Associate ProfessorJames Flexner

Major Research Projects:

2021-2026: Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, ‘Archaeologies of community and colonialism in Oceania’, (FT210100244, $AU905,890 research funding over four years)

Abstract: ‘This project aims to understand the colonial past, its repercussions for the present and future in Oceania and the relationships between global forces and local experiences. It will use an interdisciplinary approach to historical archaeology and community archaeology. The unique colonial landscapes in Mangareva, French Polynesia will provide a landmark case study with global implications. In addition to internationally significant scholarly outputs and collaboration development, the project will make a substantive contribution to public outreach and education. Benefits would include advancement of Oceanic contributions to global historical archaeology, and increased awareness of the meanings of colonial heritage among Pacific peoples.’

2018-2023: Australian Research Council Linkage Project (with Dr Geraldine Mate, Ms Imelda Miller, A/Prof Jonathan Prangnell, Dr Helena Robinson, A/Prof Thomas Baumgartl and A/Prof Andrew Fairbairn, ‘Archaeology, collections and Australian South Sea Islander lived identities’ (LP170100048, $AU445,313 research funding over 3 years)

Abstract: ‘Australian South Sea Islanders (ASSIs) are not indigenous to Australia, nonetheless they have a distinctive and vibrant indigenous culture. Their stories involve an ongoing, 150-plus year history of struggle for rights and recognition. Having written little about themselves, most of these stories are on and in the ground in the places that ASSIs have inhabited, and in the objects they have left behind. The proposed research will integrate archaeology, museology, and cultural landscape research to weave together histories of ASSI lives and communities in partnership with living ASSI communities, in order to raise awareness about the ASSI past in Queensland society, and to contribute to senses of ASSI identity in the present and future.

Project website 

2016-2019: Australian Research Council Discovery Project (with Stuart Bedford and Frederique Valentin), ‘3000 years of settlement and interaction in southern Vanuatu’ (DP160103578, $AU317,698 research funding over four years)

Abstract: ‘One of archaeology's most significant contributions is providing models for the emergence of cultural diversity through time. Vanuatu is one of the most diverse regions on Earth. The southern islands were an important hub in early settlement and long-term inter-island interactions of Island Melanesia. Yet little is known about the origins of cultural contacts and diversity in the area. A major archaeological survey of the Polynesian outliers Futuna and Aniwa and neighbouring islands Tanna and Aneityum would greatly improve our knowledge of settlement patterns, long-distance exchange, and cross-cultural interaction in the region, from initial Lapita settlement 3000 years ago through to the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 1860s.’

2013-2016: Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, ‘Mission archaeology and colonial encounters in southern Vanuatu’ (DE130101703, AU$350,505 salary and research funding over three years, hosted at the Australian National University)

Abstract: ‘The remains of Christian missions in southern Vanuatu are important heritage sites for local communities, and for their place in world history as part of one of the final frontiers of European colonialism. This project explores these sites to produce a new picture of everyday life that includes the perspectives of missionaries and native people.’

Other Current Research Projects:

Contact me for student research opportunities (Honours, MA, PhD): historical archaeology collections in Sydney; landscape archaeology in Oceania, socio-politics of archaeology.