Nicole George, BA (Hons) (Monash), PhD (ANU)
John Vincent Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of International Relations

Email: nicole.george@anu.edu.au

Biographical Statement

I am currently preparing a book manuscript from my doctoral research which examines the history of women's organising in Fiji from the 1960s until the contemporary period. This work critiques conventional international relations approaches to women's organising which emphasise reform- or resistance-oriented activity. The method employed in this study aims to demonstrate how context and contingency shape women's political agency by fore-fronting subjectivity and participants' own appraisals of the viability or otherwise of political activity undertaken on the local, regional and international stage. In the longer term I will also begin a comparative study of women's political organising in French- and English-speaking regions of the Pacific. This project will examine the local, regional and international political agency of women's organisations in Fiji, New Caledonia and Solomon Islands.

Research Interests

Gender in international relations, the role of transnational civil society, gender and development, post-colonial politics of Pacific Island states, gender and Pacific regional governance.

Key Publications

• 'Women's Organising in Fiji: Shifting Terrains of Transnational Equipment', in Katrina Lee Koo and Bina D'Costa (eds), Gender and Global Politics in the Asia-Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming 2009.
• '"Situating" Active Citizenship: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives of Women's Organising in the Pacific', Development in Practice, forthcoming 2009.
• 'Contending Masculinities and the Limits of Tolerance: Sexual Minorities in Fiji', Contemporary Pacific, 20(1) 2008: 163–89.
• 'Women's Re-visions of Globalization: "Level Playing Field" or "Uphill Battle"?', International Feminist Journal of Politics, 4(2) 2002: 268–77.
• 'French Monopoly of the Linguistic Marketplace: A Regional Perspective', in Anthony J. Liddicoat and Karis Muller (eds), Perspectives on Europe: Language Issues and Language Planning in Europe. Melbourne: Language Australia, 2002, pp. 61–79.

Career Highlights

Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies 50th Anniversary Award (2002); Honours Politics Prize and Vice-Chancellor's Undergraduate Research Scholarship (Monash 2000).