Congratulations to DPA graduates!

Today we honours the achievements of four graduates and would like to express our admiration and extend our heartfelt congratulations to each graduate for their perseverance, growth, and contributions to the Pacific region.

Henrietta McNeill’s thesis is titled ‘Offshore currents: Examining securitisation and de-securitisation of criminal deportations to Tonga, Samoa and Cook Islands’. Interrogating criminal deportations to these three Pacific island countries, this thesis tracks securitisation throughout the deportation process, from the deporting state and society, across the border to the receiving state and society of citizenship. It shows that the deporting and receiving states both have very different ways of undertaking securitisation and de-securitisation, according to their social, cultural, and (post)colonial histories. Henrietta’s thesis is now appearing in the ANU’s research repository at this link. 

Suzanne O’Neill’s thesis is titled ‘The Idea of Ownership: The Flaws in the Samaritan’s Dilemma’. It examines the influence of the idea of Ownership on development partnerships in Samoa and Kiribati by exploring the model for policy change which underwrote the Paris Declaration and its regional counterpart, the Forum Compact on Strengthening Development Coordination. The research demonstrates that local policy actors attributed a different significance to the idea of Ownership to that agreed in Paris. The exercise of Ownership in Samoa and Kiribati led to outcomes which challenged their largest donor and development partner, Australia, and its expectations of aid relations. Suzanne’s thesis is now appearing in the ANU’s research repository at this link.

Shaun Gessler’s thesis is titled ‘Encountering Sainaman: Friction at a Papua New Guinea Mining Contact Zone’. This thesis is an ethnographic case study of the Chinese majority-run Ramu Nickel Cobalt Project and its relationship with the indigenous communities on whose land the mine and refinery are located in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. This thesis examines a series of social interactions between disparate groups and actors, taking the approach adopted in Mining Encounters, which explores the frictions between groups with competing agendas and world views in different social contexts. The findings demonstrate how long-standing local expectations of wealth and modernity from the mine are articulated by landowners using the Christian language of the ‘prosperity gospel’. Shaun’s thesis is now appearing in the ANU’s research repository at this link.

Murray Lloyd’s thesis is titled ‘Using film to gain insight into market vendors’ lives in Vanuatu’. It accompanies a 25-minute documentary that follows market vendors and their produce from their gardens, using transport, at the market and finally into the restaurant. The thesis examines women's status in Vanuatu and investigates a wide range of problems faced by women in Vanuatu in the areas of politics, kastom and religion, health, education, and empowerment. Murray’s thesis is now appearing in the ANU’s research repository at this link.

Congratulations to all of you!