Faculty of Arts and Education

School of Humanities and Social Sciences


   A/Prof. Rohan Bastin

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Position Deputy Head of School, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Email rohan.bastin@deakin.edu.au
Area School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Phone +61 3 522 71366
Campus Geelong
Location Room ic2.303
Role and profile Deputy Head of School
Teaching responsibilities Anthropology of Crime and Violence (ASS2/329)
Medical Anthropology (ASS2/306 & ASS706)
Research interests South Asia with a special emphasis on Sri Lanka.
Religious interaction, religious pluralism and new religious movements.
Ritual, festival and pilgrimage.
Anthropological consultancy and expert knowledge.
State violence and ethnic conflict.
Current research projects State intervention in religious practice in South Asia.
Service to the University,
discipline or community  
Deakin University Chaplaincy Advisory Committee
Faculty of Arts-Education Human Ethics Advisory Group
School of Humanities & Social Sciences Executive
Qualifications BA (Adelaide)
PhD (London)
Memberships Fellow, Australian Anthropological Society
Affiliate Member, Alfred Deakin Research Institute
Research link View Deakin associated research data
Publications

Books
2004 Expert Knowledge: First World Peoples, Consultancy, and Anthropology. Edited by Barry Morris & Rohan Bastin. Critical Interventions Volume 5. New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books.
2002 The Domain of Constant Excess: Plural Worship at the Munnesvaram Temples in Sri Lanka. New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books.

Monograph (article length)
2001 Globalisation and Conflict. In A History of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Marga Monograph Series on Ethnic Reconciliation, No. 23. Series editors Michael Roberts, Godfrey Gunatilleke and Devanesan Nesiah. Colombo: MARGA Institute.

Articles
2011 "Shrill Denials: War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Sri Lanka" Arena Magazine 113: 7-9.
2010 "The Australian War Memorial and Fabrications of History: A Cautionary Tale" Nethra Review 11(2): 1-4
2009 "Sri Lankan Civil Society and its Fanatics." Social Analysis 53(1): 123–140.
2009 "'Royal Science' and Civil War in Sri Lanka: a Comment on S. Goonatilake" Contributions to Indian Sociology 43(3): 443–467.
2005 "The Role of Hindu Temples in the Sri Lankan Ethnic Conflict: Capture and Excess". Social Analysis 49(1): 45–66.
2004 "The Death of the Indian Social." Social Analysis 48(3): 204-12.
2003 "Expert Knowledge: First World Peoples, Consultancy and Anthropology." Introduction to Forum, Social Analysis 47(1): 77–83 (with Barry Morris).
2003 "Surrender to the Market: Thoughts on Anthropology, The Body Shop, and Intellectuals." The Australian Journal of Anthropology 14(1): 19–38.
2002 "Sorcerous Technologies and Religious Innovation in Sri Lanka." Social Analysis 46(3): 155–74.
2001 "Ritual Games for the Goddess Pattini." Social Analysis, 45(4):120–42.
1996 "The Regenerative Power of Kali Worship in Contemporary Sri Lanka." Social Analysis 40: 59–94.

Book Chapters
2012 "Empty Spaces and the Multiple Modernities of Nationalism" Appendix 3 in Legends of People, Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and Political Culture in Sri Lanka and Australia fully revised edition, Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books.
2010 "Sri Lankan Civil Society and its Fanatics" in Bruce Kapferer, Kari Telle & Annelin Ericksen (eds) Contemporary Religiosities: Emergent Socialities and the Post-Nation-State. Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books
2005 "The Hindu Temple and the Aesthetics of the Imaginary." In Aesthetics and Performance: Formations of Symbolic Construction and Experience edited by Angela Hobart and Bruce Kapferer. Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books.
2003 "Sorcerous Technologies and Religious Innovation in Sri Lanka". In Beyond Rationalism: Rethinking Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery edited by Bruce Kapferer. Oxford & New York: Berghahn Books.
1997 "The Authentic Inner Life: Complicity and Resistance in the Tamil Hindu Revival." In Sri Lanka: Collective Identities Revisited. Edited by Michael Roberts Volume 1. Colombo: MARGA Institute.
1994 "Development and Tradition in Sri Lanka: the Sinhalese State and Minority Tamils". In Modernity and Identity: Asian Illustrations edited by Alberto Gomes Bundoora, Australia: La Trobe University Press.

Book Reviews (2008 to present)
2011 T.M.S. Evens Anthropology as Ethics: Nondualism and the Conduct of Sacrifice. The Australian Journal of Anthropology 22(3): 422-424
2008 Frederick M. Smith The Self Possessed: Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asian Literature and Civilization. American Anthropologist 110(4): 530–531.
2008 Margaret Trawick Enemy Lines: War, Childhood and Play in Batticaloa and Mark Whitaker Learning Politics from Sivaram The Australian Journal of Anthropology 19(3): 373–376.
2008 Dennis B. McGilvray Crucible of Conflict: Tamil and Muslim Society on the East Coast of Sri Lanka. The Asia-Pacific Journal of Anthropology 9(4): 318–320.
2008 Robert Deliθge, Lιvi-Strauss Today: An Introduction to Structural Anthropology. The Asia-Pacific Journal of Anthropology 9(1): 87–89

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22nd April 2013