Wednesday 20 August 2008, 2.00-3.30pm
Seminar Room A, Coombs Building, Fellows Rd, ANU
Dr Patrick Kilby, Coordinator, Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development (MAAPD) Program
150 years of NGO work in India: a history of harmony and hostility; conflict and compliance
Non-governmental organisations in India have a rich and vibrant history, but one which has been characterised by a fluid relationship with the state and state instrumentalities. Over the past 150 years the Indian governments, both colonial and post-colonial, have played a key role in the shaping Indian NGOs in terms of how they function in society, and their often fraught relationships with the state. Likewise at key times in India's history NGOs themselves have played a part in shaping the State. Generally, though, Indian NGOs are reluctant to admit that the state determines both the scope and nature of the work that they can undertake, and to some extent their structural forms-but like it or not the relationship with the state is a defining feature of Indian NGOs. This paper will examine this history and its relations to broader NGO discourse, in the light of current change to NGO regulation in India, and examine the implications for NGO practice in India.
Time:
All day event
Description:
Gordon McMullan, Roger Hillman, and Sam Smiles
This conference will be the second part of two conferences, the first to be held at King’s College, London in 2007 convened by Gordon McMullan and Sam Smiles. The aim is to bring together scholars in the fields of art, music, literature, film and architecture to debate the subject of ‘late style’ and attempt to work through the mythology to find a shared critical language and some basic premises for future work.
For enquiries and expressions of interest, contact the conveners, Gordon McMullan, E: gordon.mcmullan@kcl.ac.uk or Roger Hillman, E: roger.hillman@anu.edu.au
Time:
11:00am-12:30pm
Description:
State, Society and Governance in Melanesia
presents
Dr Bill Standish
Visitor, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU
Changing Concepts of the Big-Man in Papua New Guinea
Abstract
Europeans who first arrived in Melanesia expected to find chiefs. By the 1960s most observers accepted a model of politics which although competitive was largely consensual. They saw 'big-men' who attracted followers using people skills and generosity to gain influence if not actual power. Wealth and polygyny were seen as markers of 'bigmanship'. In the early 1970s Highlanders stated that clans needed strong leaders, rather than leaders creating groups, and they expressed an ideology of clans organizing succession from within leading families.
By the late 1970s elections were being won not by oratory and distributing cooked pork but by giving out beer and 4WDs as well. MPs were seen as the 'bosses', and serious wealth followed their election. By the late 1980s ambitious Highlanders were supplying firearms to their clans, and using cash in elections. A few candidates reject money politics, but today the term 'big-man politics' implies using huge amounts of money, often derived from state funds, and combining patronage with intimidation. PNG politics is much less consensual. Despite the massive funds available, some MPs lack skills in pork-barrel politics and at each election most lose their seats.
Is Papua New Guinea politics really changing, or are old tactics being adapted using new resources in the changing economy?
Bill Standish has studied PNG politics in the national and in rural arenas since the 1960s, mainly focusing on governance at the provincial level, issues of public order and electoral reform. His most recent article on 'The dynamics of Papua New Guinea's democracy' is downloadable at http://peb.anu.edu.au/pdf/PEB22-1Standish.pdf
Time:
12:30pm-2:00pm
Description:
Thailand / Cambodian Border Conflicts: Historical and Contemporary Origins
Speakers: Jane Ferguson, Andrew Walker, Peter Quinn and John Crocker
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Date: Thursday, 21 August 2008
Venue: Coombs Building #9, Seminar Room B (Arndt Room)
The seminar will involve short presentations from several speakers on specific aspects of the current border conflicts between the Thai and Cambodian governments, followed by open discussion. The presentations will discuss the historical origins of the current border disputes and their cultural significance. Other speakers will discuss current political events, especially in Thailand, and their relationship to the border disputes.
Time:
All day event
Description:
Gordon McMullan, Roger Hillman, and Sam Smiles
This conference will be the second part of two conferences, the first to be held at King’s College, London in 2007 convened by Gordon McMullan and Sam Smiles. The aim is to bring together scholars in the fields of art, music, literature, film and architecture to debate the subject of ‘late style’ and attempt to work through the mythology to find a shared critical language and some basic premises for future work.
For enquiries and expressions of interest, contact the conveners, Gordon McMullan, E: gordon.mcmullan@kcl.ac.uk or Roger Hillman, E: roger.hillman@anu.edu.au
Time:
11:00am-12:00pm
Description:
Black land, sick land and lost land:
The topography of a Yunnan village and a critique of James Scott’s approach
(The seminar will be in English)
By Zhu Xiaoyang
Deputy Head
Department of Sociology and the Institute of Sociology & Anthropology
Peking University
11 am, Friday, 22 August 2008
Conference room
Contemporary China Centre
Australian National University
9 Liversidge Street, Acton ACT 0200
This talk uses a topographic approach, and provides an account of social change since the early twentieth century in Xiaocun, a village in Yunnan Province , China . The talk links the landscape, in particular land use, changes in irrigation, and recent land expropriation, to social and historical contexts. The findings are based upon ethnographic data collected from the mid 1970s up to the present time. The analysis incorporates but goes beyond the model of resistance/domination, a widespread approach initiated by James Scott that has been widely used to address relations between peasants and the state.
Time:
2:00pm-4:00pm
Description:
The Department of Political and Social Change presents a symposium on
BURMA/MYANMAR: A NEW CONSTITUTION, SO WHAT?
2:00 - 4:00pm, Friday, 22 August 2008
HB1 - APCD Theatre, Hedley Bull Centre
(Ground floor, next to front entrance)
After years of delays, the government of Burma (Myanmar) quickly wrapped up its National Convention process and pushed its draft constitution through awidely-criticized referendum in May.
What does the 2008 charter mean for a country that has been without a constitution and under direct military rule for more than half of its 60 years since independence? How does it compare to its predecessors and what does it signify for the future?
This symposium will suggest answers to these and other questions on the legal, administrative and political features of the new constitution, and examine what it augurs for national reconciliation and human rights in the lead up to a proposed general election in 2010.
Speakers:
Janelle Saffin, Member, Federal Parliament; Executive Member, Burma Lawyers Council
Trevor Wilson, Visiting Fellow, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU; former Australian Ambassador to Myanmar (2000-2003)
Nick Cheesman, PhD Candidate, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU
Chair: Marcus Mietzner, Lecturer, Faculty of Asian Studies, ANU
