Social resilience in the face of political volatility and threat - Lessons from the Global South. A Global Frictions Series Seminar Panel: Charles Hunt (Facilitator), Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Global Research, RMIT University Volker Boege, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Queensland; Director, PaCSIA. Joseph Hongoh, Director, PaCSIA Anne Brown, Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Global Research, RMIT University

Around the world and in our own backyard, criminal justice institutions are blighted by cases of inappropriate decisions made by legal professionals who lack an understanding of how language works. This special Global Frictions public lecture by the President of the International Association of Forensic Linguists, Dr Georgina Heydon, will explore the impact on justice processes of widespread public ignorance about language. *Please note that for rights reasons the musical extract has been...

The rise of conservative and extremist groups and increased essentialist and nationalist expressions of culture in complex multicultural secular states like Australia calls for a greater understanding of the role of national cultures and cross-cultural encounters in supranational spaces such as ours. Both extremism and cultural essentialism indicate that unexpected configurations of worldviews are now at play, potentially challenging the values of critical thinking, liberty, equality and...

Increasingly, scholars, practitioners, activists and government bodies are turning to indicators, algorithms and other statistical tools in order to construct knowledge about the highly complex problem of gendered violence. Quantification can help to foster public awareness, prompt political, legal and social action, validate the experiences of victims, and ensure accountability at the individual, organisational and state levels. Yet what are the implications of this “quantitative turn” for...

Is the Humanitarian Field a Complete Disaster? A Global Frictions Seminar. Does international humanitarianism have a future, or will it fail in the face of insurmountable challenges? In particular are external agencies and organisations are drawing sufficiently on local organisations and individuals already responding to the crisis, and can the humanitarian coordination structure of The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ever function effectively? Moreover,...

Senator Penny Wong visited RMIT University to launch two publications from the Global Studies Discipline, and the Centre for Global Research in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies. Rethinking Humanitarian Intervention in the 21st Century edited by Aiden Warren and Damian Grenfell (RMIT Global Studies) International Development: A Global Perspective on Theory and Practice edited by Paul Battersby (RMIT Global Studies) and Ravi Roy (University Southern Utah)

In this seminar, an expert panel discusses what they consider to be the greatest nuclear related security challenges in the 21st Century, how we can restore some form of political will in emboldening the global non-proliferation regime and ultimately, put in place the necessary steps toward a “world without nuclear weapons”.

Is globalisation so bad? Criticisms of globalisation are made by people from right across the political spectrum. The resurgence of ethno-nationalisms in a context of rising anti-globalisation sentiment, threatens to undermine universal principles. If the multilateral system were to fall apart – as envisaged by U.S. President, Donald Trump – the consequences would be far reaching, for human and civil rights, free trade, gender equity, the global environment, and development. But are there any...

Is social cohesion important for urban security? Can it help prevent violent extremism? In the current global climate of anxiety about security, this Global Frictions panel discussion will explore the critical question of how social cohesion can contribute to safety in the Australian and global context. Social cohesion has been described as “the willingness of members of a society to cooperate with each other in order to survive and prosper.” The question of why and how societies “hold...

Over the last 14 years Timor-Leste has fashioned a system of government that is rare in this part of the world, often referred to as ‘Semi-Presidentialism’. This system sees a directly elected president governing alongside a prime minister who owes their own legitimacy to the support of an independently elected parliament. Based on the existence of a diarchy of powers, this system is seen by many critics as being broadly susceptible to periods of political imbalance and dysfunction, be it in...

This high level panel will discuss the practical dimensions of memorialisation and reconciliation. We are living at a time when being a civilian during conflict is less safe than a soldier – with civilian deaths climbing from 5 per cent at the turn of the 20th century to more than 90 per cent in the wars of the 1990s and those currently fought. This has resulted in both the tremendous dislocation experienced by more people than at any time since WWII – with over 60 million refugees,...

The nominees are confirmed but what do we really know about Donald John Trump and Hillary Rodham Clinton? Republican Donald John Trump and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton are in a virtual dead heat in the race to win the American presidency on November 8. In this edition of Global Frictions, the speakers will discuss the how the billionaire businessman, reality TV host, Donald Drumpf, and President Barack Obama's Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, arrived at this point, what they stand...

The effort to ‘build’ or ‘rebuild’ state functions after long periods of violent conflict has been central to international responses to war and conflict over the past two decades. Rebuilding the state has been widely seen as foundational to the emergence of long-lasting peace after war, while strengthening state institutions has been a major focus of international development efforts. Statebuilding, however, is an extraordinarily ambitious intervention, which carries inherent ethical,...

For a long time, anthropologists working in the Pacific have tended to leave towns and cities and head to the rural and remote places perceived as the authentic ‘heartlands’ of these locations. However, the rate and pace of urbanisation in the region is presenting new challenges and opportunities both for the Pacific peoples who dwell in these places and for those who come to learn about them. This panel discussion brings together academics and development workers to examine the ways in...

In February 2016, the Victorian Government met with representatives of all Victorian Aboriginal tribes. This was the first such meeting in 20 years, and it was called to discuss the recognition of Aboriginal people in the Australian Constitution. At the end of the meeting, however, it was made clear by the Aboriginal people participating that what they wanted to pursue was a Treaty. A follow-up meeting was arranged in May 2016 and once again there was widespread support among Aboriginal...

Culture is increasingly recognised as the fourth pillar of sustainable development in the ‘developed world’, with international peak bodies such as United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) identifying culture as a policy domain that governments should consider and support. A Committee for Culture was recently established by UCLG in the Asia-Pacific region, indicating a likely relevance to Asian and Pacific nations including many considered as ‘developing’. However, this impetus is not...

For decades the emigration of highly skilled residents has been a cause of concern for many governments. Initially this was cast as a ‘brain drain’, but after several countries experienced significant return migration flows, the notion of ‘brain circulation’ took hold. More recently governments, corporations and various types of institutions have come to understand highly skilled expatriates as constituting diasporic communities, and have sought to engage strategically with them to achieve a...

Hosted by the Centre for Global Research, and in collaboration with the Australian Bosnian Academic Forum, this public seminar discusses the political, social, cultural and legal consequences of genocide, mass atrocities and crimes against humanity—the grave crimes that have continued to be committed long after the historical ‘Never again!’ was proclaimed in the aftermath of the Holocaust. In light of the recent judgments by the Hague Tribunal (ICTY) that saw Radovan Karadzic, the Serb...

This Global Frictions panel discussion grapples with vexed issues at the intersection of language and tradition when dealing with family violence in linguistically diverse communities. The panel discussion features Dr Eliseu Mabasso (University Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique) and Dr Adele Murdolo (Executive Director, Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health). The discussion is moderated by Dr Georgina Heydon (RMIT).

A panel of RMIT’s Sustainability and Urban Planning experts discuss responses to climate change and the greening of Melbourne. Speakers draw upon case studies from across the globe where people are preparing their environment to better withstand the inevitable impacts of climate change.

The seminar will critically examine how the trafficking victim has been constructed, highlight key assumptions in the discourse of trafficking and outline the surrounding philosophical and definitional problems. Based on analysis of trafficking narratives published in NGO research, media reports and popular books, Dr Sandy’s in-depth research observes the trafficking story as it is told in and about Cambodia and the ‘myth’ that lies at the core. By closely examining the role of trafficking...

A Seminar Series hosted by the Centre for Global Research presents ‘Culture and Human Rights: Contest, Consonance and Accommodation’, a panel discussion featuring: Dr Maree Pardy (University of Melbourne), Sonia Randhawa (Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia, and University of Melbourne).

Global Frictions: A Seminar Series hosted by the Centre for Global Research Presents Rethinking Resilience: Policy and Practice in the Context of Global Development Featuring: • Associate Professor Robbie Guevara, RMIT University • Dr Anne Brown, University of Queensland • Annette Salkeld, Oxfam Australia • Dr Damian Grenfell, RMIT University (Convener of Discussion) Abstract: Over the last decade the concept of ‘resilience’ has gained much traction in social policy, debates and practice,...

Featuring Prof. Manfred B. Steger, A/Prof. Chris Hudson, A/Prof James Goodman and Prof. Supriya Singh. The world is fast approaching a critical point of disjuncture in relations between the major powers, not least between the US, Russia and China, driven by the power rivalries of the ‘old order’ of nation-states. At the same time, across the globe vastly different movements organise via alternative dynamics that affect the lives of civilians as surveillance and securitising agendas...

Global Frictions: A Seminar Series hosted by the Centre for Global Research, presents, 'Resistance is Useless? The Globalisation of State Crime and the Denial of History'. A panel discussion featuring Paul Battersby, Jude McCulloch, Louise Boon-Kuo and Georgina Heydon. Are we witnessing a narrowing and a hardening of the arteries of political liberty globally? Within states wrestling with the challenges of terrorism and transnational crime, new forensic techniques of surveillance and...