Levelling Wind

‘What I have sought to do in my work is to give voiceless people a voice, place and purpose, the sense of dignity and inner strength that comes from never giving up no matter how difficult the circumstances. History belongs as much to the vanquished as to the victors.’ — Brij V. Lal. ‘Professor Brij Lal is the finest historian of the Indian indentured experience and the Indian diaspora. His Girmitiyas is a classic.’ — Emeritus Professor Clem Seecharan, London Metropolitan University. ‘Brij Lal is a highly respected, versatile and imaginative scholar who has made a lasting contribution to the historiography of the Pacific.’ — Dr Rod Alley, Victoria University of Wellington. ‘Professor Brij Lal’s life is a remarkable journey of a scholar and an intellectual whose writings are truly transformative; a man of moral clarity and courage who also has deep pain at being cut off from his homeland.’ — Professor Michael Wesley, Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. ‘Brij Lal is a singular scholar, whose work has spanned disciplines – from history, political commentary, encyclopedia, biography and “faction”. Brij is without doubt the most eminent scholar in the humanities and social sciences Fiji has ever produced. He also remains one of the most significant public intellectuals of his country, despite having been banned from entering it in 2009.’ — Emeritus Professor Clive Moore, University of Queensland. ‘Brij Lal is an accomplished and versatile historian and true son of Fiji. Above all, there is affirmation here of the enduring worth of good literature and the value of good education that Lal received and wants others to experience. The world needs more Lals who speak out against ruling opinions and dare to stray into the pastures of independent thought.’ — Professor Doug Munro, historian and biographer, Wellington, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Queenslan

The Whitworthian 2006-2007

The Whitworthian student newspaper, September 2006-May 2007.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/whitworthian/1091/thumbnail.jp

Policy Momentum and Transgender Policy Inclusion: Explaining National Policy Change

Western democracies are experiencing a widespread shift towards greater recognition of transgender rights in public policy, yet the timing of policy change differs across states. This dissertation asks: What explains the timing of transgender-inclusive public policy change? To explain this variation, I develop an original theoretical framework called “policy momentum.” Unlike existing work on policy diffusion, which typically emphasizes either domestic or international processes, I theorize how the combined pressure from each level creates the conditions for policy change to occur. Empirically, I contrast two policy areas in Canada and Australia. First, I analyze the creation of national antidiscrimination policies to protect transgender individuals. Canada and Australia prohibited discrimination based on gender identity in 2017 and 2013, respectively. Second, I examine the timing of military policy changes. The Canadian Armed Forces lifted its ban on transgender people in 1992, whereas the Australian Defense Force repealed its ban in 2010. To explain the sequence of events that led to policy change in each case, I rely on 40 elite interviews and more than 15,000 pages of previously classified archival documents. I demonstrate how the timing of policy change in each case is best explained by the policy momentum framework. In the context of antidiscrimination legislation, Canada was primarily influenced by policy adoption across the provinces and, to a lesser extent, the desire to maintain Canada’s international reputation as a human rights leader. Australia, by comparison, was most strongly influenced by its international obligations but the experiences of subnational governments also informed the policy change process. In the more conservative issue area of military policy, the combination of domestic pressure through the judiciary and changes in practices among peer countries led both the Canadian Armed Forces and the Australian Defence Force to lift their bans on transgender military service. This dissertation thus contributes to our knowledge of LGBT+ politics and the creation of more inclusive public policies. It also advances public policy scholarship by creating a more holistic explanatory framework that integrates the multidirectional and multi-jurisdictional sources of pressure that together produce national policy change

New Directions for Law in Australia

For reasons of effectiveness, efficiency and equity, Australian law reform should be planned carefully. Academics can and should take the lead in this process. This book collects over 50 discrete law reform recommendations, encapsulated in short, digestible essays written by leading Australian scholars. It emerges from a major conference held at The Australian National University in 2016, which featured intensive discussion among participants from government, practice and the academy. The book is intended to serve as a national focal point for Australian legal innovation. It is divided into six main parts: commercial and corporate law, criminal law and evidence, environmental law, private law, public law, and legal practice and legal education. In addition, Indigenous perspectives on law reform are embedded throughout each part. This collective work—the first of its kind—will be of value to policy makers, media, law reform agencies, academics, practitioners and the judiciary. It provides a bird’s eye view of the current state and the future of law reform in Australia

The Qur'an Seminar Commentary

The Qur'an Seminar Commentary is an unprecedented work of collaboration in the field of Qur'anic Studies, involving the insights of 25 scholars on 50 Qur'anic passages. These scholars represent a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds and provide readers with unique insights into the latest trends of research in the Qur'an. This Commentary is a useful and illuminating reference work for students and scholars in the field of Qur'anic Studies

Eva and Otto: Resistance, Refugees, and Love in the Time of Hitler

Eva and Otto is a true story about German opposition and resistance to Hitler as revealed through the early lives of Eva Lewinski Pfister (1910–1991) and Otto Pfister (1900–1985). It is an intimate and epic account of two Germans—Eva born Jewish, Otto born Catholic—who worked with a little-known German political group that resisted and fought against Hitler in Germany before 1933 and then in exile in Paris before the German invasion of France in May 1940. After their improbable escapes from separate internment and imprisonment in Europe, Eva obtained refuge in America in October 1940 where she worked to rescue other endangered political refugees, including Otto, with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt. As revealed in recently declassified records, Eva and Otto later engaged in different secret assignments with the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in support of the Allied war effort. Despite their vastly different backgrounds, Eva and Otto gave each other hope and strength as they acted upon what they understood to be an ethical duty to help others threatened by fascism. The book provides a sobering insight into the personal risks and costs of a commitment to that duty. Their unusually beautiful writing—directed to each other in diaries and correspondence during two long periods of wartime separation—also reveals an unlikely and inspiring love story.https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_ebooks/1062/thumbnail.jp

The Qur'an Seminar Commentary

The Qur'an Seminar Commentary is an unprecedented work of collaboration in the field of Qur'anic Studies, involving the insights of 25 scholars on 50 Qur'anic passages. These scholars represent a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds and provide readers with unique insights into the latest trends of research in the Qur'an. This Commentary is a useful and illuminating reference work for students and scholars in the field of Qur'anic Studies

Examining university student satisfaction and barriers to taking online remote exams

Recent years have seen a surge in the popularity of online exams at universities, due to the greater convenience and flexibility they offer both students and institutions. Driven by the dearth of empirical data on distance learning students' satisfaction levels and the difficulties they face when taking online exams, a survey with 562 students at The Open University (UK) was conducted to gain insights into their experiences with this type of exam. Satisfaction was reported with the environment and exams, while work commitments and technical difficulties presented the greatest barriers. Gender, race and disability were also associated with different levels of satisfaction and barriers. This study adds to the increasing number of studies into online exams, demonstrating how this type of exam can still have a substantial effect on students experienced in online learning systems and technologies