Dr Duncan McDuie-Ra

Research Summary

My research is focused on the politics of development especially in South Asia particularly India, Burma and the Himalayas. Within this I am interested in ethnic politics, collective action, militarism, environmental justice, gender politics, and borderlands and border peoples. My primary expertise are on issues taking place in Northeast India.

I am also an Associate Editor for South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies [Taylor & Francis].

My current project is entitled: Cosmopolitan Tribals: Race, Refuge, and Retail in Delhi . This project analyses migration from the Northeast frontier of India by ethnic minorities to work and study in Delhi. Most of this project was completed during a visiting fellowship at the International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, the Netherlands in Jan-Jun 2011.

Publications are in preparation.This research is discussed in an interview in a recent issue of Motherland magazine hyperlink

My other main project is part of an ARC Grant with Prof Marc Williams entitled Climate Change and Environmental Security in the Pacific: the role of regional organizations . This project is funded from 2011-2013.

UNSW Research Profile

Teaching

I teach 3 courses in Development Studies at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Levels. I also supervise Development Studies Honours and Postgraduate Research students.

My current courses are:

ARTS 1750 Introduction to Development Studies
ARTS 2752 Local Politics of Development
ARTS 3751 Development Studies Capstone
ARTS 3241 Environmental Justice

Postgraduate Research Supervision
I currently supervise research students working on South Asian politics, politics of development, ethnic, gender, and environmental movements in the Third World. The main topics include:
* Gender and empowerment in Pakistan
* Practitioner reflections on rights based development
* Politics of development in Tripura, Northeast India
* Transitional Justice in Nepal

Publications

BOOKS

McDuie-Ra, D. (2012) Northeast Migrants in Delhi: Race, Refuge and Retail. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press/ IIAS Monograph Series. In Press.

Deo, N. and McDuie-Ra, D. (2011) The Politics of Collective Advocacy in India: Tools and Traps. Sterling Va: Kumarian Press. hyperlink

McDuie-Ra, D. (2009) Civil society, democratization and the search for human security. New York: Nova Science.

JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE

Guest Editor Special Issue of Contemporary South Asia themed ‘The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 50 Years On’, 17(3). September 2009. hyperlink

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

McDuie-Ra, D. (2012) ‘Violence Against Women In The Militarized Indian Frontier: Beyond ‘Indian Culture’ In The Experiences Of Ethnic Minority Women’, Violence Against Women , 18 (3), pp. 322 - 345

McDuie-Ra, D. (2012) ‘ Cosmopolitan Tribals: frontier migrants in Delhi’, South Asia Research , 32 (1), pp. 39-55.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2012) 'Leaving the Militarized Frontier: Migration and Tribal Masculinity in Delhi', Men and Masculinities (forthcoming, accepted October 5 2011)

McDuie-Ra, D. (2012) ‘Tribals, migrants and insurgents: Security and insecurity along the India-Bangladesh border’, Global Change, Peace and Security, 24 (1), pp. 165-182.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2011) ‘The Dilemmas of Pro-Development Actors: Viewing State-ethnic Minority Relations and Intra-Ethnic Dynamics through Contentious Development Projects’, Asian Ethnicity, 12 (1), pp. 77-100.

McDuie-Ra, D. and Rees, J.A., (2010) 'Religious Actors, Civil Society, and the Development Agenda: the Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion', Journal of International Development, 22 (1), pp. 20-36.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2009) '50 Year Disturbance: the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and exceptionalism in a South Asian periphery', Contemporary South Asia, 17(3), pp. 255-270.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2009) 'Vision 2020 or Re-vision 1958: the contradictory politics of counterinsurgency in India’s regional engagement', Contemporary South Asia, 17(3), pp. 313-330.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2008) 'Between National Security and Ethno-nationalism: the regional politics of development in Northeast India', Journal of South Asian Development, 3(2), pp. 185-210.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2007) ‘The Constraints on Civil Society Beyond the State: gender, identity, and insecurity’, Voluntas: International journal of voluntary and non-profit organisations, 18 (4), pp. 359-384.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2007) ‘Anti-Development or Identity Crisis? Misreading Civil Society in Meghalaya, India’, Asian Ethnicity, 8 (1), pp. 43-59.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2006) ‘Transcending a constricted space: overcoming the limitations on civil society organisations in Meghalaya, Northeast India’ Contemporary South Asia, 15 (1), pp. 35-53.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2006) ‘The Politics of Civil Society Beyond the State: Gender, Identity, and Insecurity’, in J. Onyx (ed.) ISTR Conference Working Papers Volume V. Baltimore: ISTR.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2005) ‘Searching for human security in ‘disturbed’ areas: Women as agents for change in Manipur, India’, Australasian Journal of Human Security, 1 (2), pp. 49-66.

BOOK CHAPTERS

McDuie-Ra, D. (2011) ‘Deep democracy or ethno-centrism? Locating voice in the protests against development in Northeast India’. In V. Arora and N. Jayaram (eds.) Routing Democracy in the Himalayas: Experiments and Experiences. New Delhi: Routledge. [forthcoming]

McDuie-Ra. D. (2011) 'Insecurity within and outside the state: the regional and local dynamics of environmental insecurity in the Mekong'. In B. Teh Cheng Guan, (ed.) Human Secuirty in East Asia: Securing East Asia's Future. New York: Springer hyperlink

McDuie-Ra, D. (2009) 'Gender, Ethnicity, and Civil Society: exploring the links between women’s movements and identity politics in Northeast India'. In J.H Ulrich and B.T Cosell (eds.) Handbook on Gender Roles: Conflicts, Behaviour and Attitudes. New York: Nova Science, pp. 123-146.

BOOK REVIEWS

McDuie-Ra, D. (2011) 'SANJIB BARUAH Ed. Beyond Counter-insurgency: Breaking the Impasse in Northeast India Journal of Asian Studies 70 (03): 861-63.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2011) 'ALPA SHAH. In the Shadows of the State: Indigenous Politics, Environmentalism, and Insurgency in Jharkhand, India.' Asian Studies Review 35 (3): 417-8.

McDuie-Ra, D. (2011) 'JAMES C. SCOTT. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia.' Asian Studies Review 35 (3): 399-401.

RECENT CONFERENCE PAPERS
McDuie-Ra D. 'Cosmopolitan Tribals: Race, refuge, and retail in Delhi., seminar presented at the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, Netherlands May 10, 2011.

McDuie-Ra, D. 'Opposing the Logic of Enclosure in the India-Bangladesh Borderlands', as part of the panel 'Unpacking Regulation at the Indo-Bangla Border, Part 1: Securities, Enclosures, and Refusals', presented at the 2nd Conference of the Asian Borderlands Research Network: Enclosure, Interaction, Transformation, Chiang Mai University/International Institute of Asian Studies, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Nov. 5-7, 2010.

McDuie-Ra, D. 'Violence Against Women In The Militarized Indian Frontier: Beyond 'Indian Culture' In The Experiences Of Ethnic Minority Women', to be presented at the Tenth International Women in Asia Conference: Crisis, Agency, Change, Australian National University, 29 Sept-1Oct. 2010.

McDuie-Ra, D. 'The Coral Triangle Initiative: Discourses of Environmentalism, Institutional Capacity and the Agency of Pacific States in Multilateral Environmental Initiatives', presented at the Oceanic Conference on International Studies, University of Auckland, New Zealand, June 30-July 2, 2010.

McDuie-Ra, D. 'Voice in Northeast India' as part of the panel 'Having a Voice', presented at the Australian Anthropological Society Annual Conference 2009, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 9-11 December 2009.

McDuie-Ra, D. 'From Frontiers to Corridors: The Changing Dynamics of Development in Asian Borderlands' presented at the 6th Biennial Conference for Asian Scholars (ICAS), Chungnam National University, Daejon, South Korea, 6-9 August 2009.

McDuie-Ra, D. 'Gender, Ethnicity, and Civil Society: The Constraints and Opportunities for Agency in Northeast India' as part of the panel 'Global Feminisms and Women’s Movements in India and Mexico', presented at the 50th Annual International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention, New York, USA, 15-18 February 2009.

McDuie-Ra, D. ‘Challenging the state, challenging historiography: looking at the Northeast outside South Asian Studies’ presented at the Writing Northeast India: New Historical Perspectives conference, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India 14 -16 January 2009.

Affiliations and Memberships

Associate Editor South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies [Taylor & Francis]

Interests

Pwes, cheroots, dohkleen, Sergei Bazarevich, and the history of the Pittsburgh Condors.