Government, Religion and the Problem of Moral Order in Contemporary Papua New Guinea. Successful Australian international relations depend on understanding the popular culture within which neighbouring people formulate grievances and desires for change. PNG is physically close to Australia; it was an administered colony and today as a regional ally it receives much Australian aid. Many Australian organizations, companies and citizens reside in PNG. This project will provide accurate knowledge o ....Government, Religion and the Problem of Moral Order in Contemporary Papua New Guinea. Successful Australian international relations depend on understanding the popular culture within which neighbouring people formulate grievances and desires for change. PNG is physically close to Australia; it was an administered colony and today as a regional ally it receives much Australian aid. Many Australian organizations, companies and citizens reside in PNG. This project will provide accurate knowledge of how popular religious movements can provide a political language for voicing everyday expectations and grievances. Social and cultural changes can produce new perceptions of injustice that are voiced as a moral critique of present day government, where the future kingdom of God or of the dead is used as a point of ethical contrast.Read moreRead less
Arabian Africans or African Arabs? The dynamics of Islamic African identity in the Arabian Peninsula. An understanding of the social and cultural background to current conflicts is a step towards resolving them and this project is a significant contribution to Australia's understanding of the world and of Muslims. It will explain how and why many non-Arab Muslims are drawn towards the Arab world, by virtue of what it can offer them and of what the alternatives are increasingly failing to offer, ....Arabian Africans or African Arabs? The dynamics of Islamic African identity in the Arabian Peninsula. An understanding of the social and cultural background to current conflicts is a step towards resolving them and this project is a significant contribution to Australia's understanding of the world and of Muslims. It will explain how and why many non-Arab Muslims are drawn towards the Arab world, by virtue of what it can offer them and of what the alternatives are increasingly failing to offer, both on a personal level and in a political sense. This is a study of African Muslims, but as a comparative study it has a direct relevance to Australia's relationship with the Islamic world, Arab, African or Asian. Ultimately, it will help to explain why contemporary events seem to have led to the clash of two civilisations, the West and Islam.Read moreRead less
Understanding global biomedical technologies in local realities. This project aims to advance understanding of the constitutive effects of global biotechnologies in local contexts through a case study of couples with mixed HIV status in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The project aims to contribute to scholarship and global debates on how biomedicine and local cultures co-exist and co-articulate in the making of social realities. By mapping the ways HIV treatment and prevention technologies intersect wi ....Understanding global biomedical technologies in local realities. This project aims to advance understanding of the constitutive effects of global biotechnologies in local contexts through a case study of couples with mixed HIV status in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The project aims to contribute to scholarship and global debates on how biomedicine and local cultures co-exist and co-articulate in the making of social realities. By mapping the ways HIV treatment and prevention technologies intersect with the cultural, gendered and religious landscapes of PNG, the project is designed to produce new knowledge of the promises and limits of global biotechnologies as their meanings and applications are created, negotiated and contested in the everyday practices of these couples.Read moreRead less