Yet in an increasingly global and pluralist world it remains difficult to articulate any values that are intelligible, let alone acceptable, to everyone. Although the literature on the subject is constantly growing, the very language of the current debate suffers from ethnocentrism, with culture-specific English words lik ....Values and ethics in a global world: a semantic perspective. The question: "How are we to live?" is of fundamental importance, on an individual, social and international level. Yet in an increasingly global and pluralist world it remains difficult to articulate any values that are intelligible, let alone acceptable, to everyone. Although the literature on the subject is constantly growing, the very language of the current debate suffers from ethnocentrism, with culture-specific English words like "fairness", "autonomy" and "tolerance" being widely used as would-be neutral conceptual tools. A framework for discussing ethics and values in a universal, non-ethnocentric perspective is urgently needed. This project aims at providing such a framework and putting it to work.Read moreRead less
Ethnic, Religious and Social Bases of Community in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. This project will promote understanding of a fast developing region of Vietnam in which large amounts of Australian development aid resources have been spent and with which Australian companies have growing trade and investment activities. The Mekong delta is a multicultural and religiously diverse area, very different from other parts of the country. Yet we know very little about why the delta is so economically pro ....Ethnic, Religious and Social Bases of Community in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. This project will promote understanding of a fast developing region of Vietnam in which large amounts of Australian development aid resources have been spent and with which Australian companies have growing trade and investment activities. The Mekong delta is a multicultural and religiously diverse area, very different from other parts of the country. Yet we know very little about why the delta is so economically productive and why there has been little conflict between its many ethnic and religious groups. This project will advance Australia's reputation as a world leader in social scientific research on Vietnam.Read moreRead less
Inside Alice Springs: a new view of difference, division and diversity. This study of Alice Springs will shed new light on social divisions by moving beyond a black/white view of Indigenous/non-Indigenous dynamics, to understand how people also form positions and relations based on class, gender and ethnicity. It aims to create new knowledge of the forces at work in racially troubled and multi-ethnic places.