Asia, the Pacific & the West in History

U21 Certificate in Global Studies Asia, the Pacific and the West in History

Asia, the Pacific & the West in History

Part of the new

U21 Certificate in Global StudiesDr Nicki Tarulevicz
























ABC ‘Hindsight’ documentary• ‘Island Footprints’: Indentured Labour in Australia

Some of the nearly sixty thousand men who were brought to Australia from the islands in the Western Pacific, to provide labour for the sugar industry in Queensland.


Taiwan slide show


Taiwan slide show


Taiwan slide show


Taiwan slide show


Taiwan slide show


Taiwan slide show


Taiwan slide show


Taiwan slide show










Pacific Island musicians


Discussion Forum: ‘Student Café’“Good food Guide” for this subject…

Date: 10-07-2005 15:59Authors: Various studentsSubject I'm hungry...and homesick

Today's chat made me hungry- where is the 'good food guide' for "Asia, the Pacific and the West"?Names of great places to eat please.....

*******

Man, I wish I hadn't missed this chat!"Good food" in Melbourne seems to be a vastly variable term though.Nothing beats home cooking (at least you know what's in it)...^_^



Date: 10-07-2005Authors: Various studentsSubject I'm hungry...and homesick

• Some affordable goodies:• i carusi (Pizza in East Brunswick)• Bismi (Singaporean Indian in Brunswick)• Warwick Thai (Brunswick) and Thalia Thai (East Brunswick)• Moroccan Soup Bar (Fitzroy North)• Shanghai Dumplings (City) David and Chamy's Noodles (City)• Mecca Bah (Docklands)• il solito posto (pasta in the city)• Babka (Bakery in Fitzroy)• Pizza meine liebe (Northcote)• Seoul Kitchen (City)• Don Don's (Japanese in the city)

• Will keep thinking!




Singapore Chom Chom along Bourke Street (between Swanston and Russell) hasreally good Singaporean Food (hint to Nicki!) and Foodbowl along Swanston(very near uni!) as well -- I recommend you to try "Laksa" at eitherplaces. Or the Chicken Rice :) For yummy Taiwanese Food, check out PekoPeko Cafe at South Melbourne (190 Wells Street, near Domain Interchange)-- I do part time there! For Japanese, check out Teppan San along RussellStreet (between Bourke and Little Bourke)! For Thai food, Ying Thai alongLygon Street is good but a ripped off by Thai Baht standard.. ;) ForVietnam cuisine, Mekong along Swanston is cheap annd yummy! Check out RoseGarden at Elizabeth street and Pacific House at Richmond for fantasticDuck cuisine too.

Harass your international course mates for the good eating place location,we eat ALOT... :)




Hehe, so it would seem!

Thanks for the tips, guess I'll be spending all my food allowance eating

out in the near future... ^_-

******

Ti Amo on Lygon is really good, and the best thing to do if you are hung

over on Saturdays or Sundays is to go to the Queen Victoria Market and buy

a Boerek in the deli section... hmmm!




hey everyone,

all that talking about food has made me really hungry now! plus, I'm

really enjoying doing an online subject, BUT... i wouldn't mind actually

really non-virtually meeting up with some of you... so i was thinking that

we should organise a dinner at one of the cheap yummy places maybe in the

first week of the semester break? maybe Friday after everyone has handed

in their essays? what do people think?




Haha Sounds good,Ruth (that's like blind dates! haha). We can go to one of the aforementioned cheap yummy Asian places (very relevant to the subject!) for a meal ;) *hungry

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Mmmm, fooooood.

Brilliant plan.

*******

I agree. Can't wait!


Discussion Forum: Week 7Shadowplay & 1965-66 Anti-communist killings

Date: 10-19-2005Authors: Various studentsSubject: Shadowplay & 1965-66 Anti-communist killings (reading 2 & historian perspective)

Yeah, fear of communism and anti-communist rhetoric persists to this dayin Indonesia. Under Megawati there was still a lot of anti-communistlegislation alive and well, although I'm not sure what's happened to thatnow. In Indonesia they have these identity cards that everyone has tocarry around, and if you've ever been proven to be or even suspected ofbeing a communist sympathiser it is branded on your identity card forlife. If I'm not mistaken i think there are still certain restrictions(or there were until quite recently) on certain activities if you havethat brand.

(cont…)




I think maybe one of the greatest fears Indonesian leaders have had in relation to communism is just

that in a divided nation it is harder to maintain unity. This is especially important for Indonesia, an

archipelago of more than 13000 islands, all of which have multiple ethnic groups, customs, dialects,

religions, etc. We have already witnessed the result of East Timor, and separatist struggles in Aceh

have been long and bloody. The unity of Indonesia is a falsity that has been created through such

things as the appropriation of a national language (Bahasa Indonesia). National unity is propagated

every day, every where, and I think that communism posed a great threat to that unity.

It is also true that freedom of expression was restricted severely and is only just beginning to become

more open.

I'll come back later. What does everyone else think?




I agree with you re Indonesia's fear of becoming a fractured state and the perceived threat

of communism bringing about its demise. I think that this was a general fear in most states

in the Cold War era of 'reds under the beds' and domestic conspiracy bringing down the

government and destroying the state entity. The fact that Indonesia is composed of a

plethora of diverse and culturally different regions/islands that have been forcibly squished

together only compounds this fear. Forcing a language and a culture onto an already

existing culture only creates resentment and rebellion- East Timor managed to cede from

Indonesia with foreign help and Aceh and Irian Jaya are fighting furiously for their right to

self-determination. This resentment could also foster communism as a way to achieve

independence - obviously Jakarta knows this and has thoroughly tried to crush any

emerging communist sentiment.

(cont…)




I believe that this only demonstrates Indonesia's inherent instability and fragility that cannot

be healed if the government in Jakarta don't sit down and take a hard look at themselves and

their restrictive policies. As paraphrased from Princess Leia - the more that Jakarta tightens

its fist, the more provinces slip through their fingers to become

rebel provinces.

Haha, I've been wanting to squish a Star wars quote in a post since I saw Chris's homepage.

LOL!! :P

******;)

I think if Princess Leia was the head of any separatist movements in SE Asia I'd probably

sign up for the rebellion!


Discussion Forum: Week 8‘Escape from Woomera’ role play game

Date: 10-25-2005Authors: Various studentsSubject: Escape from Woomera

Well, in my opinion, games such as 'Escape from Woomera' shouldn't really be analysed for their graphics or technical stuff as the message/protest is much more important. In this it succeeds by portraying the difficulties of living in a camp like Woomera and the emphasis on escape very clearly implies that the characters (and their real life models) are being wrongly and unjustly imprisoned.

I believe that this is the importance of the game and the reason for its creation; as a protest but also to show people who mightn't really care or know anything about mandatory detention, what it is like and how wrong and cruel it is. However, the game only shows one side of the argument as it is obviously biased and such strong bias could easily result in exaggeration. Not to say that it is wrong, evil and against our good government etc ( I am not an advocate of mandatory detention or trying to justify it! :) Just to be on the safe side here!) however I have never been/seen Woomera and I think I can assume that most of the games intended audience hasn't either so it is hard to decipher the truth from the Howard government's interpretation from the interpretation of those who made 'Escape from Woomera'.

(cont…)


Discussion Forum: Week 8‘Escape from Woomera’ role play game

Date: 10-25-2005Authors: Various studentsSubject: Escape from Woomera

(cont…)

So, even though 'Escape from Woomera' doesn't have to be as technicallyrefined or engaging as a commercial game, I think that if it did borrowmore from a commercial game it would be more successful in diffusing itsmessage of protest and perhaps bringing the issue back to the light andpublic attention. As it stands I think only a small portion of thepopulation have played or even heard about 'Escape from Woomera' - apartfrom the snippet in MX saying that there is a game called 'Escape fromWoomera' as a joke. (I'm sure there's something like that out there in thecommercial media) :)

Comments guys? (Hey, we've got 5 posts already! C'mon Group Saam!!) :P


Discussion Forum: Week 7Reading summary: an excellent example

Date: 10-16-2005Author: KERSubject: article - ‘The coup, the massacres and the fall of Sukarno, 1965-66’

This article was pretty dense, but it is clear that the 6 month period ofpolitical upheaval in Indonesia during 1965 was ‘shrouded inuncertainty.’

I will try and summarise this event (and the article) in relatively simpleterms. Apologies to those who already understand it all! To provide somebackground on this complex event…

Sukarno came to power in the aftermath of WWII, and took over when theDutch withdrew from the region. As the previous speech indicates, he was astrong believer in Indonesia’s right to independence, and his ‘GuidedDemocracy’ had communist undertones.

(cont…)




This article suggests that the main reason for his downfall was due to the fact people had become largely dissatisfied

with the direction Indonesia had taken, and dissatisfied with how little (as they perceived) his regime had changed or

improved their lives. Under the guidance of General Suharto they attributed their dissatisfaction to Communism,

Sukarno and the PKI. As the article suggests, ‘the PKI’s activities since 1945 had laid up for itself an enormous store

of hatred among sections of Indonesian society’ and ‘created issues where none had seemed to previously exist.’

These groups (targeted by the PKI) included the Hindu’s of Bali, the Muslims of Aceh and east Java and the

Christians of North Sulaesi. In his push for power, Suharto and the Army cleverly identified these groups and played

upon their dissatisfaction with the Communist regime. Many students were also involved, and in the riots and

massacres that occurred during 1965, participation in the purges against people of suspected to be sympathetic to

the communist government became necessary to prove one’s anti-Communist allegiance, and avoid attack on

oneself.

While the coup was not successful at removing Sukarno immediately, his regime died slowly. According to the article,

politics in Indonesia came full circle, with Suharto’s common communist enemy replacing Suharto’s colonialist enemy.

(cont…)




The rise of Suharto signified a significant shift in Indonesian politics, and in many ways a

rejection of the communist rhetoric and strategy Sukarno had used in removing the Dutch

colonialists.

Kate McGregor suggests that the reason the West did nothing to intervene in the killings

was because they were happy to see the Communists go, and in this sense Suharto was

welcomed by the U.S.

1. To what extent do you think Suharto’s rise to power represented a step backwards for

Sukarno’s push to liberate Indonesia and other former colonised states from Imperialism?

2. What does the demonisation of Communism and its supporters by Suharto and the

Army suggest about the power of scape-goating? Do you think it may be likened to

Howard’s current attack on ‘Terrorists?’


Discussion Forum: Week 3Indentured Labour in the Pacific

Date: 09-12-2005Author: NTSubject: Welcome eager learners :)

A very chirpy hello to all of you wonderful people in Group Neung! Welcometo week 3 and to Indentured Labour in the Pacific. I will be your host forthe remainder of this weeks learning experience, so please keep all bodyparts inside the scholastic mobile and have a safe trip.

Nikki

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Date: 09-12-2005Author: NKCSubject: Kanakas, Kidnapping and Slavery: Myths from the Nineteenth Century Labour Trade And TheirRelevance to Australian Melanesians.

My Australian history is not quite up to scratch so i found this chapter in Australia's colonial

past to be very enlightening. The debate over the precise nature of the Melanesian labour

trade, voluntary or forced, or a combination of the two, is, like many aspects of history,

obscured by semantics and varied personal experience and testimony.

Unsurprisingly, Historians’ versions of events conflict with the oral testimonies of Pacific

Islanders in Queensland, a stereotypical example of knowledge being subjugated by

dominant academic discourse. To state that all indentured labour was initiated by force is to

deny the agency of those who volunteered while to ignore the incidence of kidnap and

violence is to remove responsibility from the offending white men. Were Australians involved

in the labour trade criminals or merely business men?

(cont…)




Wages for labourers appear to have existed, relatively good and stable working conditions and Melanesians were taken home after the completion of their contracts, so was this benevolent exploitation? Government policy was designed at least in theory to protect the interests of Melanesian workers eg transfers, wages and contracts,and the sugar cane industry of Queensland flourished through their hard work. So was the slave trade beneficial to individual workers or to the islands from which they were taken/recruited? Contact with the European was an inevitable fact of a world being globalised by colonial powers, Is it valid to argue that this type of indentured labour agreement which did not exploit the Islanders’ land or natural resources was a preferable form of colonial contact?

The suggestion that 'it is no longer possible to separate reliable oral testimony from that which has been influenced by the media' is problematic as it confers authority back to the recorded histories of the European tradition. It is however a reality in the field of post colonial studies and 'other' knowledges. The current realities of Melanasian workers descendents (lower than average economic status) may influence their conceptions of their personal histories. To what extent can this situation be overcome? Is it possible to establish a true history?

(cont…)




Perhaps, as is suggested in the article, the legacy of the indentured trade industry is far more

disturbing than the actual practice. Melanasians were quickly relegated to disadvantaged

minority status by racist Australian policies, after founding the sugar industry they were then cut

off from it entirely. Would improving the lot of marginalised populations in Australia result in a

reconceptualisation of the historical processes that resulted in their being in Australia, or in the

case of the Aboriginals, how they were treated in Australia? To what extent is history a

subjective phenomenon?

Cheers.

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Date: 09-13-2005Author: NKCSubject: Epeli Hau'ofa, 'Epilogue- Pasts to Remember'

This article explores the political expediency of constructed histories in reference to the peoples of

Oceania. The decision that needs to be made by colonised peoples is whether to represent themselves

or continue to be represented in history. Hau'ofa details why it is imperative that the peoples of Oceania

reclaim their pasts and how to go about doing it.

As histories are constructed in order to further political agendas, to maintain a strong identity and resist

homogenisation through globalisation, colonised people have a duty to define and understand their own

histories in their own ways. This brings us back to the 'true history' dilemma. In this case it is about

privileging their own preconceptions of their own pasts rather than the histories presented to them by

outsiders. One example used is the concept that the history of the Pacific began with the

contact/penetration of Europeans, relegating the time before as pre-history or outside of history. The

idea that the colonisers brought history to the Pacific subjugates the experiences and events of pre-

colonisation.

(cont…)




The idea that history did not occur before Europeans graciously bestowed it on the peoples of Oceania needs to be re-assessed and dismissed. Oral traditions and ecological signifiers of history need to be accepted as credible sources of historiography to allow the colonised to develop an identity and a past that is not defined in relation to the imperial process. Hau'ofa believes that removing European figures form dominant role in history, eg.Captain Cook is the only way to make Pacific peoples the primary subjects of their own history.

It is suggested that a longer continuum of history needs to be adopted to put imperialism into perspective rather than having it as a starting point. Ecological time and the centrality of nature to the respective cultures of the Pacific will also allow a shift away from the dominant paradigm of linear modernization. Reconcieving the future and the past according to different traditional understandings will move Oceanian constructions of History to flourish.

(cont…)




These are urgent projects for the people of the Pacific because the more time that is lost,

the more indoctrinated by globalisation and dominant constructions of history they

become.

Just a couple of points to ponder...to what extent do you think the statement: 'The struggle

of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting' is true? In reference to

oral traditions it seems ironic that the only way to disseminate them powerfully enough to

challenge recorded history is to write them down...does that defeat the purpose of that

type of 'other' knowledge? Can the friction between the understandings of 'world as

property ' vs. 'world as lasting home' be overcome in the globalised world?

Cheers


Historian’s PerspectiveDr Antonia Finnane: Historical Maps of China


Feedbackcomment posted by a student participant

Overall I spent more time studying this subject than my other Arts subjects. The coursework seemed to demand more of my time, and the nature of the tutorial discussions meant that you had to have a solid grasp of every issue being discussed.

However I found the work to be enjoyable and thought-provoking, so spending a bit more time on it was not really a problem.











Acknowledgements Special thanks to the following Information Division staff:

• Educational Design andProject managementClaire Brooks

• Graphic design and productionJosella Rye

• Additional graphicsGavin Leys

• Video, photography and media specialist teamRussell EvansGillian McTigueLee McRae

• Zoomify expertiseBob Ivison

• ProgrammingGordon YauNeroli Wesley

• Web DevelopmentRod StebbingAndrew Gfrerer

• Resource assistanceMary Coghlan

• LMS tech supportDeb JonesShaun KeneallyPeter Wolynec


Acknowledgements Special thanks to the following for their Historians’ Perspectives:

Dr Kalissa Alexeyeff

Dr Tracey Banivanua-Mar

Dr Antonia Finnane

Professor Vera Mackie

Dr Kate McGregor

Associate Professor Anne McLaren

Dr Charles Schencking

Dr Nicki Tarulevicz

Documents

Asia, the Pacific & the West in History