PACIFIC ISLANDS WORKSHOP
January 31 - February 4 2005
Seminar Room A, H. C. Coombs Bldg (No. 9), ANU
The Pacific Islands Workshop 2005 is a five day program of activities designed to bring together honours, postgraduate and recent postdoctoral students with an interest in the Pacific Islands from around Australia and further afield. The workshop is a part of the ANU's Asia Pacific Week during which a range of academic, social and cultural activities will be held.
Asia Pacific Week 2004 brought together 180 mostly graduate students, 21 of whom participated in the first Pacific Islands Workshop. The program provided a unique platform for an up-and-coming generation of Pacificists to present their work in a rigorous multi-disciplinary environment allowing for the cross-pollination of research agendas. Furthermore, the program allowed participants to network with established scholars in their respective fields and provided an introduction to the teaching and research resources available at the ANU, and at allied institutions such as the Australian National Library.
The Pacific Islands Workshop 2005 will again showcase the work of young Pacific scholars in a formal setting and provide an opportunity for them to network with their peers and senior academics. The Pacific program of Asia Pacific Week will also include presentations by prominent Pacific scholars, journalists and regional dignitaries and roundtable discussions on contemporary issues, including Australia's role in the region; conventional and human security; political change; migration; religion, art and literature; diasporic identities; and conducting fieldwork in the Pacific.
The broad goals for the week are to provide a forum for the building of networks among young Pacific scholars through the exchange of knowledge and experiences surrounding the study of the Pacific Islands in the social sciences and humanities. The program also aims to provide participants with the opportunity to learn about the rich and diverse Pacific Islands resources held at the ANU and the Australian National Library.
The Pacific Islands Workshop 2005 will be hosted by experienced Pacific Islands researchers and scholars drawn from the ANU's staff. The ANU has over 60 Pacific Islands specialists across a diverse range of disciplines within the humanities and social sciences on its academic staff. The workshop is organised by the Centre for the Contemporary Pacific.
Participation in the Pacific Islands Workshop 2005 will enable students to:
- Meet and exchange ideas with their peers from around Australia;
- Establish links with key ANU scholars;
- Gain feedback on work in progress;
- Develop and reflect on techniques for conducting effective fieldwork in the Pacific;
- Strengthen insights into key political and theoretical challenges for Pacific Islands Studies today;
- Draw on the ANU's Pacific resources and the expertise of specialist librarians.
Workshop Presentations
- Panels will be chaired and coordinated by senior ANU scholars;
- Participants will present 15-20 minute papers on work in progress, key research problems or any of the proposed themes (see below);
- The chair will facilitate discussion and feedback from peers and experts
.
Proposed Workshop Themes
While several provisional themes have been proposed, participants are also welcome to make presentations on their own current research or key research issues.
- Migration
- Diasporic Identities
- Political Change
- Regionalism and Australia's Role in the Region
- Religion, Art and Literature
- The transformation of Pacific landscapes (session coordinator and chair: Dr Colin Filer): This session focuses on the changing relationship between human populations and the physical environment in the Pacific region in the prehistoric, colonial and post-colonial periods. How did Pacific populations modify or adapt to their physical environments in prehistoric times? How were these trends altered by the advent of European explorers, settlers and administrators? What are the major issues in the political economy of regional environmental change today, and what are the prospects for sustainable environmental management in the future? Specific issues that participants may wish to explore include the problems of climate change, deforestation, indigenous and commercial agricultural systems, the impact of mining, and the problems of resource management on densely populated small islands.
- Histories by and for Pacific people (session coordinator and chair: Dr Chris Ballard): This session focuses on the forms of history that are of most relevance to the lives of contemporary Pacific people. How do the histories that matter to Pacific communities differ from the bulk of academic history about the region? What are the forms of history and the senses of history which people draw upon practically in their daily lives? Issues that participants may wish to explore include: the persistence of oral traditions; the problematic transition from oral to documentary forms of knowledge of the past; the role of vernacular languages as local witnesses and registers of the past; and the generation of modes and technologies for the representation of history in the Pacific.
- Fieldwork in the Pacific
Roundtable Discussions
Possible topics for discussion, include:
- Future directions for Pacific Research
- Challenges for Fieldwork in the Pacific / a Fieldwork debriefing forum
- Future of Pacific Studies in Australia
Other Events
Other events will include seminars, public lectures, film screenings and cultural performances.
Essay Prize
As in 2004, a small prize will be offered for the best essay based on a workshop presentation. To be eligible for the prize, papers must be based on a workshop presentation and be submitted to the Centre of the Contemporary Pacific no later than Friday 18 February 2005.
In 2004 the prize was shared by Iris Wielders (Research Institute for Asia & the Pacific, University of Sydney) for a comparative essay on regional interventions in the Pacific, and Jen Robinson (Faculty of Law, Australian National University) for an analysis of human rights violations in West Papua.
- The Pacific Islands Workshop 2005 is open to honours-level and postgraduate students as well as recently completed postdoctoral students currently enrolled in any Australian University. Students enrolled in overseas universities will also be welcome.
- Students from all disciplines within the humanities and social sciences are eligible.
Limited funds are available to help defray travel and accommodation costs for participants who are making presentations. Accommodation will be provided at Bruce Hall on the ANU campus. Honours-level and postgraduate students—as well as recent doctoral graduates—may apply for assistance.
ANU Asia Pacific Week
The 2005 Pacific Islands Workshop is to be held in conjunction with summer schools in China Studies,Thai Studies, Indonesian Studies, Korean Studies, Vietnam Studies, Asia-Pacific Cultural Heritage Studies, Japan Studies and South Asia Studies. The Asia-Pacific week will feature special events such as keynote speeches, films, performances and exhibitions. Participants at the Pacific Islands Workshop will interact with participants from other summer schools in combined social functions.
For further information contact Adrian Muckle or David Hegarty at:
The Centre for the Contemporary Pacific
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
H.C. Coombs Building (No.9)
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia
Tel.: +61 2 6125 2316 (Adrian Muckle – Tues./Thurs./Fri.)
Tel.: +61 2 6125 4145 (David Hegarty)
Fax: +61 2 6125 5525
Email: ccp@anu.edu.au
The Australian National University is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth of Australia). The ANU will not disclose personal information about you to third parties without your consent or as is allowed for under the Privacy Act. The purpose of information collected here is to organise the Asia Pacific Week 2005. If you have any privacy concerns or would like to verify information about you please contact us (see contact details above). The University's Privacy Policy can be consulted at
http://www.anu.edu.au/legal/perspriv.html.
: include() [
function.include]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/export/web/web-pas/rspasweb/web/functions/footer.inc) is not within the allowed path(s): (.:/home/rspas:/opt/squirrelmail:/var/squirrelmail/:/var/tmp:/opt/phpMyAdmin) in
/home/rspas/web-pas/rspasweb/web/asiapacificweek/2005/pacific.php on line
313
Warning: include(/export/web/web-pas/rspasweb/web/functions/footer.inc) [
function.include]: failed to open stream: Not owner in
/home/rspas/web-pas/rspasweb/web/asiapacificweek/2005/pacific.php on line
313
Warning: include() [
function.include]: Failed opening '/export/web/web-pas/rspasweb/web/functions/footer.inc' for inclusion (include_path='.:') in
/home/rspas/web-pas/rspasweb/web/asiapacificweek/2005/pacific.php on line
313
