Get Involved
Members of the Institute are engaged in a variety of projects that explore different ways of thinking and doing postcolonialism. Many of these projects seek creative ways to link research, performance, visual art that generate broader public discussion and participation in creating alternative, sustainable futures freed from colonial and neo-colonial modes of thinking and practice.
Plant transfers and movements before British occupation of Australia
Baobab
Mimosa bush
Postcolonial theology
Postcolonial theologies are not new, but their specific inclusion in both theological and postcolonial studies is becoming more pronounced. A group of theologians from the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester UK are interacting with members of the Institute to develop projects that seek to critically engage with the religious legacies of colonialism. The third biannual conference of Postcolonial Theology and Theory will be hosted in Melbourne by Whitley College within the Melbourne College of Divinity in 2012. If you are interested in participating in the project, please contact Therese D'Orsa.
Shared Hopes, New Worlds
As decolonisation swept the Indian Ocean in the 1940s, before the Cold War locked countries into opposed camps, there were very different possibilities for the future to be seen in the transnational relationships between working people and political activists. In 1945, a large body of Indian seamen, Indonesian independence advocates, Australian political activists and maritime workers became entangled in a major industrial action against the Dutch colonisers’ reentry into the Netherlands East Indies. This story has been told in Australia as if it were a campaign by Australian maritime unionists in support of the Indonesians. But new evidence has made it clear that the key in initiating and sustaining the strike were the one thousand Indian sailors who were the crews of the Dutch and British vessels and whose decisions to strike and to form a union were the critical factors in stopping the ships from sailing.
This project investigates the Seamen's strike by tracing the personal stories of the activists involved, men and women, from India, Indonesia and Australia. It explores the differences between these groups of people as well as their common ground in this extraordinary period when the new world of an Indian Ocean alliance of working men and women seemed possible. It aims to reveal the deep popular significance in each country in this period of a sense of national independence but at the same time it shows the strong links operating across national borders, suggesting a potential oceanic network emerging in the interstices of empire and nationalism. This network was sometimes aligned with emerging national authorities but at other times it ran as a working class and subaltern counter current to elite views.
If you have stories to share about family members or friends that may have participated in this strike, or wish to know more about this project, please contact Heather Goodall
Conversations about projects
In the past few months Liz Cham, Paul Carter and Phillip Darby have had several stimulating conversations about projects. Members of the Institute interested in embarking on a project that engages with a community-based organisation, corporate group or government agency are welcome to participate in these informal discussions. Engaging directly with projects is a productive way of moving forward the projects initiative, which was first incubated in the 2007 winter rethink. If you would like to take part in a discussion about projects, or have any new project ideas, please contact the Institute