Different forms of trauma affect many millions of people. Trauma also helps to shape individual and collective memories. This innovative book explores how traumatic occurrences and processes are remembered. Using examples from well-known events like the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, the Indian Ocean tsunami in Aceh, and civil conflict in southern Thailand and Aceh, as well as the experiences of ‘comfort women’ in the Philippines, ethnic minority students and interreligious tensions in Malaysia, the contributors examine how people face, survive and make sense of the frictions and violence in their lives. Embracing history, ethnography, textual analysis, storytelling and art, the multidisciplinary perspective enables a deeper understanding of both traumatic stress and the structures of memory. Trauma, Memory and Transformation also moves the discussion of traumatic memory away from paralysis and towards transformative action, in the ways that memories of catastrophe can be reimagined as forms of resistance or even peace. This original book will be essential reading for all those interested in the study of memory in the Southeast Asian context.

Real and imagined undergrounds in the late nineteenth century viewed as offering a prophetic look at life in today's technology-dominated world. The underground has always played a prominent role in human imaginings, both as a place of refuge and as a source of fear. The late nineteenth century saw a new fascination with the underground as Western societies tried to cope with the pervasive changes of a new social and technological order. In Notes on the Underground, Rosalind Williams takes us inside that critical historical moment, giving equal coverage to actual and imaginary undergrounds. She looks at the real-life invasions of the underground that occurred as modern urban infrastructures of sewers and subways were laid, and at the simultaneous archaeological excavations that were unearthing both human history and the planet's deep past. She also examines the subterranean stories of Verne, Wells, Forster, Hugo, Bulwer-Lytton, and other writers who proposed alternative visions of the coming technological civilization. Williams argues that these imagined and real underground environments provide models of human life in a world dominated by human presence and offer a prophetic look at today's technology-dominated society. In a new essay written for this edition, Williams points out that her book traces the emergence in the nineteenth century of what we would now call an environmental consciousness—an awareness that there will be consequences when humans live in a sealed, finite environment. Today we are more aware than ever of our limited biosphere and how vulnerable it is. Notes on the Underground, now even more than when it first appeared, offers a guide to the human, cultural, and technical consequences of what Williams calls “the human empire on earth.”

“… a diverse and stimulating group of essays that together represents a significant contribution to thinking about the nascent field of contemporary Asian art studies … Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-making … brings together essays by significant academics, curators and artist working in Australia, Asia and the United Kingdom that reflect on contemporary art in the Asia-Pacific region, and Australia’s cultural interconnections with Asia. It will be a welcome addition to the body of literature related to these emergent areas of art historical study. ” — Dr Claire Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Art History, University of Adelaide This volume draws together essays by leading art experts observing the dramatic developments in Asian art and exhibitions in the last two decades. The authors explore new regional and global connections and new ways of understanding contemporary Asian art in the twenty-first century. The essays coalesce around four key themes: world-making; intra-Asian regional connections; art’s affective capacity in cross-cultural engagement; and Australia’s cultural connections with Asia. In exploring these themes, the essays adopt a diversity of approaches and encompass art history, art theory, visual culture and museum studies, as well as curatorial and artistic practice. With introductory and concluding essays by editors Michelle Antoinette and Caroline Turner this volume features contributions from key writers on the region and on contemporary art: Patrick D Flores, John Clark, Chaitanya Sambrani, Pat Hoffie, Charles Merewether, Marsha Meskimmon, Francis Maravillas, Oscar Ho, Alison Carroll and Jacqueline Lo. Richly illustrated with artworks by leading contemporary Asian artists, Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-making will be essential reading for those interested in recent developments in contemporary Asian art, including students and scholars of art history, Asian studies, museum studies, visual and cultural studies.

In recent decades, contemporary art in Asia and the Pacific has acted as a dramatic reflection of the social and political events taking place in the region. The unique perspectives and expertise of the authors contributing to this collection bring unparalleled insights to bear on this relationship between creativity and social transformation. Extensively illustrated with work by some of the most dynamic artists practising today, Art and Social Change is a compelling map of the developments within contemporary art and society in Asia and the Pacific. As the most up-to-date and engaging survey available, Art and Social Change is an indispensable resource for those interested in the engagement of art with society. Book jacket.

The New Aesthetic and Art: Constellations of the Postdigital is an interdisciplinary analysis focusing on new digital phenomena at the intersections of theory and contemporary art. Asserting the unique character of New Aesthetic objects, Contreras-Koterbay and Mirocha trace the origins of the New Aesthetic in visual arts, design, and software, find its presence resonating in various kinds of digital imagery, and track its agency in everyday effects of the intertwined physical world and the digital realm. Contreras-Koterbay and Mirocha bring to light an original perspective that identifies an autonomous quality in common digital objects and examples of art that are increasingly an important influence for today's culture and society.