Dr Martin Mulligan

Key activities

Teaching/Work responsibilities

Director of Globalism Research Centre

Manager for community sustainability research in Australia and Sri Lanka

Senior researcher in the Community Sustainability Program of the Global Cities Institute, RMIT.

Teaching environmental theory, indigenous land use and disaster recovery in Environment and Planning postgraduate teaching program. Research student supervisor.

Qualifications

B.Sc. (Hons) University of Sydney; PhD RMIT University 1994

Research/Scholarship

Research interests

Since joining the Globalism Research Centre in 2004, I have completed a range of projects focusing on the sustainability of local communities in the context of globalisation in Australia and Sri Lanka. Projects in Australia have been conducted in partnership with VicHealth, Regional Arts Victoria and the Australia Council for the Arts and they have focused on issues related to wellbeing and local governance. I was also a chief investigator on a major study for AusAID on lessons to be learnt from the post-tsunami recovery effort in Sri Lanka and India and that research is resulting in the publication of a book by Routledge, India, due for release in 2011. In conducting research on the challenges facing local communities from Australia to Sri Lanka and India, I have developed new ways of thinking about the sociology of community in the contemporary world. In 2011 I have developed a new research interest in cultural adaptation to climate change at the level of local communities.

Before joining the Globalism Institute in 2004, I worked for 10 years in the innovative Social Ecology program at the University of Western Sydney where I developed new courses in areas related to ecological thinking and environmental education. During this time I conducted the research for a book titled Ecological Pioneers: A Social History of Australian Ecological Thought and Action co-authored with Prof. Stuart Hill and published by Cambridge University Press (2001). This book was nominated for both the NSW Premier’s Prize for history writing and the Queensland Premier’s Prize for history writing. With Professor William Adams of Cambridge University, I collected and edited a volume of writings published under the title Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for Conservation in a Post-Colonial Era by Earthscan (London, 2003). Sri Lanka on how local communities are recovering from the devastating impacts of the tsunami.

Notions of sustainability; sense of place and local community resilience; local and social histories; community sustainability and climate change adaptation.

Recent publications

Scholarly Books

Mulligan, Martin and Yaso Nadarajah (2011, contract signed in January 2011) Rebuilding communities after disasters: Lessons from the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka and India, Routledge, New Delhi.

Scholarly Book Chapters

Mulligan, Martin (2011) ‘Rethinking Community in the Face of Natural Resource Management Challenges’ in D. Connell and R.Q. Grafton (eds) Basin Futures: Water Reform in the Murray-Darling Basin, pp 135-148, ANU EPress, Canberra.

Mulligan, Martin and Judith Shaw (2011) ‘Achievements and Weaknesses in Post-tsunami reconstruction in Sri Lanka’, in Pradyumna P. Karan and Shanmugam P. Subbiah (eds) The Indian Ocean Tsunami: The Global Response to a Natural Disaster, The University of Kentucky Press, Lexington, pp 237-260.

Smith, J.A., Mulligan, M. and Nadarajah, Y. (2011, in press, accepted for publication in 2009). ‘Scenarios for engaging a rural Australian community in climate change adaptation work’ in J.D. Ford and L.B. Ford (eds) Climate Change Adaptation in Developed Nations. Springer Publications, Netherlands.

Mulligan, Martin (2010) ‘Beyond divisive nationalism in Sri Lanka: Some new perspectives on identity and democracy in the “hybrid island”’, in Supriya Singh and Alperhan Babacan (editors), Migration, Belonging and the Nation State, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge UK, pp 151-182.

Mulligan, Martin, Yaso Nadarajah, Jodi-Anne Smith and Zael Zalchendler (2009) ‘Community, scenarios and narratives of action: Reflecfions on a case study in the Hamilton region of Victoria’ in John Martin, Maureen Rogers and Caroline Winter (eds) Climate Change in Rural Australia: Social Learning and Adaptation, VURRN Press, Bendigo, pp 88-113.

Mulligan, Martin (2009) ‘Community Life and Cultural Vitality in a Changing World’ in Lisa Andersen and Kate Oakley (eds) Making Meaning, Making Money: Directions for the arts and cultural industries in The Creative Age, Cambridge Scholars Press, Cambridge UK.

Scerri, Andy, Paul James, Kim Humphery, Martin Mulligan (2009) ‘Towards Meaningful Indicators of Wellbeing: Community Arts, Inclusion and Avowal in Local-Global Relationships’ in Scott Fleming (ed) Leisure and Tourism: International Perspectives on Cultural Practice, Leisure Studies Association Publications, Eastbourne, UK.

Refereed Journal Articles

Kuecker, Glen, Martin Mulligan and Yaso Nadarajah (2011) ‘Turning to community in times of crisis: Globally derived insights on local community formation’ Community Development Journal, 46(2), pp 245-264, Oxford Journals.

Mulligan, Martin and Yaso Nadarajah (2011) ‘Rebuilding community in the wake of disaster: lessons from the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka and India, Community Development Journal, Advance access publication, April 15, 2011.

Mulligan, Martin (2009) ‘The Bitter Harvest of Divisive Nationalisms in Sri Lanka: In search of another logic’, Local Global: Identity, Security, Community, Volume 6, pp 49-66.

Mulligan, Martin and Yaso Nadarajah (2008) ‘Working on the sustainability of local communities with a “community-engaged” research methodology’ Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, Vol 13, No 2, pp 81-94.

Mulligan, Martin, Christopher Scanlon and Nicky Welch (2008) ‘Renegotiating Community Life: Arts, agency, inclusion and wellbeing’ Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement Vol 1, pp48-72, University of Technology, Sydney.

Mulligan, Martin and Judith Shaw (2007) ‘What the World Can Learn from Sri Lanka’s Post-Tsunami Experiences’ International Journal for Asia Pacific Studies Vol 3, No 2, pp 65-91.

Mulligan, Martin and Pia Smith, (2007) ‘Stepping Out of the Shadows of Neglect: Towards and Understanding of Socially Applied Community Art in Australia’ International Journal of the Arts in Society, Vol 1, online publication.

Mulligan, Martin (2007) ‘A Role for the Arts in Creating Community’ Dialogue, Vol 26, No 1, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Canberra, 23-31.

Other

Shaw, Judith, Martin Mulligan, Yaso Nadarajah, Dave Mercer and Iftekhar Ahmed (2010) Lessons from Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka and India: Community, Livelihoods, Tourism and Housing, Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University, Melbourne. Available at: www.rmit.edu.au/globalism/publications/reports

Mulligan, Martin and Yaso Nadarajah (2010) Rebuilding Community in the Wake of the 2004 Tsunami: Lessons from Sri Lanka and India, Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University, Melbourne. Available at: www.rmit.edu.au/globalism/publications/reports

Mulligan, Martin and Pia Smith (2010) Art, Governance and the Turn to Community: Putting art at the heart of local government, Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University, Melbourne. Available at: www.rmit.edu.au/globalism/publications/reports

Mulligan, Martin, Kim Humphery, Paul James, Christopher Scanlon, Pia Smith and Nicky Welch (2006) Creating Community: Celebrations, Arts and Wellbeing Within and Across Local Communities, VicHealth and Globalism Research Centre, Melbourne.