Indian Ocean & South Asia Research Network

Seminars 2010

22 September

Dr Michael Titlestadt, WISER, University of the Witwatersrand: Precarious authority: reading the narratives of the wreck of the Wager (1741)

12.30 to 2 pm, UTS Bldg 10 (235 Jones St), Level 3, Room 330

My presentation explores a crisis of captaincy in the Georgian Royal Navy: the events following the wreck off the coast of Chile in 1741 of the Wager, a supply ship in the Anson expedition. The wreck and the fate of her castaways are recounted in four narratives: three written by her midshipmen (John Byron, Alexander Campbell and Isaac Morris) and one co-authored by two of her warrant officers, the gunner, John Bulkeley, and the carpenter, John Cummins. These narratives have formed the basis of two popular histories, by S.W.C. Peck (1964) and Peter Shankland (1975) respectively, they have been interpreted in an excellent essay by Philip Edwards (1994), and have been discussed most recently in Glyn Williams’ The Prize of All the Oceans (1999), an authoritative study of the Anson voyage and the fortuitous seizure of the Spanish treasure galleon, the Nuestra Señora de Covadonga. Although the story of the Wager has been fully documented, I will offer a skeletal account of the wreck, the subsequent behaviour of Captain Cheap and the dramatic mutiny of the crew. This provides the basis to ruminate on the loss of authority in shipwreck more generally, using the analytical lenses of the writing of Greg Dening, Josiah Blackmore, Barrington Moore and Marcus Rediker. In the final section of my presentation I will consider Patrick O’Brian’s idiosyncratic use of the Wager historical sources in his novel, The Unknown Shore (1959). This exploration provides a basis for conjecturing – perhaps in excess of any evidence I provide – about the representation of naval authority in popular maritime fiction, and the notable conservatism of the genre.

RSVP is required: Cornelia.Betzler@uts.edu.au

27 May

Duncan McDuie-Ra, Development Studies, UNSW: The Dilemmas Of Pro-Development Actors: Viewing State-Ethnic Minority Relations And Intra-Ethnic Dynamics in Northeast India’s ‘tribal areas’

12-2 pm, UTS Bldg 3, Level 4, Room 402

Studies of ethnic minority peoples in India have long focussed on the relations between ethnic minority communities and the modern state and the role of development in shaping these relations. This paper is concerned with how ethnic minorities respond to the state-led development. While there are numerous studies focussing on the collective agency of ethnic minorities opposing development projects, few studies consider the agency of pro-development actors. Pro-development actors are usually dismissed as coopted, manipulated, inauthentic, or elite-driven, yet they can offer crucial insights into understanding state-ethnic minority relations and particularly intra-ethnic minority relations. This paper concentrates on pro-development groups from Northeast India to make four interlinked arguments. First, examining pro-development actors breaks the homogenous view of state-ethnic minority relations and shifts the focus to intra-ethnic relationships. Secondly, collective agency of ethnic minorities is not fixed in a particular relationship with the state nor does it have a particular position on development. Thirdly, the long term experience of development is vital in understanding how ethnic minorities manoeuvre and alter their position on contentious projects. Lastly, analysis of pro-development actors creates major dilemmas for researchers which are not easily overcome.

Please RSVP: Cornelia.Betzler@uts.edu.au

Past Seminars in 2009/2010

20 April

Safeena Husain, Independent Foundation to Educate Girls Globally (FEGG): Educating Girls and Genuine Development: A report from India

Safeena Husain, founder of the independent Foundation to Educate Girls Globally (FEGG), speaks about her successful model for expanding girls’ education in India, and how educating women can impact some of the most pressing root causes of poverty, particularly health. Safeena’s organisation currently works in 2,400 schools in Rajasthan, serving over a quarter of a million children.

We also hear from Amelia Cleary, a BA Comm (Social Inquiry) student, who spent 3 months working with FEGG, who will share her experiences with doing development work overseas. Both speakers can advise students interested in volunteering in India.

25 September

Reena Dobson, CCR/UWS: Towards Mauritianité: Negotiating the Ethnic and the National in Mauritius

Please click here for the seminar abstract.

11 September

Adrian McNeil, Macquarie University: Hindustani musicians in Kolkata negotiate Globalisation: innovative, intercultural and in your face

Please click here for the seminar abstract and Adrian’s biography.

14 August

Sumant Badami, Macquarie University: The Agency of Death: Health and Spirituality for the Paniya of Wayanad, a Marginalised Tribal Community in Southern India

Please read here for Sumant’s abstract and biography.

28 May

Anjali Roy, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, Planet Bollywood

8 May

Dr. Sheleyah Courtney, Anthropology, University of Sydney, From Plundering the Golden Temple to remittances for Rama: Princes, Paupers, Politics, and Temple and Nation Building in Varanasi

3 April

Stephanie Jones, University of Southampton, UK, Indian Ocean belongers, 1668-1008

1 April

Souchou Yao, University of Technology, Sydney , Traveling Ethnography: finding the truth in brief encounters

10 March

Meg Samuelson, Stellenbosch University, SA, Protean Constructions of Self and Nation: the Sea as Archive and Trope in Post-Apartheid South African Literature and Culture