Research Programs
interrogating concepts of the cross-cultural
postcolonialism and cultural history
the cultural impact of transnational migrations and mobilities
visual and new media research across cultures
cross-cultural perspectives of contemporary art and
society
The Cultural Impact of Transnational Migrations and Mobilities
The purpose of this program is to document and analyse the cultural
impact of migration in the modern era, both on changing notions of national
identity and on transnational public spheres around the globe. The program
aims to document and interpret embodied cultural histories of vast movements
of people around the globe and especially across the Australasia region
in modern history. Such movements can be traced from the period of intensive
European colonisation which included trade in slave and indentured labour,
to late capitalist hypermobile population shifts encompassing the globe.
Under this program, greater emphasis will be given to projects that
focus on the impact of migration on Australian public culture. Considering
that Australia has been transformed through a continuous flow of people
from diverse cultural backgrounds, documenting the full range of histories
of cross-cultural interaction would be an enormous task. For this reason
the program aims to focus on contemporary issues of immediate relevance
and topicality. These include debating on forms of cultural mixing and
emerging racial tensions, tracing repercussions of previous policies
of cultural assimilation, critiquing statist multiculturalism through
advanced new technology research on intensive intercultural contacts
that defy state-defined ethnic boundedness, and documenting public agonism
surrounding refugees and so-called illegal immigrants through research
into cultural art forms that represent refugee and detention issues.
Rather than directing attention to specific ethnic communities and writing
particularistic ethnographies, the program aims to explore intercultural
patterns of relations and exchange. A key objective of this program
is to advance scholarship on migration and diaspora by building a team
of scholars involved in both documenting and conceptualising the cross-cultural
processes involved in evolving social phenomena such as transnationalism
and temporary migration.
Projects
