Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon

This website is no longer active but remains online as an archive of the work of the Asian Migrations Research Theme, which ran between 2012 and 2016. Some of its work has been succeeded by the Centre for Global Migrations.

Go to the Centre for Global Migrations website.


  • Vivienne Anderson, Higher Education Development Centre
  • Erica Bafelli, Lecturer in East Asian Studies, The University of Manchester
  • Tony Ballantyne, Professor of History, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Division of Humanities
  • David Bell, Associate Professor of Education, University of Otago College of Education
  • Vijay Devadas
  • Elizabeth Guthrie, Lecturer in Religion, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Otago
  • Sian Halcrow, Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, University of Otago
  • Jim Headley, Department of Politics, University of Otago
  • Charles Higham, Professor, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago
  • Bible Lee, Assistant Research Fellow, Department of Preventative and Social Medicine, University of Otago
  • Brent Lovelock, Associate Professor, Department of Tourism, University of Otago
  • Angela McCarthy, Professor of Scottish and Irish History, Department of History and Art History, University of Otago
  • Brett Nicholls, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media, Film and Communication, University of Otago
  • Jing-Bao Nie, Associate Professor, Division of Health Sciences, University of Otago
  • Rosemary Overell, Lecturer, Department of Media, Film and Communication, University of Otago
  • Arlene Ozanne, Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Otago
  • John Roxborough, Presbyterian minister, retired theological education and mission historian
  • Benjamin Schonthal, Lecturer in Buddhism, University of Otago
  • Eric Shelton, Assistant Lecturer Commerce, Department of Tourism, University of Otago
  • Yuko Shibata, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, University of Otago
  • Takashi Shogimen, Professor and Head of Department of History and Art History, University of Otago
  • Simon Swale, Lecturer in Fashion, Otago Polytechnic


Vivienne Anderson, Higher Education Development Centre. Research interests include: students' experiences in higher education, gender and higher education, 'internationalisation' as it shapes teaching practice, and qualitative, action and kaupapa Māori research methodologies.

Erica Bafelli, Lecturer in East Asian Studies, The University of Manchester. Research interests include: Japanese Studies, Internet Studies, Japanese Buddhism, History of Religion in Modern Japan, Japanese Religions, New Religious Movements.
For more information go to her webpage

Tony Ballantyne, Professor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Division of Humanities. Research interests include: the cultural history of the British Empire during the 19th century, the development of colonial knowledge, changing understandings of language, religion and race, and the uneven 'webs' of exchange and connection that gave the empire shape, colonial Punjab and the Punjabi diaspora.

David Bell, Associate Professor Education, College of Education, University of Otago. Associate Professor Bell's research interests include: visual arts education, epistemology, curriculum construction, pedagogy, assessment, aesthetic education, substantive aesthetics in the Japanese visual field, Japanese arts in New Zealand contexts, New Zealand/Asian Studies.
For more information go to his departmental webpage

Vijay Devadas. Research interests include: Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Media and Communication, Continental Philosophy (Foucault, Derrida and Deluze), Postcolonial Theory. Dr Devadas is an Associate Director of the recently formed New Zealand India Research Institute.

Stephanie Dobson. Research interests include: migration, gender, identity, Islam, Muslim women, multiculturalism, minorities, representation, space and place, ethnicity, 'race', culture, faith, religious interpretation, diaspora, migration and transnationalism.

Elizabeth Guthrie, Lecturer, Department of Religion, University of Otago. Dr Guthrie lectures on Buddhism, Southeast Asian Religion and New Religious Movements. She has undertaken research in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Arakan and Southwestern China.
For more information go to her departmental webpage

Sian Halcrow, Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, University of Otago. Dr Halcrow's research focuses on the effects of agriculture on human life in prehistoric Southeast Asia using infants and children.
For more information go to her departmental webpage

Jim Headley, Department of Politics, University of Otago. Research interests include: Russian foreign policy, the European Union, comparative regional integration, nationalism, and international relations theory.
For more information go to his departmental webpage

Charles Higham, Professor, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Otago. Professor Higham's research interests include: the prehistory of mainland Southeast Asia, the implications of archaeogenetics and historic linguistics.
For more information go to his departmental webpage

Bible Lee, Assistant Research Fellow, Department of Preventative and Social Medicine, University of Otago. Research interests include: Asian people's health needs in New Zealand, health disparities, migration, acculturation, identity, transnationalism and end-of-life care needs.
For more information go to her departmental webpage

Brent Lovelock, Associate Professor, Department of Tourism, University of Otago. Research interests include: the application of sustainable tourism – in its broadest sense – environmentally, socially and politically. He has undertaken research in North America, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region, examining collaborative planning processes for sustainable tourism development
For more information go to his departmental webpage.

Angela McCarthy, Professor of Scottish and Irish History, University of Otago. Professor McCarthy's research interests include the history of Irish and Scottish migration. Current research includes a Royal Society of New Zealand funded project examining migration, ethnicity, and madness.
For more information go to her departmental webpage

Brett Nicholls, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media, Film and Communication, University of Otago. Research interests include: the problem of communication, control and politics, looking at computer games as a new(ish) form of communication, digitally produced conspiracy theory, and recent shifts in television culture for some ideas on this problem.
For more information go to his departmental webpage

Jing-Bao Nie, Associate Professor, Division of Health Sciences, University of Otago. Research interests include: cross-cultural and international bioethics, medical ethics in China and Asia, reproductive ethics, history of medicine, medical humanities.
For more information go to his departmental webpage

Rosemary Overell, Lecturer, Department of Media, Film and Communication. Research interests include: Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Urban Planning, Cultural Geography, Popular Music, Asian Studies, Japanese Studies, masculinities, Affect Studies, creative cities, heavy metal music, Metal Studies, non-representational theory, Grindcore, Asian-Australian Studies, brutal belonging, and affective belonging.
For more information go to her departmental webpage

Arlene Ozanne, Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Otago. Dr Ozanne's research interests include:  economic education, labour economics, East Asian economic development and empirical modelling of total factor productivity using cross-sectional, time-series and multi-country panel data. She has been involved in teaching labour economics, introductory micro and macroeconomics and on the world economy.
For more information go to her departmental webpage

John Roxborough, Presbyterian minister, retired theological education and mission historian. Dr Roxborough's research interests include: the study of Reformed Christianities, Christian mission, Southeast Asian church history, and Malaysian church history.
For more information go to his webpage

Benjamin Schonthal, Lecturer in Buddhism, University of Otago. Research interests include intersections of law, politics and religion in Southern Asia, with a particular focus on Sri Lanka. Dr Schonthal teaches courses on Buddhism, Southern Asian Religions, religion and law, methods and theories in the study of religion.
For more information go to his departmental webpage

Eric Shelton, Assistant Lecturer Commerce, Department of Tourism, University of Otago. Dr Shelton's research interests include: the relationship between tourism and the human and nonhuman world, particularly the roles of nonhuman animals and the sublime landscape. A developing interest is in the implications for tourism of the utopian notion of the eco-city city as a centre for species conservation and habitat provision.
For more information go to his departmental webpage

Yuko Shibata, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, Department of Languages and Cultures, University of Otago. Research interests include: Trans-Pacific knowledge production, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese Literature, Japanese and East Asian Popular Culture, Gender and Sexuality, Colonialism and Nationalism, Comparative Literature.
For more information go to her departmental webpage

Takashi Shogimen, Professor and Head of Department of History and Art History, University of Otago. Research interests include the political thought of medieval Europe, with special attention to the transformation of political and ecclesiological discourses in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Dr Shogimen is currently pursuing several lines of research. He has been exploring a cross-cultural approach to the history of political thought, which identifies the differences in political vocabularies, discourses, and doctrines between differing cultural, ethnic, or regional units.  He is examining the contribution of medicine to the making of the discourse on body politic in late medieval Europe and in Islamic and East Asian worlds.
For more information go to his departmental webpage

Simon Swale, Lecturer in Fashion, Otago Polytechnic. Research interests include aspects of dress and identity, youth cultures, resistance, and performance.
For more information go to his webpage

Back to top