Index
Community formation and transnationalism
Community formation and transnationalism serves as the thematic umbrella for researchers exploring the strengths and weaknesses of local communities, with a particular emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region, in the context of the local-global challenges of the contemporary period. It involves a global network of researchers, scholars and engaged community-activists, working together to better understand the nature of community from the local to the global; to collectively respond to key cultural political issues of the new century across all levels of community and polity; and to develop responses to deal with real-world problems. This project recognizes the vital importance of the local-the place in which we live-and then seeks to draw global lines of co-operation and reciprocal connections across our institutions and other relevant networks with communities and researchers at local, national and international levels.
As researchers and community members, we share a collective interest in understanding what is happening to communities in the context of globalization. How are we to understand the processes of change, both positive and negative, that affect sustainable and peaceful ways of living? What are the issues that require urgent attention, particularly as we face new, massive challenges to the environment, not to speak of widespread violence and global insecurity? How do communities in the Asia-Pacific region (including Australia) respond to challenges of globalization, and to what extent do they think and act independently in becoming more socially and environmentally sustainable? How does standpoint and context impact our research when, for example, we look at the region from the perspective of a squatter settlement community in Old Klang Road, Malaysia, responding to development agendas in a rapidly globalizing city of Kuala Lumpur? What happens when a natural disaster such as the Tsunami at the end of 2004 forces a community thriving on the fringes of the coast to rebuild itself from scratch?
Community formation and transnationalism comprises a matrix of community-situated activities which are being conducted using a common methodology, with an emphasis on the importance of comparative research. Our research stretches across the Asia-Pacific region, with projects in Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The research is engaged in multiple communities within each site, ranging from the urban to the rural, and from those embedded in face-to-face communities to those which are closely integrated into global flows of exchange and information.