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Displaying results 491 to 500 of 775.
Dilemmas of Development »
The social and economic impact of the Porgera gold mine
Edited by: Colin Filer
Publication date: December 2012
The Porgera gold mine in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea is technically one of the most sophisticated and successful mines of recent times. In its second year of operations (1992) it was the third largest gold producing mine in the world. Socially, though, the mine has brought a range of massive changes for the local Ipili community-both positive and negative.
Dilemmas of Development is a record of a series of studies of the social and economic effects of the Porgerta mine, commissioned by the Porgera Joint Vemture (PJV).
Fiji before the storm »
Elections and the politics of development
Edited by: Brij V. Lal
Publication date: December 2012
A racially-weighted Constitution, promulgated by decree in 1990, divided the country and invited international condemnation, and the economy suffered from the collapse of institutions of good governance. In 1995, an independent Constitution Review Commision appointed by the Fijian parliament, recommended wide-ranging changes to the Constitution. Its report formed the basis of a new Constitution promulgated, after wide-ranging consultation and debate, in 1997. Two years later, Fiji held a general election under it. This collection of essays looks at the politics and dynamics of that momentous event, and the role of key individuals and institutions in producing an outcome that, a year later, plunged Fiji into its first major crisis of the twenty-first century. The essays look at some of the key political and development issues on the eve of the crisis, but the relevance to the current debates about the nature and meaning of politics in Fiji remains. All the contributors are recognised and longstanding specialists in their fields.
This work, originally published by Asia Pacific Press, is reproduced here in the interests of maintaining open access to high-quality academic works no longer in print.
Private Enterprise in China »
Authored by: Ross Garnaut, Ligang Song, Yang Yao, Xiaolu Wang
Publication date: December 2012
The Chinese economy is currently undergoing a profound institutional transformation—a quiet revolution. In a regulated environment geared to the requirements of state-owned enterprises, the successs of the private sector as the main focus for economic growth is remarkable. State-owned enterprises are currently being restructured based on market conditions in which private firms are now permitted to play an important role. Fascinated by the implications of this reform within the Chinese economy, the Asia-Pacific School of Economics and Management of The Australian National University, in conjunction with the China Center for Economic Research of Peking University research team, conducted a large sample survey. Four study sites were chosen: Beijing, Chengdu, Shunde and Wenzhou. Leading economists analyse the nature and dynamics of private sector reform within the Chinese economy and make recommendations for policy which support opportunities for growth and investment.
Electoral systems in divided societies »
The Fiji constitution
Edited by: Brij V. Lal, Peter Larmour
Publication date: December 2012
Elections can increase tension in ethnically divided societies, like Fiji. The way constituencies are drawn and votes counted can also affect the result. First-past-the post can deliver lopsided results, while proportional representation may give excessive influence to small, fringe parties. Fiji’s Constitution Review Commission believed a system of alternative voting in ethnically mixed constituencies would encourage politicians, and parties, to take into account the interests of other ethnic groups. This book assesses their recommendations, looks at alternatives, and considers how they might work in Fiji.
Chalo Jahaji »
On a journey through indenture in Fiji
Authored by: Brij V. Lal
Publication date: December 2012
“It is a milestone in subaltern studies, a biographical journey penned by a living relic of the indentured experience and a scholar whose thoroughly interdisciplinary approach is a good example for the anthropologist, the sociologist or the economist who wish to see the proper integration of their disciplines in a major historical work.”
— Brinsley Samaroo, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad
“Professor Lal has made a most distinguished contribution to scholarship on Indian indentured labour in Fiji. His research is characterised by the use of new methodological approaches to the study of history, and by a comprehensive consideration of both quantitative and literary sources. In beautifully written articles, he has arrived at fresh and novel findings.”
— Ralph Shlomowitz, Flinders University of South Australia
“Professor Lal has produced a body of work which makes him the premier scholar of the Indian diaspora. His meticulous research, the depth of scholarship, the empathy, and the elegance have earned him great respect among Indian diaspora scholars. The themes covered in this book are relevant to other overseas Indian communities; and they are handled with such mastery that his reputation is secured.”
— Clem Seecharan, University of North London
“Brij Lal’s Chalo Jahaji is an intensely personal journey through his life and that of the 60,000 Indians who became girmitiyas in Fiji. The intricate history is measured, but Lal reveals himself and his family in a way historians seldom do. This proud grandson of a girmitiya is equally a proud son of Fiji. Chalo Jahaji is Pacific history at its best: rigorous and critical, informative and involved.”
— Clive Moore, University of Queensland
Australia: Identity, Fear and Governance in the 21st Century »
Edited by: Juliet Pietsch, Haydn Aarons
Publication date: November 2012
The latter years of the first decade of the twenty-first century were characterised by an enormous amount of challenge and change to Australia and Australians. Australia’s part in these challenges and changes is borne of our domestic and global ties, our orientation towards ourselves and others, and an ever increasing awareness of the interdependency of our world. Challenges and changes such as terrorism, climate change, human rights, community breakdown, work and livelihood, and crime are not new but they take on new variations and impact on us in different ways in times such as these.
In this volume we consider these recent challenges and changes and how Australians themselves feel about them under three themes: identity, fear and governance. These themes suitably capture the concerns of Australians in times of such change. Identity is our sense of ourselves and how others see us. How is this affected by the increased presence of religious diversity, especially Islamic communities, and increased awareness of moral and political obligations towards Indigenous Australians? How is it affected by our curious but changing relationship with Asia? Fear is an emotional reaction to particular changes and challenges and produces particular responses from individuals, politicians, communities and nations alike; fear of crime, fear of terrorism and fear of change are all considered in this volume.
The Eye of the Crocodile »
Edited by: Lorraine Shannon
Authored by: Val Plumwood
Publication date: November 2012
Val Plumwood was an eminent environmental philosopher and activist who was prominent in the development of radical ecophilosophy from the early 1970s until her death in 2008. Her book Feminism and the Mastery of Nature (1992) has become a classic.
In 1985 she was attacked by a crocodile while kayaking alone in the Kakadu national park in the Northern Territory. She was death rolled three times before being released from the crocodile’s jaws. She crawled for hours through swamp with appalling injuries before being rescued. The experience made her well placed to write about cultural responses to death and predation.
The first section of The Eye of the Crocodile consists of chapters intended for a book on crocodiles that remained unfinished at the time of Val’s death. The remaining chapters are previously published papers brought together to form an overview of Val’s ideas on death, predation and nature.
Intersections »
History, Memory, Discipline
Authored by: Brij V. Lal
Publication date: November 2012
“A wonderfully rich, insightful and personally touching collection of essays by the Pacific region’s most prolific and engaging historian. Brij Lal writes eloquently and poetically about his professional and political journeys, and the many different people and worlds he has encountered on the way. Readers will be inspired by this collective account of a courageous life committed to the achievement of democratic freedom and social justice. What shines through these pages is Lal’s love of and commitment to Fiji, from which he has been painfully exiled.”
— David Hanlon, Professor of History & Former Director of the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
“Intersections is a compilation of Brij Lal’s essays where academic knowledge combines with life world experience. The voice behind these essays is always courageous and the writing itself indicative of a highly disciplined mind. Read this book with an open mind as Lal explores with sensitivity a country he loves intensely and as he reminisces on the vocation of a scholar. Savour the book’s historical insights, enter into its subaltern worlds, debate and challenge its findings, and in that moment of engagement shed a tear for a country which has lost its memory.”
— Vijay Mishra, Professor of English, Murdoch University
“Brij Lal is a master craftsman and all his skills are on display in this fascinating work which blends autobiography with social, political and historical analysis to produce a work of impeccable scholarship. Lal emerges as much more than a historian as he reflects on the discipline of History, the changing nature of academic life, the challenges of the Indian diaspora, indenture and his travels. He may be banned from his homeland, but somehow one gets the impression that his influence is alive in Fiji, his adopted Australia and across the world. True to his indentured roots, he is still digging, still writing, and still making history.”
— Goolam Vahed, Associate Professor of History, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Situating Women »
Gender Politics and Circumstance in Fiji
Authored by: Nicole George
Publication date: November 2012
Since the time of decolonisation in Fiji, women’s organisations have navigated a complex political terrain. While they have stayed true to the aim of advancing women’s status, their work has been buffeted by national political upheavals and changing global and regional directions in development policy-making. This book documents how women activists have understood and responded to these challenges. It is the first book to write women into Fiji’s postcolonial history, providing a detailed historical account of that country’s gender politics across four tumultuous decades. It is also the first to examine the ‘situated’ nature of gender advocacy in the Pacific Islands more broadly. It does this by analysing trends in activity, from women’s radical and provocative activism of the 1960s to a more self-evaluative and reflexive mood of engagement in later decades, showing how interplaying global and local factors can shape women’s understandings of gender justice and their pursuit of that goal.
Taking the High Ground »
The archaeology of Rapa, a fortified island in remote East Polynesia
Edited by: Atholl Anderson, Douglas J. Kennett
Publication date: November 2012
This volume brings the remote and little known island of Rapa firmly to the forefront of Polynesian archaeology. Thirteen authors contribute 14 chapters, covering not only the basic archaeology of coastal sites, rock shelters, and fortifications, but faunal remains, agricultural development, and marine exploitation. The results, presented within a chronology framed by Bayesian analysis, are set against a background of ethnohistory and ethnology. Highly unusual in tropical Polynesian archaeology are descriptions of artefacts of perishable material. Taking the High Ground provides important insights into how a group of Polynesian settlers adapted to an isolated and in some ways restrictive environment.