Newsletter April 2015
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© Vernon Gabriel Purple flower 1a by vintagelolkats | mrg.bz/jT7NHY
Contents Welcome! As always, this edition of The Cairns Institute newsletter brings you stories from across the tropical world and details on a number of exciting events. Extra attention must be drawn to news on Page 15 about the recent Cairns Regional Council Woman of the Year Awards. The Institute is extremely proud of our two nominees, Roxanne Bainbridge and Jenny Fraser, both of whom have made immense contributions to the communities they work with. At the same time, we are delighted to see this year’s award go to Sheriden Morris, from the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, with whom we have a close working relationship. Congratulations to all!
Contact details The Cairns Institute—Building D3
Phone:
+61 7 4232 1888
James Cook University Smithfield QLD 4870
Email:
cairnsinstitute@jcu.edu.au
PO Box 6811 Cairns QLD 4870 Australia
Twitter:
@CairnsInstitute
Web:
www.jcu.edu.au/cairnsinstitute
Welcome
1
From the Director
2
LCRC at Berkeley
3
Agriculture extension in Lao PDR
4
PhD student profile: Fiona Mwanicki
6
Firebird Foundation Fellowship
7
Leadership in mental health course
8
PhD student profile: Alisa Hasamoh
8
Nakanai Caves cultural heritage
9
Bridging linkage
11
TEDxJCUCairns in 2015
12
IACA is moving on
13
Early years conference
14
Indigenous legal needs project
14
Woman of the year
15
Risk governance public lecture
16
2015 TASA conference
17
Creating futures 2015 free events
18
Follow us on social media
19
Urban design seminar
20
What is happening
21
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butternut squash 2 by arebella | mrg.bz/9GnYwi
From the Director I was fortunate to represent JCU recently at a public lecture by Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Tim Soutphommasane, to mark Harmony Day and promote the Commission’s Racism. It stops with me campaign. Sponsored by all nine Queensland universities, the event was a wonderful opportunity both to show support for the campaign and to reflect on what we are doing as institutions and as individuals to deal with racism. This raises an important question—what are the roles of universities, institutes and researchers in dealing with racism? I’ll come back to this. As Dr Soutphommasane pointed out, there is a great deal in the media and in general public debate about racism that could best be described as unfortunate. Agitation to repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, the Section that makes it unlawful to vilify people on the basis of race or ethnicity, is a case in point. Such agitation rarely mentions Section 18D (which protects freedom of speech) and frequently misrepresent the way in which courts have actually interpreted these provisions. The far more serious limitation of the Racial Discrimination Act, Dr Soutphommasane argued, is its vulnerability to suspension. Most readers will remember that this is precisely what happened in 2007 in order to allow passage of the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act and associated legislation. What became known as ‘the intervention’ placed a number of restrictions on the mainly Aboriginal residents of ‘prescribed areas’. These restrictions included bans on the sale and consumption of alcohol, compulsory acquisition by the Commonwealth of five year leases on declared Aboriginal land without compensation, the imposition of compulsory income management, and so on. The intervention was justified as an emergency response to undeniably serious issues. But what has been achieved? An independent evaluation of compulsory income management by researchers from the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University concludes the program has
failed to promote financial independence and has had little or no impact on expenditure patterns1. Other indicators of wellbeing in prescribed areas similarly show no sign of improvement. Regardless of the motivations behind it, compulsory income management as implemented through the Northern Territory intervention has failed to address financial and other relationships that many of those subjected to it experience as discriminatory and disempowering. This is a complex issue and I am sympathetic to arguments that with appropriate leadership from within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities income management can be a useful part of the policy mix. For us researchers, I think the important lesson here is that in confronting racism we have a responsibility to relentlessly seek out and communicate the evidence. It is not our role to tell people what they should value or think. And it would be naïve to think we can always, in advance of a policy’s implementation, predict its outcomes. However, there is a very clear need to inform policy debates through detailed and considered analysis of social dynamics, policy outcomes, and indeed, political processes themselves. Whose voices are being heard? Whose interests prioritised? The ways in which we go about doing and communicating our research are just as important. I am regularly and pleasantly surprised by the creativity and dedication Cairns Institute researchers bring to their partnerships with communities and other stakeholders. At the same time, I think we are all acutely aware we can do this better. For this reason, your feedback and suggestions are always welcome. Bray, J. R., Gray, M., Hand, K. , & Katz, I. (2014). Evaluating new income management in the Northern Territory: Final evaluation report (SPRC Report 25/2014). Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Australia. Retrieved from http://caepr.anu.edu.au/announces/anc14_12_18_5884.php.
Professor Stewart Lockie Director The Cairns Institute
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Kasia Wojtylak presenting at the conference
Walter Agga, a fluent speaker of Murui and a chief of one of two communal roundhouses, so called malocas, in Tercera India in Colombia teaching Kasia about the Murui avoidance speech style
Jaguar. In the Murui hunting avoidance speech style the word for ‘jaguar’ is replaced with a word for the uibiyɨ fruit. This is because the uibiyɨ fruit has a shape that is similar to the shape of the jaguar’s paw
LCRC at Berkeley Kasia Wojtylak gave a presentation at the prestigious 41st Annual Meeting of Berkeley Linguistics Society (BLS41) that took place in University of California at Berkeley on 7–8 February 2015. Kasia is a PhD student supervised by Distinguished Professor Sasha Aikhenvald and Professor Bob Dixon from the Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC). Her work focuses on language documentation and involves a complete description of a South American endangered language called Murui that she has been working on since 2010. The Murui language belongs to the smaller language family in South America called the Witotoan language family, and it is spoken by about 2,000 people throughout the north-eastern part of the Amazon rainforest in Colombia and Peru.
utterance of the animals’ names. Uttering tabooed words would result in an unsuccessful hunting expedition: animal spirits would know they are to be hunted and, therefore, they would escape. Animals are, therefore, 'renamed'. For instance, when going to hunt a peccary, a Murui man would say an ‘umarí fruit’.
Kasia’s talk focused on the hunting avoidance speech style in Murui. Among Murui men, it is common to employ a special vocabulary when hunting bigger game. It is a system of lexical substitution employed to “deceive” the animal spirits by avoidance of the
Kasia’s presentation on the Murui hunting avoidance speech style will result in a publication in the Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistic Society, University of California at Berkeley.
This culturally significant speech register, which is subject to a high degree of metalinguistic awareness, is referred to by native speakers as 'skilled speech.' Avoidance terms and their referents are generally based on physical similarity or characteristic behaviour between the animal whose name is avoided and some, typically non-faunal, natural objects (commonly fruits).
“People say that the actual hunting can also take place in dreams. There, dangerous animal’s spirits have to be defeated first before being defeated in the physical world of the everyday life” Kasia Wojtylak LCRC
First page of Kasia’s presentation
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Meeting with the farmers whose main product is organic coffee
Agriculture extension in Lao PDR Agriculture is the mainstay of many economies worldwide, especially in developing countries, where many people depend on the sector for their livelihoods. Researchers at James Cook University have been collaborating with colleagues from the Faculty of Agriculture (FoA) in the Lao PDR, as well as working closely with staff from the District Agriculture and Forestry Office (DAFO) to help them better deliver and manage agricultural extension in their districts. One of the goals of the project (led by Professor Peter Case) is to learn how extension interventions, (such as farmer learning, support for farmer organisations and market engagement), impact on the outcomes of smallholder farmers. The project, which is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), is due for completion in 2015, but it is hoped that the opportunities identified from the project could be used as support for district-wide or province-wide adoption. The first part of the project focused on two crops—rice and coffee—and involved farmers from four districts. Having identified that farmers are benefiting from such activities (e.g., by learning about more appropriate farming methods, obtaining better quality seeds, negotiating for a better price for their product, being able to earn more and send their children to school), researchers now want to understand the local/regional economic impact—does the local economy benefit from the increased income being earned by the farmers? Dr Michelle Esparon recently joined the team and travelled to Vientiane in January 2015. There, she met with John Connell and the team at the FoA. Her role was to help them with their assessment of these economic impacts. She gave a presentation where she introduced the concept of the multiplier effect—a new concept to the staff there. However, to better understand the context, Michelle went on a three-
day fieldtrip in two of the participating districts. Each day, she met with staff from DAFO and then with the head of the farmers’ organisation in each of the villages. At the meeting with DAFO, staff gave presentations and reported on their progress to date and plans for the future. Meeting with the farmers was one of the highlights of the trip. The farmers provided valuable information about how their circumstances have changed from prior to the extension activities to now and the challenges they still face. It was also important to understand what they spend their money on, and where this money is spent—essential information for calculating the multiplier effect.
Rice plantation—rain-fed during the wet season and irrigated during the dry season
After the fieldtrip, Michelle met once again with the team at the FoA and started discussions on the sort of information required for the questionnaire to be used in the next phase of the project. Since the trip, Michelle and Professor Natalie Stoeckl have helped develop the first draft of the questionnaire, and continue to liaise with the rest of the team. Data collection should be starting shortly, and with further support of the benefits of these programs, perhaps there will be more opportunities to scale-out—involving more villages, districts and agricultural products.
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Fiona outside a traditional Giriama house with a farmer
PhD student profile: Fiona Mwaniki Fiona Mwaniki is a PhD student beginning her third year of study on climate change education within the College of Arts, Society & Education. In her research, she builds on her working experience from the agriculture and forestry sectors in Kenya to investigate radio as a medium for educating and communicating climate change. Her research seeks to address the current low climate change awareness in Kenya, especially among rural inhabitants, who are some of the most vulnerable peoples to the impacts of climate change due to their dependence on climate sensitive natural resources.
Water harvesting using a local technique with a coconut palm
Fiona left Cairns for Nairobi, Kenya in November 2013 after successfully completing her confirmation seminar to carry out her field research. Her fieldwork was based in Kilifi county, which is located along the Kenyan coast and covers 12,610km2 with a population of 1,109,735 people. The county is made up of seven constituencies: Rabai, Malindi, Kaloleni, Magarini, Ganze, Kilifi North and Kilifi South. This county suffers from climate change effects such as droughts, floods and unpredictable rainfall patterns which pose a major challenge to the 80% of the population that supports itself through subsistence agriculture. In December 2013, Fiona was blessed with a bouncing baby boy called Michael. After a few months of preparation, Fiona and her son Michael moved from Nairobi to her field study site in February 2014 and began collecting data the following month and up to December 2014. Fiona’s fieldwork started with conducting a baseline survey that identified Kenyan farmers’ understanding of climate change and the beliefs, values and emotions that influence their responses to climate change. A total of 442 farmers across the county were interviewed with the help of five research assistants. Collecting thesis data required careful advance planning for logistics. A field guide who knew the area well and is known by the people was used for every constituency visited. The surveys were conducted in Kiswahili, the local language in Kenya. In some instances some farmers did not know Kiswahili and used Giriama— their indigenous language. In these instances, some of the research assistants and the field guide acted as translators. A visit to the chief’s office to get their blessings to carry out our survey was a must for every administrative location we visited. A total of 11 focus group interviews and 8 interviews with key informants were held in addition to the interviews with farmers. Focus group interviews were mainly composed of farmer groups (some with both females and males while others were with women only) while key informant interviews were done with experienced farmers and government officers such as (Continued on page 6)
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Fiona with her son Michael
PhD student profile: Fiona Mwaniki cont. (Continued from page 5)
chiefs and village elders who had lived in the area for a long period of time. The next step after completing and analysing results from the baseline survey was the development of programs with radio producers to communicate information that contributed to enhancing farmers’ understanding of and responses to climate change mitigation and adaptation. This was done with radio producers from Pwani FM, a government owned radio station located in Mombasa (a different county), that broadcasts to most parts of Kilifi county. Climate change experts were identified and interviewed for the programs. A total of 18, five minute programs were aired and repeated several times on Pwani FM from May to September 2014. The programs focused on what is climate change, the effects of climate change, interventions that can help farmers cope with the effects of climate change such as drought tolerant crops, water harvesting, accessing loans and extension services. A telephone number was provided at the end of the program for feedback from listeners. Lastly an evaluation of the impact of information disseminated through radio on farmers’ understanding of and responses to climate change mitigation and adaptation was done from September to October 2014. The aim was to interview the same farmers who were interviewed in the baseline survey. This was not possible for all farmers as some of them had migrated, others had died, and some could not be traced. Preliminary results from the survey indicate that only 32% of the people interviewed listened to the programs. Out of these 25% implemented climate change interventions aired. Many respondents who had initially indicated that they owned a radio or had access to one were unable to listen to the programs for many reasons—their radios were damaged, the timing of the programs was not suitable for them, illness, poor radio signal and busy schedules. Other farmers, however, indicated that they will implement information aired in the programs the following year.
Data collection across Kilifi was not without its challenges. Some areas were very remote with poor roads. Once Fiona had to travel across the Arabuko Sokoke forest reserve which is the largest stretch of coastal dry forest remaining in Eastern Africa, and known to have elephants, to get to the other side for data collection with farmers. Luckily no elephants emerged from the dense forest! On some days it rained heavily slowing down data collection. While carrying out the second survey it was difficult for the research assistants to remember the exact location of the farmers they had visited during the baseline survey. Thanks to having recorded their mobile number, as well as landmarks, field guides and friendly and welcoming farmers they were able to trace most of them. Fiona has recently returned to Cairns from Kilifi. Her tasks ahead involve transcribing her interviews, data analysis and writing up her thesis.
Water harvesting from a roof top
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A group of Eibela men prepare for the Gisala, one of several traditional dances accompanied by singing and ceremonial dress
Firebird Foundation fellowship for Grant Aiton Grant Aiton, a PhD student in linguistics at the Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC), has been awarded a Firebird Foundation fellowship for the documentation of oral literature among the Eibela in Western Province, Papua New Guinea. This project will gather a collection of oral literature in written, audio, and video formats, along with a reference dictionary. The residents of Lake Campbell are in a situation of extreme language contact and multi-lingualism. Most members of the Lake Campbell community are adept at speaking the languages of the surrounding communities, and the increasing prominence of surrounding languages could easily result in language attrition. The documentation of Eibela literature, consisting of the production of a literature collection and dictionary, would facilitate vernacular education and promote traditional knowledge. It would also serve to legitimise the language in the region which would reduce the risk of language attrition. Many traditional ceremonies and practices, along with the accompanying oral traditions, are no longer practiced, and may soon be forgotten if steps are not taken to preserve and promote these literary traditions.
Among these literary traditions is the Gisala dance and song, which evokes strong familial ties to the geography of the region, and is meant to lament the passing of loved ones. Folklore is also very much tied to geographical associations, with many stories taking place around well know mountains, lakes or streams. Some of these stories describe the creation of these features, while others depict mythical figures and events. Grant will also record oral history concerning the migrations and activities of the Eibela people and their interaction with surrounding groups to provide historical perspective to the relationship between the Eibela and the surrounding communities and languages. The traditional knowledge collected during this project will be distributed among the community in various formats, including booklets, CDs, DVDs and micro SD cards in order to promote vernacular literacy programs and to preserve local folklore, history, and literature. Grant also hopes to equip and train members of the community to continue to record and document literature after the conclusion of this project in order to promote traditional knowledge and vernacular literacy.
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Photo: Connor McHugh
Leadership in Mental Health: Island nations course The Cairns Institute is proud to be hosting part of the Leadership in mental health: Island nation course. Since 2008, Goa in India has been the site of the Leadership in Mental Health (LMH) course auspiced by Sangath, an Indian mental health NGO with support from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The course has inspired workers from low and middle income countries around the world. For the first time, a tailored version of this course with a focus on particular issues of Australia’s neighbouring island nations will be run in conjunction with the Creating Futures
2015 Conference and will be held 11–17 May 2015, at the conference venue and The Cairns Institute. The course, which is already at capacity, is designed for workers from settings in which resources are scarce and who are committed to improving care for people experiencing mental health disorders at a population level. Clinical expertise is not necessary but a commitment to promoting human rights at a policy and service level is critical.
PhD student profile: Alisa Hasamoh Alisa Hasamoh is a PhD student in the College of Arts, Society & Education at James Cook University. Since 2005, she has been a Lecturer in Social Development in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani, Thailand. Over the past eight years, she has had extensive research experience in Aceh, Indonesia and Deep South, Thailand, having worked with local communities in these regions prior to starting her PhD. Alisa has worked closely with affected communities in conflict situations, and developed post-disaster recovery programs for the medical faculty of the Prince of Songkla University (Deep South Thailand) and the Syiah University (Aceh Indonesia) in 2006. Alisa’s research topic is Trauma and gender in natural disasters and conflict contexts: A comparative study of Aceh, Indonesia and the Deep South, Thailand. The research project is funded by the Office of the Higher Education Commission from the Thai government, the Australian National University, and James Cook University. It involves a series of interviews with people who have been affected by natural disasters and violent conflicts in both Aceh,
Indonesia and the Deep South of Thailand. The research investigates how people affected by natural disasters and violent conflicts understand their experiences, and explores the roles of gender, ethnicity and age in the interpretation and experience of trauma. It is hoped that the research will contribute to a better understanding of the kinds of assistance that may help people affected by natural disaster and violent conflict and how needs differ according to gender, age and ethnicity.
Alisa Hasamoh in Sydney
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Underground rivers emerge in the sea Photo: Phil Bence
Nakanai Caves cultural heritage research “Deep beneath the rain forests of New Britain, an island off the coast of Papua New Guinea, churning rapids jet through enormous passages, some of the largest, most remote river caves on the planet. To reach them, explorers must first descend into massive dolines—sinkholes where soluble rock, weakened by runoff from an estimated 18 feet of rainfall a year, has collapsed. From the air they appear like impact craters, as if a volley of meteorites had long ago pummelled the forest” (National Geographic 2006). The Nakanai Caves in Pomio District, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea (PNG) are part of a large world class system of limestone caves that are located within the Nakanai Mountains, which encompasses a karst primary rainforest area of over 3000 km2 (Gill 2012:1). The Nakanai Mountains are incised by eight giant canyons, and the upper reaches of these canyons and their side ravines contain some of the most powerful springs in the world. The rivers, located deep inside the limestone layers of these giant caves, are amongst the most powerful underground rivers to be found anywhere on the planet. Muruk Cave, discovered by French caver, Jean-Paul Sounier, is thought to be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere (Audra et al 2011). Thirty years of international caving expeditions by Australian, French, and British speleologists has dramatically increased our knowledge of the scale and grandeur of these caves. A number of initiatives have been undertaken to bring the spectacular caves to the attention of the international community in order to work towards the establishment of the Nakanai Mountains Conservation Area. In 2005 a Task Force on Cave and Karst Protection was established to progress plans for conservation. A proposal document entitled Conserving the Sublime Karst of Papua New Guinea was published under the auspices of the Task Force on Cave and Karst Protection, World Commission on Protected Areas, International Union for Conservation of Nature (Audra et al 2005). In 2006, the Government of Papua New Guinea
nominated seven areas to the World Heritage Tentative List, including ‘The Sublime Karsts of Papua New Guinea’, a precursor to future full nominations to the World Heritage List. A country's Tentative List is an inventory of those properties situated on its territory which the government considers suitable for inscription on the World Heritage List. This means that the PNG government considers these likely to be cultural and/or natural heritage places of Outstanding Universal Value which they intend to nominate to the World Heritage list at some time in the future. World Heritage advisor, Peter Hitchcock, believes that the Nakanai Karst has the potential to be separately nominated for World Heritage. Since nomination, increased knowledge, both of the caves and forest biodiversity (e.g., new mammal species), has considerably enhanced the heritage significance of the site. There is an urgent threat to the integrity of the caves by planned agroforestry and mining ventures, and its listing would assist the protection of both the cultural and natural values of the site. In 2012, a series of meetings between Peter Hitchcock and Jennifer Gabriel at James Cook University led to the development of a multi-staged project proposal, which includes repatriation of knowledge and research. In August, 2012, Jennifer Gabriel met with Mr Vagi Genoropa of the PNG World Heritage Secretariat in Port Moresby to discuss the project. An International Working Group was subsequently established to collaborate and share ideas. An Advisory Group was formed to provide advice and feedback on project outputs. In June 2014 the JCU/Archaeological and Heritage Management Solutions (AHMS) Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant application was successful. Dr Simon Foale (JCU) is the primary Chief Investigator. The ARC project involves collaboration between Industry Linkage Partner, Dr Susan McIntyre Tamwoy (AHMS) and Chief Investigators Dr Simon Foale (JCU), Dr Michael Wood (JCU), Dr Mathew Leavesley (JCU), Associate Professor Colin (Continued on page 10)
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Lik Lik Cave Photo: Phil Bence
Nakanai Caves cultural heritage research (Continued from page 9)
Filer (Ausralian National University), Dr Jim Specht (University of Sydney), Dr Matthew Kelly (AHMS), Project Coordinator Jennifer Gabriel (The Cairns Institute) and Research Officer Sopa Caleb (JCU). Our PNG Project Partner is Mr Kenn Mondiai (PNG Partners with Melanesians). The three year ARC project will document and integrate the natural and cultural values of the Nakanai Caves in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea, in preparation for a cultural landscape World Heritage nomination. Our methodology will incorporate community knowledge with archaeological and anthropological evidence to link natural and cultural values and define the landscape from local perspectives. Other initiatives include a website, e-information booklet and the repatriation of knowledge. In January 2015, Simon Foale, Kenn Mondiai and Sopa Caleb conducted awareness meetings in the Pomio region in
Elephant Cave Photo: Phil Bence
preparation for the first stage of fieldwork. In February/March the fieldwork team consisting of archaeologists Jim Specht, Matthew Kelly, University of PNG archaeology student Jason Kariwiga, and anthropologists Benn Christensen and Sopa Caleb, commenced research in Palmalal/Pomio area. They were assisted by community members, including Linus Bai and Iggie Matapia. We are most appreciative of the community support received, and all research findings will be disseminated after consultation with a local committee. We are grateful to The Cairns Institute and acknowledge the financial support provided by the Australian Research Council and the Linkage Partner, Archaeological Heritage and Management Solutions (AHMS). We are grateful to the support provided by the East New Britain Community, PNG National Research Institute, University of PNG, PNG World Heritage Secretariat, PNG.
Muruk Cave Photo: Phil Bence
References Gill, D. (2012). Untamed rivers of New Britain expedition 2006. Nakanai Mountains, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Report on the 2006 British Caving Expedition to New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Audra P., Lauritzen S. E., Rochette P. 2011. Speleogenesis in the hyperkarst of the Nakanai Mountains (New Britain, Papua New-Guinea). Evolution model of a juvenile system (Muruk Cave) inferred from U/Th and paleomagnetic dating. Karstbase. Audra, P., Gill, D.W., Hamilton-Smith, E., Sounier, J-P., & Salas, L. (2005). Conserving the Sublime Karst of Papua New Guinea. Task Force on Cave and Karst Protection, World Commission on Protected Areas, International Union of Conservation. Unpublished Report.
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Workshop participants with Amanda Parsonage
Bridging linkage On 25 and 26 February 2015, the Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC) organised a workshop on the topic of "bridging linkage": this refers to the way that speakers of diverse languages use repetition in systematic ways, to give a coherent structure to their conversations and narratives. The workshop provided a wealth of data and generated vigorous discussion among the participants. There were ten presentations: four on languages spoken in South America; four on languages of Oceania (including Australia); and one on Greek, spoken in Europe and diaspora communities around the globe, including here in Cairns. As well as linguists from the LCRC (Grant Aiton, Angeliki Alvanoudi, Alexandra Aikhenvald, R.M.W. Dixon, Valérie Guérin, Simon Overall, Ryan Pennington, and Kasia Wojtylak), we were very pleased to host Dr Rob Pensalfini from the University of Queensland, who gave a presentation on the Australian language, Jingulu.
The workshop was officially opened by Professor Andrew Krockenberger, Dean of Research at JCU. Andrew formally presented Kate Elder, Manager, Campus Client Services in the Cairns Library, with three books that were published in 2014 by members of the LCRC: The art of grammar: A practical guide, by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (Oxford University Press) Grammatical gender in interaction. Cultural and cognitive aspects, by Angeliki Alvanoudi (Brill) Making new words. Morphological derivations in English, by R.M.W. Dixon (Oxford University Press) The workshop was organised by Valérie Guérin and Simon Overall, both Postdoctoral Researchers in the LCRC, with invaluable assistance from Amanda Parsonage and Sasha Aikhenvald which we gratefully acknowledge.
... "bridging linkage": this refers to the way that speakers of diverse languages use repetition in systematic ways, to give a coherent structure to their conversations and narratives Valérie Guérin Language and Culture Research Centre
Presentation of books. L to R: Angeliki Alvanoudi, Kate Elder, Andrew Krockenberger, Alexandra Aikhenvald, R.M.W. Dixon
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TEDxJCUCairns 2014
TEDxJCUCairns in 2015 Jennifer McHugh, Project Officer in The Cairns Institute, has been successful in renewing the licence for TEDxJCUCairns in 2015. Planning is well underway for the next TED event on 2 October 2015. We hope to release some details soon but in the meantime you can follow up on twitter @TEDxJCUCairns or join us on Facebook www.facebook.com/tedxjcucairns There have been many positive outcomes from TEDxJCUCairns 2014, which is why we are so excited to be holding another TED event in 2015. Charlie Cooper, the 9 year old boy from Trinity Beach, has had an amazing response to his presentation. Charlie’s talk has had over 82,000 views and has inspired a many people, and number of local schools in the region have now installed Buddy Benches. A Gold Coast radio station is teaming up with a major hardware chain to get Buddy Benches into as many schools as possible and recently Charlie’s family was contacted by R U OK to discuss the possibility of implementing benches in schools across Australia. Charlie really does demonstrate “How little people can make a big difference.”
In February 2015 a viewing was held in Townsville which gave people the opportunity to not only watch some of the talks from TEDxJCUCairns 2014, but to ask the presenters questions. Natalie Stoeckl, Max Lenoy and Jodie Rummer where all on hand to talk about their experiences as a TEDx presenters. Jodie discussed the positive feedback she has had and was pleased to learn that her talk is being shown in a Boston university as a teaching tool. Max said that because his presentation came from the heart he hadn’t the courage to watch his talk until early this year but was pleased with the result. He was also happy that his family appreciated all that he had achieved. Natalie enjoyed the challenge of giving a TEDx Talk and all three discussed how it was different to anything else they had previously done. You can find all the talks including Jodie’s, Max’s and Natalie’s talks on YouTube and follow us on Twitter @TEDxJCUCairns.
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Aurukun dogs, sculptures, and ceramics from across the IACA membership
The Indigenous Arts Centre Alliance is moving on In February 2012 The Indigenous Art Centre Alliance Inc. (IACA) started up, auspiced and housed within The Cairns Institute, JCU. IACA is the peak service organisation for the community-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and cultural centres of Far North Queensland. IACA grew from a pressing need for support and assistance to remote art centres from a peak industry body—something the rest of Australia has had for decades. In February 2013 IACA incorporated and moved to managing its own funds under the direction of a Management Committee. Having grown from humble beginnings of one staff member, IACA in 2015 now employs five staff and it’s time to have our own office and meeting space. So with the sadness of leaving the friendships and great people at JCU, we are excited to be entering a new phase in the development of the organisation. IACA is moving into the Cairns CBD where we have found suitable office space at 16 Scott Street, Parramatta Park. As the Manager, I have been there from the very beginning three years ago, and I wish to sincerely thank The Cairns Institute Directors and staff for the wonderful support and
Pam Bigelow IACA Manager, Solomon Booth IACA president 2013, and Chris Cocklin, Deputy Vice Chancellor, open Kinship at The Cairns Institute
Elliott KOONUTTA Pormpuraaw Two brolgas on stand 2012
camaraderie during the progression of the organisation to this point. Without that support we would not be where we are today. It has been a great alliance and we were proud and thrilled to have been invited to grace the new Cairns Institute building with the Kinship Exhibition in 2013 as part of the opening celebrations. We hope to move into our new premises at the end of March 2015 when the NBN connection is complete. Please feel free to pop in and say hi in the coming months—we’d love to keep our contact with The Cairns Institute and JCU going. Thanks again to the JCU community—it’s been a fabulous relationship and many good friendships and connections have been forged. Pam Bigelow Manager IACA IACA is a not-for-profit organisation that works under the guidance and direction of a majority Indigenous Management Committee. There are currently 14 member art centres with hundreds of artists, spread across the islands of the Torres Strait, the Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York and the coastal rainforests of Far North Queensland (FNQ).
Textiles, prints and paintings from across the IACA membership
The Cairns Institute Opening
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Early years conference The Cairns Institute is proud to collaborate with Mission Australia, the Benevolent Society, QLD Department of Education and Training – Early Childhood Education and Care, the Department of Communities Child Safety and QLD Health to host and organise the 2015 Early Years Conference: Today’s Children Tomorrow’s Future— Strengthening collaboration and practice across the early years. This holistic and cross sectional collaboration will create a unique opportunity to have a strong state and regional focus on the importance of birth to 12 in regards to evidence based planning with a community collective impact.
program managers and staff from the Communities for Children Program and Child Safety staff. The conference will also attract a range of national and international keynote speakers and details of keynote speakers will be announced soon. The conference will also feature a range of interactive workshops and concurrent sessions. A call for papers and details of how to register will be available soon from the website: www.earlyyearsconference.com.au
The conference which has been funded and co-hosted by Mission Australia and the Benevolent Society since 2012 will be held at The Cairns Institute on 10–11 September 2015. The conference will attract early childhood educators, teaching staff, family support workers, child and family health professionals and counsellors, community workers,
Indigenous Legal Needs Project The Australian Research Council funded Indigenous Legal Needs Project has completed its primary research. The reports for VIC, QLD, WA and the Northern Territory are now available on our website www.jcu.edu.au/ilnp. There are also short animated films available on the website which explain the research findings for each of the focus States and Territories. Over the last two months the lead research team (chief investigators Professor Chris Cunneen and Ms Melanie Schwartz, and the senior project manager, Ms Fiona Allison) have presented the findings of the project at a number of forums across the country. These have included a presentation in Melbourne in February 2015 at the
Federation of Community Legal Centres (Victoria) to an audience of representatives from community legal centres, the Aboriginal Legal Service, the Family Violence Prevention Legal Service Victoria, and Legal Aid Victoria. Project members were also keynote speakers at a civil law conference organised by Legal Aid Commission Western Australia in Perth in February 2015. In March this year, project members were invited to speak about the research at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission 2015 National Consumer Congress in Sydney.
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L to R: Jan McLucas, Roxanne Bainbridge, Komla Tsey at the Woman of the Year breakfast
Woman of the year The Cairns Institute was recently well represented at the Cairns Regional Council Woman of the Year Awards in March 2015. The awards recognise women who have demonstrated courage and/or have made an outstanding contribution to the lives of women and girls in the Cairns Regional Council area, and this year Dr Roxanne Bainbridge, Senior Research Officer in The Cairns Institute and Jenny Fraser, Institute Adjunct, were both nominated. Roxanne was nominated for a variety of reasons including her significant contribution as a mentor and leader. Drawing from her life experience as a Gungarri woman, mother, grandmother, academic, role model and mentor, Roxanne has quietly and consistently worked to support and empower the lives of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women and girls in her sphere of influence. Her doctoral thesis explored the process by which Aboriginal women achieved empowerment. Since completing her PhD in 2009, she has led projects and mentored beginning researchers, including community researchers. She was part of a five year National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Building Indigenous Research Capacity Program and is currently part of a new five year National Indigenous Research Knowledge Network. Roxanne is passionate about using research to obtain practical outcomes that benefit the community. She champions collaborations and has built deep and lasting partnerships with a number of organisations. She has worked with Yarrabah State School to locally-tailor teacher resources in educational engagement of Indigenous young people. In a letter supporting her nomination, Simon Cotton, Principal of Yarrabah State School, said: “Dr Roxanne Bainbridge is a pillar of strength to Indigenous women and girls and provides a pathway for them to follow. Her active mentoring and strength exhibited at all times is acknowledged by all who know and who have
worked with her. It is often stated that Indigenous women are the matriarchs of Indigenous society and in Dr Bainbridge we see an outstanding example of a woman of strength and compassion and that of a leader taking her people forward.” Jenny Fraser, an Adjunct with the Institute, was also nominated. Jenny is a celebrated screen artist, being awarded an honourable mention at the 2007 imagineNATIVE Film Festival, Toronto, Canada, and in 2009 nominated for a Deadly Award. She received an Australia Council Fellowship for her project Midden in 2012. Jenny has refined the art of curating for the screen through a strong commitment to collaboration with others and she founded cyberTribe, an unfunded online gallery 15 years ago and the Blackout Collective in 2002, continuing with a regular program of events every year. In 2014 she presented SOLID Screen Festival and Retreat at Innot Hot Springs in Far North Queensland, the first event of its kind. Along with the public SOLID Screen Festival, there was a private SOLID Sisters 'each one teach one' forum, and the inaugural SOLID Awards for Indigenous Women in Screen which honoured women with long-standing and also emerging careers in the screen arts both in Australia and overseas, over the past 40 years. We congratulate the winners of the Award—Sheriden Morris of the Reef & Rainforest Research Centre and the Young Woman of the year, JCU nursing student, Tulsa Gautam.
SOLID Screen Festival and Retreat participants, Innot Springs, Qld Photo: Jenny Fraser
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TCI to host eminent sociologist on risk governance Professor Ortwin Renn, an eminent sociologist on risk governance from the University of Stuttgart in Germany, will be visiting Cairns in July 2015. Hosted by The Cairns Institute, Professor Renn will be giving a public lecture on 14 July 2015 on risk governance and the conceptual tools available to deal with a broad range of contemporary risks. Details of the public lecture will be posted on The Cairns Institute’s What’s happening web page closer to the date. Ortwin Renn is a professor of environmental sociology and technology assessment at Stuttgart University (www.uni-stuttgart.de/ soz/tu). He is also Dean of the Economic and Social Sciences Department and Director of the Stuttgart Research Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies at the University of Stuttgart (www.zirius.eu). Having published more than 30 books and 250 articles on risk, Renn’s specific research interests are in risk governance, political participation as well as technical and social change towards sustainability. Beyond academia, Renn also plays an active role in advising governments and international organisations on risk governance. He currently serves as a member of the Scientific and Technical
Council of the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) in Lausanne, the National Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China and the State Sustainability Council in his home state BadenWürttemberg. He was also elected President of the International Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) for the 2013-2014, served on the German Federal Government’s Commission on Energy Ethics after Fukushima (2011) and was on the Scientific Advisory Board of EU President Barroso from 2012 to 2014. Today, Professor Renn continues to play an active role locally as a member of the Senate of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (Berlin) and sits on the Board of Directors of the German National Academy of Technology and Engineering (Acatech).
Professor Ortwin Renn Photo courtesy: University of Stuttgart www.zirius.eu
Professor Renn’s honours include an honorary doctorate from the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), an honorary affiliate professorship at the Technical University Munich, the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) and several best publication awards. In 2012 the German Federal Government awarded him the National Cross of Merit Order in recognition of his outstanding academic performance.
David Hudson
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2015 TASA conference The Cairns Institute and the College of Arts, Society & Education at James Cook University are delighted to host the 2015 The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) Conference, Neoliberalism and contemporary challenges for the Asia-Pacific, 23–26 November 2015, in Cairns. As a global structure, neoliberalism has impacted lives around the world in far more than an economic sense. This conference provides us with the opportunity to further understand the global effects of neoliberalism, but especially the ways neoliberalism is experienced in different local contexts. The experiences of Australia and
New Zealand are different from those of Asia and again of the Pacific. What challenges and opportunities does neoliberalism present and how does sociology respond to those challenges? Keynote speakers will be Professor Eva Cox and Professor Vedi Hadiz. A third keynote speaker will be confirmed soon. For more information please visit www.tasa.org.au/tasa-conference/2015tasa-conference/
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Creating futures 2015 free public events The Cairns Institute and the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine has the pleasure of inviting you to two free public events to be held in conjunction with the Creating Futures 2015 Conference www.cf15.conorg.com.au in Cairns, Queensland. Both will be held at the Shangri La Hotel www.shangri-la.com/cairns/shangrila on Wednesday 13 May 2015 and are open to the public, and both lectures will be chaired by Melissa Sweet (Croakey).
1a. 1.45pm Nicholas Rothwell: "Outsider art and the creative spirit” A lecture presenting a personal perspective on outsider art—making, examining its special place in the contemporary cultural landscape, and tracing the suggestive parallels between outsider creativity and the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art movement. 1b. 2.30pm Theo Tremblay: “Boundary riders” Since 1984 Theo Tremblay has been working with Aboriginal and Islander artists helping to promote shared learning through the arts; expressing concerns of country, culture and the “colonial conundrum”. His illustrated talk will feature the artists he mentors as apprentices. “Boundary riders”, as he refers to them, “are gaining confidence and respect by sharing their culture stories, anecdotes, confessions and aspirations with the broader community through printmaking—and other shared collaborative activities.”
7.30pm to 9.00pm Vikram Patel: “Bridging gaps: different contexts different solutions?” In this public forum an international expert in the area of global mental health, Vikram Patel, will share lessons from his experience over two decades in promoting the importance and realisation of mental health as a core component of global health in pursuing equity in health worldwide, and in eliminating the discrimination and exclusion of people suffering from mental disorders in economically disadvantaged societies. In Australia, an economically privileged society with robust social and health sectors, disadvantage, discrimination and exclusion are pervasive across remote Indigenous Australia and compounded for those with mental health and other disabilities. Two Aboriginal Australians, politician Allison Anderson and psychiatrist Marshall Watson, will reflect on the salience of those experiences and lessons to the political, service and social landscape of remote Indigenous Australia. To register please visit alumni.jcu.edu.au/CF15Public
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Follow us on social media A growing number of Cairns Institute events, researchers and students are using social media. Both Twitter and Facebook are providing a different and constructive method of spreading news, promoting research, developing links and contacts and starting conversations. Below is a list of just some of the ways you can connect with Institute members via social media. Please follow on Twitter or like us on Facebook. The Cairns Institute
@CairnsInstitute https://twitter.com/CairnsInstitute
TEDxJCUCairns
@TEDxJCUCairns https://twitter.com/TEDxJCUCairns
TEDxJCUCairns
https://www.facebook.com/tedxjcucairns
Stewart Lockie
@StewartDLockie https://twitter.com/StewartDLockie
JCU
@jcu https://twitter.com/jcu
JCU
https://www.facebook.com/jamescookuniversity
Allan Dale
@DevtInTropics https://twitter.com/DevtInTropics
Allan Dale
https://www.facebook.com/DevelopmentintheTropics
Roxanne Bainbridge
@DrRoxBainbridge https://twitter.com/DrRoxBainbridge
Anne Stephens
@artechokeheart https://twitter.com/artechokeheart
Language and Culture Research Centre
https://www.facebook.com/LCRCatJCU
Languages and Peoples of South America
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ SouthAmericanAnthroLinguisticBios/
Katarzyna Izabela Wojtylak
@kiwojtylak https://twitter.com/kiwojtylak
ALTAR Film Screenings
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AltarFilms/
Indigenous Legal Needs Project
https://www.facebook.com/IndigenousLegalNeedsProject
Creating Futures Conference
@CF15_Cairns https://twitter.com/CF15_Cairns
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L to R: Shaneen Fantin (AIA), Roger Mainwood (TPG), Lisa Law (JCU)
Urban design is universal ... it's the tropical context that sets us apart Designed in Cairns: The seminar
Designed in Cairns: The exhibition
The fourth seminar in the Designed in Cairns series which is a run in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) Far North Queensland Chapter was held on Thursday the 19 March 2015.
Members of the AIA FNQ Chapter, The Cairns Institute and staff and students from Arts and Creative Media at JCU are working together to curate and produce an exhibition that will feature many design elements sourced from Cairns. This will create a unique integrated learning opportunity for students to work with industry to plan and coordinate and create an exciting exhibition.
The seminar was presented by Paul Cohen, a JCU graduate who is a Town Planner and currently the Coordinator of Licensing and Approvals for Cairns Regional Council. Paul discussed urban design in Cairns from the macro to the micro scales. Paul believes that 'Urban design is universal.. It's the tropical context that sets us apart.' For good urban design in Cairns it is important to remember that 'We live with the tropics, not just in the tropics.' More seminars are in the planning stages. The next seminar will be held on 23 April 2015 by Abriculture, featuring Indigenous ecology and landscape design.
L to R: Katrina Girling (Kenick), Julianne Field (AIA), Sophie Pedersen (Sophie Pedersen Design )
The exhibition is planned for June 2015 and will be throughout the Institute building but mainly centred on the first floor walkway. The exhibition will feature architectural models and sketches, audiovisual displays, soft furnishing, furniture, fabrics, landscaping and clothing—all designed in Cairns. Details will be posted on our What’s happening page and Twitter closer to the date.
L to R: Shaneen Fantin (AIA), Francoise Lane (Indij Design), Jhay Baniaga (LA3), Paul Cohen (Cairns Regional Council)
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APRIL 2015
Details for these events can be found at: jcu.edu.au/cairnsinstitute/events/
Event
Date & location
Introduction to non-spatial setting. LCRC new global workshop by Alexandra Aikhenvald
8 April 2015 The Cairns Institute
Heterogeneous lexical number words in Murui. LCRC seminar by Kasia Wojtylak
15 Apr 2015 The Cairns Institute
Non-spatial setting in Eibela. LCRC global workshop by Grant Aiton
29 April 2015 The Cairns Institute
Mobile phones and an Aboriginal act of remix. LCRC seminar by Jennifer Deger
6 May 2015 The Cairns Institute
Free public events in conjunction with the Creating Futures 2015 Conference cf15.conorg.com.au
13 May 2015, Shangri La Hotel The Marina, Cairns
Creating futures 2015 conference cf15.conorg.com.au/
11–14 May 2015, Shangri-La Hotel The Marina, Cairns
Leadership in mental health: Island nation course (associated with CF15 conference) cf15.conorg.com.au/leadership-in-mental-health-island-nations-course/
11–17 May 2015 Cairns
Expression of information source in Murui. LCRC seminar by Kasia Wojtylak
13 May 2015 The Cairns Institute
Non-spatial setting in Meryam Mir. LCRC seminar by Nick Piper
20 May 2015 The Cairns Institute
So you want to work in Native Title? Masterclass in Native Title for Anthropologists alumni.jcu.edu.au/NatTitleMClass2014
22–27 June 2015 The Cairns Institute
Ortwin Renn public forum on risk governance
13 July 2015 The Cairns Institute
The early years conference www.earlyyearsconference.com.au/
10–11 September 2015 Cairns
Tropics of the imagination conference
17 September 2015 Cairns
Gapuwiyak Calling exhibition
17 September–31 October 2015 The Cairns Institute
Commands: The twelfth international workshop Organised by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and R. M. W. Dixon
28 September–3 October 2015 The Cairns Institute
TEDxJCUCairns
2 October 2015 The Cairns Institute
TASA (The Australian Sociological Association) conference: Neoliberalism and contemporary challenges for the Asia-Pacific
23-26 November 2015 Cairns Page 21