Cultures, Nations, Identies and Migrations

15-16 April 2004

The conference brought together scholars from a range of disciplines (Anthropology, History, Visual Arts, Literature, Geography) who presented papers on a range of Asia pacific countries. In all there were 17 papers presented, and a performance by the Indonesian artist Dadang Christanto. Two of the presenters (Tony Day and Pnina Werbner) were HRC Fellows, and with support from HRC and National Institute of Social Sciences and Law (NISSL) we were able to invite four other international speakers including Professor Richard Richard Werbner from the Centre for African Studies at University of Manchester who acted as discussant for the whole conference. Other speakers included ANU academics and students (from a wide range of ANU academic units) and academics and students from other Australian universities and from the United States.

The papers were grouped under 8 themes:
· Religion: Centring Transcendence;
· Religion: Rooting Citizenship
· Writing: Across Identities and Subjection
· Journeying: Personal Reflections and Encounters
· Transcending the Local
· Migration: Transnational Citizens in the Making
· Migration: Cultures of Circulation
· Questioned Identities

There were over 40 registrants who included a group of ANU postgraduates whose participation was funded by NISSL. This innovation was applauded by NISSL and deemed to be a success. The students participated actively in the conference and had ample opportunities to engage with the international speakers at the conference. The atmosphere was very informal and the international speakers all mixed enthusiastically with other participants. (At the conference dinner, one of the students said to me ‘This is the best conference I’ve ever been to’). The format of speakers from a range of disciplines dealing with a variety of Asia Pacific settings allowed for interesting and challenging discussions throughout the conference.

I have been working with Professor Werbner to develop a book proposal (Remaking the Subject in Asia and the Pacific), which will include 12 of the papers from the conference. Most of the remaining papers will be considered for publication in the journal, which I edit, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology.

Kathryn Robinson
Anthropology RSPAS

Unfortunately, Dr Tarcisius Kabutaulaka from the University of Hawaii was unable to attend because of last minute visa problems. However, his paper should appear in the published volume.

I would like to thank the HRC for your generous support for the conference and to express my appreciation of the streamlined process which Leena Messina sets in place. I have never enjoyed a conference that I organised so much, as I had nothing to worry about once I had the program in place. I also wish to thank NISSL, particularly Christine Debono for its support. The presence of a large number of ANU postgrads which was enabled by NISSL support (as well as the additional international speakers) was a great contributor to the success of the conference, and was a clear demonstration of a significant way in which we can enhance postgraduate education at ANU. (We were able to hold a postgraduate writing workshop with Professor Kirin Narayan as a prelude to the conference and that was also extremely successful.)