Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100496
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$446,291.00
Summary
Standardising Halal: interpreting the tension between global and local. This project aims to advance understanding of how halal standardisation has been reimagined in the context of global Muslim cultural diversity. It investigates the halal cultural economy—finance, food, travel, fashion, media, and cosmetics—in Malaysia and Indonesia. Using innovative interdisciplinary approaches, in particular anthropology and Islamic textual analysis, this project expects to generate a new level of understan ....Standardising Halal: interpreting the tension between global and local. This project aims to advance understanding of how halal standardisation has been reimagined in the context of global Muslim cultural diversity. It investigates the halal cultural economy—finance, food, travel, fashion, media, and cosmetics—in Malaysia and Indonesia. Using innovative interdisciplinary approaches, in particular anthropology and Islamic textual analysis, this project expects to generate a new level of understanding of halal industries. Expected outcomes include identifying major players and unpacking local cultural responses to the global move to homogenise halal practices. Australia is the world’s second-largest halal food exporter: this research should benefit its businesses’ expansion into contemporary halal industries.Read moreRead less
Cultural values, birth and parenting: Reproductive health and Lao socialism. This project aims to provide an anthropology of procreation and parenting through ethnography of the Government of Laos’ Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health rollout as well as everyday reproduction in rural and remote Laos. It expects to generate new knowledge of core values in Laos, including those underpinning official treatment of children as human capital, difference as deprivation, and mother-and-chil ....Cultural values, birth and parenting: Reproductive health and Lao socialism. This project aims to provide an anthropology of procreation and parenting through ethnography of the Government of Laos’ Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health rollout as well as everyday reproduction in rural and remote Laos. It expects to generate new knowledge of core values in Laos, including those underpinning official treatment of children as human capital, difference as deprivation, and mother-and-child biomedical care as universal, as well as the (counter-)values lived in rural and remote practices, knowledge and sentiments. Anticipated benefits include advanced understandings of Lao culture and society, socialism as it articulates with international health and economic agendas, and the anthropology of human flourishing.Read moreRead less
Antimicrobial resistance, inequality and development in India. This project aims to provide an analysis of the cultural and social drivers behind the threat of antimicrobial resistance in India. As the highest consumer of antibiotics globally, India is central to the global challenge of addressing antimicrobial resistance. This project will focus on antimicrobial resistance as a distinctly social problem. The intended outcomes include a deep understanding of how the crisis is unfolding in India ....Antimicrobial resistance, inequality and development in India. This project aims to provide an analysis of the cultural and social drivers behind the threat of antimicrobial resistance in India. As the highest consumer of antibiotics globally, India is central to the global challenge of addressing antimicrobial resistance. This project will focus on antimicrobial resistance as a distinctly social problem. The intended outcomes include a deep understanding of how the crisis is unfolding in India at the nexus of poverty, weak governance and embedded cultural practices. Anticipated findings will generate policy-relevant outputs to optimise antimicrobial use, position Australia as a leading voice in addressing a global threat, and prepare Australia against the specific issue of microbial resistance.Read moreRead less
Epigenetics and Indigenous Australia. This project aims to investigate how epigenetics is being received by Indigenous Australians, and to identify the potential risks and opportunities that narratives of biosocial damage entail. Epigenetics is a rapidly evolving science concerned with how life experiences, such as trauma or stress, can modify DNA and be passed on to negatively affect children's (and possibly grandchildren's) health and development. This project will offer an understanding of th ....Epigenetics and Indigenous Australia. This project aims to investigate how epigenetics is being received by Indigenous Australians, and to identify the potential risks and opportunities that narratives of biosocial damage entail. Epigenetics is a rapidly evolving science concerned with how life experiences, such as trauma or stress, can modify DNA and be passed on to negatively affect children's (and possibly grandchildren's) health and development. This project will offer an understanding of the relationships between Indigenous health and epigenetics that will help Indigenous researchers, policymakers, and government bodies make well-informed decisions about the application and direction of this new science. The research will make a significant contribution to understanding how the interplay of biology, race, and society unfold at the intersection of different knowledge systems and at the forefront of technological progress.Read moreRead less
The future of the Pacific: youth leadership and civic engagement. This project aims to investigate how youth in the Pacific develop and demonstrate the forms of leadership and civic engagement needed for positive outcomes for their countries. New knowledge is expected to be generated about what influences Pacific youth to engage with the profound challenges facing their region, through Pacific-wide research and three case studies using participatory and collaborative methodologies. Expected outc ....The future of the Pacific: youth leadership and civic engagement. This project aims to investigate how youth in the Pacific develop and demonstrate the forms of leadership and civic engagement needed for positive outcomes for their countries. New knowledge is expected to be generated about what influences Pacific youth to engage with the profound challenges facing their region, through Pacific-wide research and three case studies using participatory and collaborative methodologies. Expected outcomes include interdisciplinary contributions to Pacific and youth studies and applied outputs. This should provide significant benefits including enhanced capacity for governments, development agencies and donors to develop policy and programming measures to nurture the future leadership of the Pacific region. Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200724
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$167,200.00
Summary
Australian understandings of infectious disease symptoms in the COVID era. This project aims to study how Australians interpret symptoms of acute infectious diseases and how those beliefs shape their health-seeking behaviour. Using mixed social science methods, the project will document how Australians decide when to seek medical treatment at clinics or hospitals and when to stay at home, how they believe disease spreads and how they decide whether to go to work, school, social commitments, shop ....Australian understandings of infectious disease symptoms in the COVID era. This project aims to study how Australians interpret symptoms of acute infectious diseases and how those beliefs shape their health-seeking behaviour. Using mixed social science methods, the project will document how Australians decide when to seek medical treatment at clinics or hospitals and when to stay at home, how they believe disease spreads and how they decide whether to go to work, school, social commitments, shops, or stay home when unwell, and what they think about government health policy regarding infectious disease in the wake of COVID-19. Humans spread diseases through culturally coded patterns of behaviour, and this project will offer critical public health insights in an era of infectious disease epidemics and pandemics.Read moreRead less
Situating care: Addressing obesity in disadvantaged communities . The project aims to drive an urgently needed shift from top-down interventions that focus on obesity as an individual problem of diets and exercise, to collective solutions of care generated by families for families, empowering social change at a local, community level. In collaboration with Australia’s leading designers of social innovation, this anthropology project expects to generate new knowledge about care and food practic ....Situating care: Addressing obesity in disadvantaged communities . The project aims to drive an urgently needed shift from top-down interventions that focus on obesity as an individual problem of diets and exercise, to collective solutions of care generated by families for families, empowering social change at a local, community level. In collaboration with Australia’s leading designers of social innovation, this anthropology project expects to generate new knowledge about care and food practices in disadvantaged communities, and to construct new digital, policy, and program frameworks for broader adaptation. The advances are likely to have a strong bearing on how obesity interventions, and more equitable health policy and practice, evolve in Australia and internationally. Read moreRead less
Society and climate change: A social analysis of new technology. The project aims to explore the likely unintended social consequences and disruption of technological responses to climate change. Responses to climate change often involve imagined technological innovation, including geo-engineering (or the modification of the global environment), newer forms of energy such as solar, wind or biofuels, and social technologies such as carbon trading. Both technological innovations and fantasies abou ....Society and climate change: A social analysis of new technology. The project aims to explore the likely unintended social consequences and disruption of technological responses to climate change. Responses to climate change often involve imagined technological innovation, including geo-engineering (or the modification of the global environment), newer forms of energy such as solar, wind or biofuels, and social technologies such as carbon trading. Both technological innovations and fantasies about technologies can disrupt social and economic life, and are themselves disrupted by the social processes involved in deployment. This investigation could make informed, acceptable, and possible technological adaptation more possible.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101073
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,015.00
Summary
Donkey Politics: How China’s Belt & Road shapes everyday life in Pakistan. This project will develop a socio-cultural understanding of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), through an ethnographic examination of the donkey trade with China. The research will produce fine-grained data on the impacts of the massive export of donkeys on the work, livelihoods, and health-seeking behaviour of marginalised populations in Pakistan. Expecte ....Donkey Politics: How China’s Belt & Road shapes everyday life in Pakistan. This project will develop a socio-cultural understanding of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), through an ethnographic examination of the donkey trade with China. The research will produce fine-grained data on the impacts of the massive export of donkeys on the work, livelihoods, and health-seeking behaviour of marginalised populations in Pakistan. Expected outcomes include enhanced understanding of Chinese mega projects on host countries. It will benefit Australian and international policymakers seeking to develop a grounded understanding of BRI and its broader implications for the Indo-Pacific region, including the risk of zoonotic diseases associated with animal trade.Read moreRead less
Cultural sensorium: An ethnography of the senses. This project aims to develop an ethnography and a public platform for the communication of culture as living heritage. In direct response to the national and global focus on safeguarding intangible Indigenous World Heritage, the project will research largely invisible aspects of knowledge and tradition by combining sensory ethnography with digital culture. Outcomes will advance knowledge of the senses and promote understanding of Australian Indig ....Cultural sensorium: An ethnography of the senses. This project aims to develop an ethnography and a public platform for the communication of culture as living heritage. In direct response to the national and global focus on safeguarding intangible Indigenous World Heritage, the project will research largely invisible aspects of knowledge and tradition by combining sensory ethnography with digital culture. Outcomes will advance knowledge of the senses and promote understanding of Australian Indigenous cultures through a new immersive and interactive public platform.Read moreRead less