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MAI Seminars, Conferences, Visitors and Events 2004

The First Annual Conference of the Monash Asia Institute
9 - 13 February 2004, Mumbai, India
This is the first annual international conference held by the Monash Asia Institute (MAI). Based on the theme, " Cultures and Technologies in Asia - the paradigm shifts ", the conference aims to identify how the relationship between cultures and technologies is changing. By holding the first conference in the commercial capital of India, the MAI also seeks to exchange ideas and promote international collaborative research on this subject in the Asia-Pacific region. It is hoped that a network of scholars and thinkers from across the disciplines will be established with a view to generating research results relevant to policy making in the region.
The abstracts of 35 papers have now been received and can be viewed the official conference website at:
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/ructa/conference/index.html
Orders for conference proceedings from people who wish to follow the debates but cannot attend the Mumbai conference can be placed with Ms Juliet Yee via the email address below. Conference proceedings will be available on CD Rom but printed versions can be requested.
For further information email Juliet Yee, < monash.asia.institute@ adm. monash.edu.au >

3rd Asia Pacific Security Dialogue, (Beijing, 3-5 March 2004)
The Monash Asia Institute will be holding its 3rd Asia Pacific Security Dialogue in Beijing, 3-5 March 2004, in partnership with the Institute of Asia Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
This event is supported by grants from the Japan Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
The dialogue follows on from earlier successful dialogues in late 1998 and early 1999 in Melbourne, Washington and New York. In preparation for the Beijing dialogue, the Monash Asia Institute held two roundtable discussions at the Monash Centres in Prato (near Florence) Italy and at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. These roundtables enabled Monash to build research and other links with EU and European/British scholars.
The dialogue process began in 1998 in reaction to nuclear tests by India and Pakistan.
Information about the Monash Asia Institute's dialogues and roundtables can be found at:
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/virtualforum/

Seminar

Centre for Malaysian Studies, Monash Asia Institute and Minaret College

Friday 19 March 2004

"Islamic Parenting "
Speakers: Drs. Ekram and Mohamed Rida Beshir

Abstract

"The focus of this lecture is on achieving spousal harmony within the Muslim Family. It covers the basis of gender relations in Islam, and then focuses on spousal relations, including a description of the basic ingredients of a successful and harmonious marriage. Among these are commitment, trust & faithfulness, and good communication. The presentation also covers the shared obligations of husband and wife and provides guidelines for proper ways of resolving conflicts between them."

About the speakers

Drs. Ekram and Mohamed Rida Beshir is a wife/husband team. Together they co-authored the two best sellers parenting books "Meeting the Challenge of Parenting in the West, an Islamic Perspective", "Muslim Teens, Today's Worry, Tomorrow's Hope, a Practical Islamic Parenting Guide" and "Blissful Marriage" as well as other parenting books in Arabic. Some of their parenting books have been translated into French and German. They are teaching two courses on the this subject at the Islamic American University. They are both regular contributors to the family section of The American Muslim magazine. They have also written articles for Islamic Horizons magazine as well as The Message magazine. Both Drs. Ekram and Mohamed Rida Beshir are advisers in the Islam online website family section. Drs. Ekram and Mohamed Rida Beshir are the recipients of the City of Ottawa Certificate of Appreciation for the year 2003 for their volunteer work in the area of education.

For more information about Drs Ekram and Mohamed Rida Beshir's visit, please see:
http://www.minaret.vic.edu.au/seminar.htm

Visitor to Monash Asia Institute: Dr Trudy Griffin-Pierce

During her visit to the Monash Asia Institute on 15 - 27 March 2004, Dr Trudy Griffin-Pierce, Assistant Professor of the Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, will present a seminar and a public lecture about her research on Navajo traditional medicine. Details are as follows:

23 March 2004

Seminar jointly sponsored by

Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies (CAIS ), Monash University and
Monash Asia Institute

Speaker: Dr Trudy Griffin-Pierce, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona
Chaired by Prof Lynette Russell

Topic: An informal discussion about Dr Griffin-Pierce's most recent book:'Native Peoples of the Southwest'.

About the Speaker

Trudy Griffin-Pierce, of Catawba Indian descent, is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. In response to her request, in 1970, the Navajo Tribal Chairman found a traditional Navajo Indian family that she joined as a daughter, herding sheep and living in a hogan. Her strong emotional ties to this family led her to become an anthropologist whose research focuses on Navajo values and ceremonialism. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles and the following books: "Earth Is My Mother, Sky Is My Father: Space, Time, and Astronomy in Navajo Sandpainting", "The Encyclopaedia of Native America", and "Native America: Enduring Cultures and Traditions." In her most recent book, "Native Peoples of the Southwest", each chapter begins with an account of a contemporary event situated on tribal land in order to direct attention to issues of how tribal identities are being reinvented at the beginning of the 21st century.

Public Lecture: 'Navajo Health and Healing'

25 March 2004

Public Lecture by Dr Trudy Griffin-Pierce
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona

An illustrated lecture about Navajo Health and Healing and its conflict with modern biomedical procedures.

Trudy Griffin-Pierce fulfilled a lifelong dream by being adopted into a traditional Navajo Indian family in Arizona-herding sheep and living with them in a hogan as a daughter. From her involvement with the family, she began a new life that led to obtaining a Doctorate in Anthropology and a Professorship at the University of Arizona. She began to explore the basis of conflict between the traditional Navajo belief system and biomedical procedures in 1992 when she saw the difficulties in communication that were experienced by a Navajo family and biomedical personnel during the death of a child at the Intensive Care Unit at the University Medical Centre. In 1993 and 1994, as a direct result of this experience, she conducted workshops and a Grand Rounds presentation for hospital personnel to relate Navajo beliefs and practices to behaviour surrounding death and illness in the biomedical setting. She has written several books about the indigenous people of the North America but her specialty remains the American Southwest. Her research focuses on the Indian cultures of this area, including their ceremonies, crafts, and histories. She will describe her life with the Navajo, as well as their traditional beliefs and practices, including the ceremony conducted to protect her in her work with the sand paintings. She is currently co-editing "Time, Self, and Society: The Cross-Cultural Embodiment of Time in Illness and Health." Her present research focuses on Navajo patients' understanding of their health problems, how they and their kin prepare for an operation and cope with it, and what traditional healing practices are engaged in before and after the operation.

Monash Asia Institute and
The Global Terrorism Research Unit, Monash University

Special Workshop: "Global Terrorism"

Thursday 27 May 2004

Professor Stephen Wheatcroft, a world authority on Russia, will lead the discussion with a 30 minute presentation comparing terrorism in Chechnya/Russia with Sri Lanka. Q and A will follow with scholars around the table reflecting on their own work in the context of Prof Wheatcroft's presentation.

About the speaker

Associate Professor Stephen G. Wheatcroft teaches and researches Russian and Soviet History at the History Department of the University of Melbourne. He also teaches a course on ëMaking History and Making Newsíand contributes to other courses including ëTerrorism and Counter-terrorismí. Within the area of Soviet History he has made a special study of Famines and of Mass Repression and is interested in seeing each of these factors in their historical perspective. His recent
volume on "The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933" with R.W.Davies,(Palgrave 2004) is arguably the most detailed and authoritative account of the Russian Famine in existence. It is not in sympathy with the previous predominant view of the famine provided by Robert Conquest who saw the famine as a conscious attempt to Terrorise the peasantry. (The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror Famine).
Stephen has written numerous articles on Terror in the Stalin System. His most recent article incorporating the latest materials released from the Russian archives is ëTowards explaining the changing levels of Stalinist Repression in the 1930s: Mass Killingsí in the collection that he edited Challenging Traditional Views of Russian History (Palgrave 2002). He (with Melanie Ilic) is currently editing another collection of articles by Russian, British and American scholars for Palgrave which will be entitled Stalinist Terror Revisited, and he is involved in other collaborative works on different aspects of Soviet history of the late 1930s ñ the period of mass repression.
Stephen has also taken an interest in more recent cases of Terrorism and counter-terrorism in Russia and Chechnya, and for personal reasons also has a direct interest in Terrorism in Sri Lanka. He is delighted to talk with you and share his thoughts on the comparative nature of Terrorism over time and in the different cases that he knows something about.

Social Protection in Asia
Thursday 10 June 2004, 9.00 am to 6.00 pm
Room E269, Faculty of Business and Economics
Menzies Building (11), Monash University Clayton campus

The International Business Research Unit of the Department of Management, Monash University, will hold an International One Day Workshop on "Social Protection in South Asia, China and Malaysia"

The program is as follows:

South Asia Focus

China Focus

Malaysia Focus

Conference Convenor: Dr Wendy Smith, Director, Centre for Malaysian Studies, Monash Asia Institute <wendy.smith@buseco.monash.edu.au >

Monash Asia Institute

Friday 11 June 2004

Workshop "Hindu Fundamentalism and Militancy in India Today"

Keynote address:
Prof Sujata Patel, Department of Sociology, University of Pune, India will lead the discussion.

Scholars and postgraduates are invited to join us and compare research work in this field. In particular attention will be paid to the nature of Hindu fundamentalism and militancy, and its social and political impact. Given the current Indian elections, this workshop promises to be especially interesting. Election results will be available by mid May, so that by early June analysis of those results will be quite advanced. We will, therefore, have a chance to assess the impact of communalism on the Indian elections in addition to discussing other issues such as the current international campaign against international funding support to communal parties in India.

About the speaker

Professor Sujata Patel is the former Head of the Department of Sociology, University of Pune, India. She is a historical sociologist who has examined the ways in which state-society relationships have evolved in India during the last hundred years. Presently her research interests are focussed in the area of urban studies with specific reference to the growth of mega cities in India. A selection of her publications include three principal publications: "Thinking Social Science in India", co-edited with J. Bagchi and K. Raj, New Delhi, Sage, 2002; "Bombay: Metaphor for Modern India" and "Bombay: Mosaic of Modern Culture" co-edited with A. Thorner, Bombay and Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1995/1996/2000, vol. 1-2; "Making of Industrial Relations: Capital and Labour in Ahmdebadad Textile Industry, Delhi", Oxford University Press, 1987.

Professor Patel is a contributory Editor for the International Journal of Urban and Regional Studies, Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge and member of the Editorial Board for Current Sociology, Sage Publications, London.

Since 1990s she has been a member of Universities of Pune, Bombay, SNDT Women's, Goa, bodies that frame curriculum. In her University, she chairs the committee on semester and credit system for Social Sciences and Humanities.

She is the representative of President of India in the selection committee for social sciences at Indira Gandhi National Open University. She served in a number of representative bodies, including the ISA Executive Committee, the program Committee for the World Congress in Brisbane, Research Committees 21 Regional and Urban Sociology, RC32 Women in Society, and the Governing Board, Global Development Network (representing ISA).
Professor Sujata Patel's visit to Monash University from 8-15 June 2004, is co-sponsored by the Department of Management, Monash University and the Monash Asia Institute.

Monash Asia Institute

Tuesday 6 July 2004

"Restoration or Renovation?"
Prof Narayani Gupta, Department of History & Culture, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.

Restoration or Renovation? The implications of 'heritage' in India Historians tend to notice anniversaries. 100 years ago the Archaeological Survey of India was given a major role in cultural policy. 20 years ago the Indian National Trust for the Artistic and Cultural Heritage was set up to supplement the functions of the ASI. Since the late 1980s, 'heritage' and 'conservation' have become much-used words in India. It would be instructive to study how, in a multicultural country, the built heritage figures in pedagogy, popular consciousness, and official policy.

About the speaker

Professor Gupta is a scholar in the Department of History & Culture, Faculty of Humanities and Languages at the Jamia Millia Islamia, University in New Delhi.

She has written extensively on the history of Delhi e.g. "Delhi : The Built HeritageóA Listing", Ratish Nanda, Narayani Gupta and O.P. Jain. Delhi, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, 1999.S

Monash Asia Institute and the Department of History, Monash University

Friday 9 July 2004

"Jawaharlal Nehru and the British Empire: the making of an outsider in Indian politics."
Dr Judith Brown, Oxford University

About the speaker

Professor Judith Brown is a world authority on Mahatma Gandhi having written numerous books, chapters and articles about him. More recently Prof Brown (Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University) has turned her attention to the life of Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. She is a specialist on British rule in India and the origins of the modern Indian state.

Publications on Nehru include:

Brown, Judith M. "Nehru: Apolitical life", New Haven, Yale University Press, 2003

This book provides compelling and complete biography of one of India's finest statesmen and the country's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964).

Nehru's dedication to his country led to his imprisonment during British rule, a disturbed family and personal sacrifice. Often described as the architect of modern India, he ruled the country for nearly two decades during which he ceaselessly pursued his vision of a transformed and democratic India. This biography depicts the phases of Nehru's life and shows how it was influenced by new developments in Indian politics.

Other selected publications by Prof Brown

"Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy", Oxford, 1994.
(ed. with R. Foot) "Migration: The Asian Experience", Basingstoke, 1994.
(ed. with M. Prozesky) "Gandhi and South Africa: Principles and Politics", Pietermaritzburg, 1996.
(ed. with W.R. Louis) "The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. IV. The twentieth century", Oxford, 1999.
(ed. with R.E. Frykenberg) "Christians, cultural interactions and India's religious traditions", Michigan and Cambridge, 2002.

Guest Lecture - Anish Kapoor's Sculptures

Monash Asia Institute
Wednesday 14 July 2004

"To sculpt the void and the energy of colour"

Prof Gianfranco Ercolanoni
Head of Sculpture Department, Academia di Belle Arti, Perugia, Italy

The speaker will focus on the works of Anish Kapoor. The lecture, in English and Italian, can be downloaded here.

Some links to websites about Anish Kapoor's works:

About the speaker

In 1968, Prof Gianfranco Ercolanoni graduated at the Accademia di Belle Arti "Pietro Vanucci", Perugia. He was appointed as Assistant of the Sculpture Department at the same Academy in 1970. Currently he is Head of the Sculpture Department, Academia di Belle Arti "Pietro Vanucci", Perugia. He has conducted seminars in Europe, the most recent in Bilbao, Spain and Thessaloniki, Greece.

In the 70's his works were slab forms. A form that was repeated in parallel layers, often with colour used with direct intensity and pure.

He began to work with plastic material, but did not change the spatial formulation. The component form came from microscopy and developed in three-dimension abandoning that of two-dimension. He then moved from the abandonment of the manual way of treating the material, to the use of mechanical instrumentation, and intervened with natural cutting materials (travertine, stone, wood, etc.,) re-proposing the tensions of parallelepiped in an unstable equilibrium of Anthony Caro and of the supported pyramids of Ronald Bladen.

In the 80's, he worked with the sphere, like a hypothesis of thought, reality of harmonious character, structures of auto-sufficient forms and symbolic seals of a concrete world created by man.

In the 90's the tendency for large forms was evident and the research was to overcome art only for the gallery. This research led to projects for urban landscapes using materials like: stone, steel, copper, brass and coloured pigments of perceptive significance.

At present he uses mixed techniques like pure suggestion with the circularity of the forms. He combines natural and artificial materials that restore the concepts of space and time.

Book Launch

"Asian Cyberactivism: Freedom of Expression and Media Censorship"

Speaker: Mr James Gomez

Thursday 29 July 2004

The book launch is supported by the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) and the Monash Asia Institute

About the book

Unlike most publications that focus on the technology, this book focuses on the human actors. Asian Cyberactivism: Freedom of Expression and Media Censorship records political activism and failures of cyberactivists as they try to beat the various censorship regimes in Asia.

The book is an insightful look into online political organising in Asia even as the technology and the rules change. Activists provide their perspectives on how new media relates to democracy, and showcase examples that could be emulated to further the cause of democracy. It is also an insight into the political, societal and legal challenges that cyberactivists have to face, and what this means for democratic development in the region.

Asian Cyberactivism is the first book of its kind, featuring Asian case studies on political activism via new communication technologies like the Internet.

Guest Lecture: Competition policy in developing countries

4 August 2004

"Competition and Competition Policy in Emerging Markets: International and Developmental Dimensions"

Prof Ajit Singh
Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge
Senior Fellow, Queens' College, Cambridge

Public Lecture jointly hosted by
Department of Economics, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University
Monash Asia Institute and
Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements

Abstract

This paper examines the role of competition policy in emerging markets from a developmental and international perspective. The main issues addressed include the following:

The paper's main conclusions include the following:

Contrary to conventional wisdom, many different kinds of evidence suggest that the intensity of competition in leading emerging markets is certainly no less, if not greater, than that observed in advanced countries.

Analysis and evidence indicates that maximum competition is not necessarily optimal, in terms of dynamic efficiency, i.e. maximization of an economy's long-term productivity growth.

Even if it was not required in the past, developing countries need a competition policy today, because of the huge international merger movement as well as privatisation and deregulation in these economies themselves.

There is little evidence to indicate that the current international merger wave will enhance global economic efficiency. Giant cross-border mergers, as well as those occurring between large firms within advanced countries, could, however, adversely affect competition and contestability in developing countries and the world economy. Even with competition policies, developing countries may not be able to restrain anti-competitive behaviour by large multinationals.

The current competition policies in the US and the European Union are unsuitable for developing countries. Countries at different levels of development and governance capacities require different types of competition policies. A good model for many emerging countries with effective governance structures is that of the Japanese competition policy during 1950-73. The Japanese used both competition and cooperation to promote rapid industrialisation.

The paper presents a proposal for a development-oriented international competition authority to control anti-competitive conduct and growth by mergers of large multi-nationals. It is argued here that the current discourse on the development dimension of competition policy at the WTO is unsatisfactory; its terms and language need to be radically changed. The ultimate aim of the WTO should not be to promote free trade for its own sake, but to achieve economic development.

Seminar: Aid and Terrorism

Monash Asia Institute and Global Terrorism Research Unit, Monash University

Friday 6 August 2004

" US Aid and the war on Terror "

Mr Larry Nowels
Specialist in Foreign Affairs
U.S. Congressional Research Service, Washington D.C.

Aid and the war on terrorism - Over the past two years, there has been a significant shift in emphasis to increase and provide assistance to fight global terrorism. Congress has approved about $17 billion in additional aid to "front-line" states in the war on terrorism since the attacks of September 11. These "front-line" states range from Pakistan, to Central Asia and the Middle East, to the Philippines, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti. Discussion would focus on how this has changed the shape of U.S. foreign aid, concerns about human rights and democratic reforms in some "front-line" nations, and whether some of the Cold War features of US aid policy have re-emerged since 9/11.

About the speaker

Larry Nowels is a Specialist in Foreign Affairs at the Congressional Research Service. During his nearly 30-year career at CRS, he has written extensively on U.S. foreign assistance policy making, including the congressional role in legislating and overseeing American foreign aid programs. He has also specialized in international affairs budget issues, both from a historical and current perspective. Much of his recent work has focused on the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) debt initiative, the President's Global AIDS Initiative, and the new U.S. foreign aid program, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).

Mr. Nowels further served on detail assignments to the House Budget Committee and the House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Redlands, during which time he also attended the University of Salamanca in Spain. His graduate work was done at the American University and the National War College.

The Monash Asia Institute would like to acknowledge with gratitude the role of United States Embassy that has brought Mr Nowels to Australia for this visit and a number of briefings.

Workshop Paper

Monash Asia Institute would like to thank Mr. Nowels for making available the presentation (in Acrobat pdf format) for downloading from this page.

RMIT & MAI Singapore Studies Symposium

Monday 9 August 2004

"Celebrating Singapore: Identity, Ethnicity, Nationalism and Civil Society"

On August 9 2004, the Republic of Singapore will celebrate its 39th year of independence. In Singapore, the month long 'Celebrate Singapore' will culminate in the National Day Parade. In Melbourne, Singapore Studies researchers will ask, what are the challenges of nation-building in a multi-ethnic and increasingly multifaceted society? Has the project of building a national identity been successful? Do identities such as ethnic communities, women and sexual minorities and their voices as civil society actors have a place in modern Singapore? What are the tensions facing a globalised city-state such as Singapore as the middle-class finds itself in a financially challenged position? What impact on society will new migrants have as they enter the city-state even as more citizens leave the country for places like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States?

RMIT, School of Applied Communication (Asian Media and Culture) and the Monash Asia Institute will co-host a Singapore Studies Symposium to commemorate and celebrate Singapore's 39th birthday and to discuss and debate issues facing contemporary Singapore. This symposium aims to bring together researchers working on Singapore related topics to share expertise and facilitate networking.

Symposium Advisor:
Prof Marika Vicziany (MAI) marika.vicziany@ adm. monash.edu.au

Symposium Convenor:
Ms Chris Hudson, (RMIT University) Chris.Hudson@ems.rmit.edu.au

Symposium Co-ordinators:
Mr. James Gomez (MAI) jgom3@student.monash.edu.au
and Mr. Terry Johal (RMIT University) terry.johal@rmit.edu.au

Asia Foreign Policy Update Luncheon

The Chairman and Directors of the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre and the Director of the Monash Asia Institute, Monash University invite you to an Asia Foreign Policy Update Luncheon with guest speaker

The Hon Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan
Parliamentarian and Senior Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan

"Pakistan today and its implications for regional and global security"

Friday 13 August 2004

Pakistan post 9/11 has emerged as the fulcrum of regional and global security. Sitting astride the crossroads that bridge Afghanistan, India, south western China and the new Islamic republics of the post Cold War era, little is known about how Pakistan is faring in the complex political and economic scenarios that have emerged. The Hon Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan will discuss the domestic political, economic and security situation in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and its implications for regional and global security.

The Hon Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan is one of Pakistan's most prominent parliamentarians, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, an outspoken promoter of civil society and constitutional reform and recently contributed to the debate in the Pakistan parliament on the new National Security Council Act passed by the Pakistan parliament in April this year.

Barrister Ahsan has served as a long standing parliamentarian in the Pakistan National Assembly (Lahore seat), member of the Central Committee of the Pakistan Peoples' Party, legal advisor to Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Shariff, between 1988-1993 as federal Minister for Law and Justice, Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control and Minister for Education. He is widely regarded as the most articulate and forward looking parliamentarian in Pakistan. His intellectual engagement with the predicaments of modern Pakistan are reflected in his challenging book Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan (1997).

At the end of his presentation, Mr Ahsan will comment on and launch a recently published book by Monash university specialists on security: Marika Vicziany, David Wright-Neville and Pete Lentini (eds.), Regional Security in the Asia Pacific: 9/11 and after (Edward Elgar, 2004, ISBN 1843764377). The organizers of this event thank the School of Politics, University of Western Australia, for their support.

Hindu Fundamentalism Workshop

Monday 16 August 2004

Hindu Fundamentalism Workshop
Speaker: Professor Lord Meghnad Desai, London School of Economics

This workshop aims to bring together senior and junior scholars to share ideas and research work and also to consider a new book on the Indian elections of 2004 and the relationship between secularism and communalism.

Lord Desai as written on the elections and these related issues.

Outlawed: History, Film & Popular Culture
A one-day conference exploring the traditions of the outlaw hero.
4 September 2004
The Age Theatre, Melbourne Museum
Nicholson St, Carlton, Vic (Melway Ref 2B J10)
Outlawed: History, Film & Popular Culture will bring together scholars, writers, museum curators and singers for a conference exploring traditions of the outlaw hero.

Outlawed will consider legends of the 'bandit', bushranger, outlaw and revolutionary from around the world.

Speakers will address the question about why and how men and women often considered criminals by 'straight society' become cultural and historic celebrities.

Speakers will focus, in particular, on the problems and challenges involved in defining the term 'outlaw' and on the practices of representation through which various kinds of outlaws become, often controversial, cultural icons.

Panels will examine

The conference investigates the careers of Robin Hood (Britain), Pancho Villa (Mexico), Jesse James (US), - Salvatore Giuliano (Sicily), Phoolan Devi 'The Bandit Queen' (India) and Lampião (Brazil)

Outlawed: History, Film & Popular Culture will conclude with a special showing of the new (2003) film by Bruce Beresford, "And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself", featuring Antonio Banderas and Matt Day.

The conference has been developed and supported by Museum Victoria, the Institute of Latin American Studies, the History Programme of La Trobe University, and the Monash Asia Institute, Monash University.

Tantra, consciousness and reality seminar

Saturday 16 October 2004

Monash Asia Institute and the Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology, Monash University are combining to present a free introductory seminar "Tantra, Consciousness, and Reality: Exploring Kashmir Shaivism".

This is an opportunity for two distinguished authorities on this rich vein of Indian spirituality, Rev Dr John Dupuche and Swami Shankarananda, to combine their insights on Kashmir Shaivism, together with a distinguished panel, comprising a Brahmin priest, experts on Indian religious tradition, and a teacher of yoga.

The seminar will bring together scholarly and experiential dimensions on a great tantric tradition that is currently attracting wide attention in the Western world.

For further details on this seminar, go to http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/religion_theology/

Monash Asia Institute

Thursday 11 November 2004

Punjabiyaan di shaan wakhri: Ethnic Returns .
Assoc Prof Anjali Gera Roy
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Bhangra, the Punjabi harvest ritual transmuted as global dance music, simultaneously performs multiple identity spaces today, which I have named vilayeti (global), desi (Indian) and Punjabi (regional). As global music it constructs different, youthful subjectivities; as Asian music it becomes the signifier of Asian ethnocultural identity; and as Punjabi music it reaffirms a diasporic Punjabiyat. The examination of communities formed in relation to Bhangra demonstrates counter trends in postmodern subject formation, one pointing to globalization, the other to ethnic specificity.
Bhangra performs its multiple identity places through multi-coding. While inviting the non-Punjabi viewer to participate in the dance and the music, it effectively shuts out strangers - brown, black and white - from the ritual Punjabi place. While the dance and music include, the Punjabi lyrics retained in contemporary Bhangra mutants and knowledge of the rules governing performance exclude. Through this strategy, Bhangra manages to cordon off a sacred Punjabi space, which is shielded from outsiders' profane gaze. While putting Punjab on the world map in the space created for regional cultures in globalization, Bhangra reconstructs the map of undivided Punjab by reaffirming Punjabi collective memories.
About the speaker
Anjali Gera Roy teaches in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. She has published a book on the oral written interface in Nigerian fiction and several essays on postcolonial literatures and theory. She is in Australia on a HRC fellowship of the ANU Canberra to research Bhangra's transnational flows.
Papers for downloading

The Monash Asia Institute would like to thank Assoc Prof Roy for making available her papers, Bhangra Nation and Punjabiyaan di shaan wakhri: Ethnic Returns for downloading.

Monash Asia Institute

Tuesday 16 November 2004, 12.00 noon - 2.00 pm
Room S822, Level 8 South, Menzies Building (11), Monash University Clayton campus

Burma Purges: A retreat into isolationism and History.

Speaker: Mr Larry Jagan, former BBC, Asia Desk editor

The arrest of Burma's prime minister Khin Nyunt last month and the purge of his supporters from the army and government marked the strengthening of the hardliners in Rangoon. It also meant the end of military intelligence and strengthened the role of the army commanders. It also signalled a major change within the military - an internal transfer of power is in the process of taking place with the next generation of generals taking the reigns of power. Above all it means a change in policy in the following areas:

About the speaker

Larry Jagan is a freelance journalist and a Burma specialist based in Bangkok (for the last four years). He contributes regularly to BBC, Bangkok Post, Radio Australia, South China Morning Post, Deutsche Welle and Singapore Radio International. Before being based in Bangkok, Larry worked for the BBC World Service in London for more than ten years. He was the regional news and current affairs editor for Asia and the Pacific at the BBC World Service 1996-2001, reported form most of Asia for the BBC, and presented the BBC 's regional current affairs programmes, East Asia Today and South Asia Report. Larry has also worked for Radio Netherlands, Deutsche Welle and radio Australia.

Larry Jagan is a graduate of Monash University BA Hons) 1971, Diploma of Education (1972) and a Masters of Education (1979).

Monash Asia Institute

Friday 10 December 2004, 4.30 pm for 5.00 pm
Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson St, Carlton , Melbourne

Sacred Angkor: stereographic panoramas of the temple complex, recorded January 2004, Cambodia

Seminar by Dr Alexandra Haendel, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash Asia Institute

About the exhibition and private screening

This outstanding exhibition combines 3-D landscapes with spatial sound, audio spotlights, animations and real-world video to create stereographic panoramas, which capture the space of seven temples at Angkor, dating from the late ninth to the early thirteenth century CE. Due to the sophisticated combination of technologies the viewer is transposed into the sacred space, experiencing the temples almost in life-size. The evening will commence with a lecture introducing the conceptual background of the temples at Angkor. Due to the wide range of temples covered in the exhibition, this introduction will present a general overview of the religious and architectural notions expressed in the temples. Moreover, the technical background of the exhibition will be explained, to enable a better appreciation of the films.

This introduction will be followed by a private screening of all the twelve films, lasting for about 45 minutes.

Download handout and powerpoint presentation.

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