The Community Volunteering for Change (CVC) Global subject is offered by the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Arts to students in undergraduate degrees through a partnership with Australian Volunteers International. Students participate in a five-week experiential learning activity in India, in partnership with local NGO Pravah and their network of innovative Indian youth-based organisations.

The partnership with Pravah sees students engage with a range of youth-developed and youth-led community organisations incubated through Pravah’s youth innovation programs. Students work with Indian peers to design and undertake an action research project focused on building awareness and advocacy for a social inclusion issue faced by an excluded group in Indian society.

This peer-to-peer engagement sees students develop close working relationships that allow students to understand the impact of global issues through a new cultural lens. This insight is critical to Australia’s engagement with India as its youth population will continue to emerge as a significant feature of India’s social and economic development.

Since January 2015, 17 University of Melbourne students have participated in Community Volunteering for Change – Global. Hear how a global partnership between a university, an international volunteering agency and an Indian NGO is building youth leadership for social change in Australia and India.



Tiffin Talk- Building Youth Leadership For Social Change

Providing a medium of expression while qualifying as an art form, cinema has been the only medium for entertainment up till not too long ago. Due to the fluid nature of film, one responds to it emotionally. That’s why cinema carries the added burden of providing a melodramatic framework of struggle, conflicts, as well as good and evil according to socially constructed world. It also has to portray style, culture and knowledge. In an Indian society, marriage is sacred, yet adultery by men is guiltless in Hindi cinema. An adulterous husband finally returning to his loyal wife has probably been the commonest feature in Indian films but when it comes to an adulterous wife, film-makers enters into a cautious space. The gender representation is at the cross road of cultural negotiation. It is hesitant and is trapped into the denial of identity. Time changes, and so has Hindi cinema. Looking at mainstream and alternate Hindi cinema, this talk will explore the stereotypes, challenges, conflicts and treatment given in a films dealing with the subject of adultery. These films include Ek Pal, Ek Baar Phir, Astitva, Paroma. This talk will dissect these issues in the context of new wave cinema in films such as Arth as well as comparing the commercial cinema of the 60s, 80s, the 2000s and onwards with reference to films such as Gumrah, Silsila and Kabhi Alvida na Kahna respectively. About the Speaker Masters of Art in Linguistics and a Science graduate, Anita Barar is an accomplished writer; playwright; film maker, poet in Hindi & English language. Winner of ‘Best Work- Film Maker’ and ‘Best Community worker’ by Bhavan Australia, Anita has also been recipient of ‘Editor’s choice award’ and ‘Honoured Poet’ by International Liberary of poets, Washington, and has won first prize in ‘All India Story competition’. Her other recognitions include ‘Samman Patra’ for Hindi language contribution, reading of her stories at various Sydney writers festivals. Her feature documentary Crossing the Line apart from being an official selection at various International Film festivals has also been part of Global conferences on Asian Studies. A doco drama film A New Dawn written and directed by her on the subject of Domestic Violence has been a resource material in Australia whereas her Short films and Theatre writing & performances have been part of various National Film and Theatre festivals. Anita facilitates and tutor creative writing, film and theatre workshops for community projects. She writes for a few film links of India and is also associated with SBS Radio of Australia (Hindi language).

Tiffin Talk: Gendered Infidelity in Hindi Cinema

We Weren’t Born Yesterday was a radio series produced by the Queering the Air collective at 3CR Community Radio exploring queer heritage, vocabulary and intergenerational connections in migrant communities in Australia. It was broadcast in February 2015. Each episode focused on one language community – Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic and Hindi - and included intergenerational conversations between community members; interviews with activists, writers and historians; reviews of art, film and literature; and a discussion of ‘queer vocabulary’ around gender, sexuality and identity. 

As the producer for the Indian episode in the series, our speaker for this Tiffin Talk Arjun will reflect on doing ethnographic work with members of the queer Indian diaspora in Melbourne and discuss common themes that emerged from the interviews with the participants in the show. Specifically, Arjun will reflect on how the queer Indian men and women he interviewed discussed issues around migration, queerness, culture, nostalgia and politics, and the implications these had in their personal and family lives. Further, Arjun will reflect on ongoing negotiations within the broader Indian community with the twin issues of homophobia and social acceptance, and what roles (in)visibility, racism and racial-consciousness, identification and coming out play in the lives of queer Indian migrants and Australians of Indian origin. 

This will be an informal talk on the experiences on producing a radio documentary about homosexuality and the Indian diaspora in Australia. The reflections may nevertheless be relevant to those undertaking ethnographic research and using the oral-histories approach in their studies.

About the Speaker:

Arjun is a programmer on Queering the Air and a PhD candidate in the Journalism & Strategic Communication department at La Trobe University. His research is on the media representation of social movements and political campaigns in India.

We Weren't Born Yesterday

About the Talk:

Indian epics, The Ramayana and The Mahabharata have long been hailed as works that point to the spiritual origins of the Indus Valley civilization. In recent times, the re-telling of these epic have seen a rejuvenation in the fiction writing markets. Best-sellers such as The Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi, Chankya Chants by Ashwin Sanghi and Ajaya: Roll of the Dice by Anand Neelkanthan are case in point to the growing popularity of the mythological fiction genre and both authors and publishers are tapping into the trend.

About the Speaker:

Shriram Iyer is an author and his first book Wings of Silence was published in India by Westland Books/Grey Oak Publishers and was translated into Korean by Darun Publishers in South Korea.

His second novel, Let Me Go will be published in India by Fingerprint Fiction in early 2016. A recipient of the Shankar International Award for Creative Writing, he has authored a few unpublished short stories, adapted scripts for theatre and screenplays for short films.

He is an accomplished singer and songwriter, with over 2.5 million views on YouTube and is currently signed to US-based label 50/50 Global Muzik with his second studio album due in late 2015.

Born in Bangalore, India, Iyer spent his schooling days in the state of Gujarat and has an MBA from the Melbourne Business School. He is currently working on his fourth novel and is based in Melbourne.

Tiffin Talk: The Rebirth of Mythological/Historical Fiction in India

The QUT Business School and the Australia India Institute invite you join special guest, Lance Hockridge – Managing Director and CEO, Aurizon, who will discuss the emerging opportunities associated with the imminent free trade agreement between Australia and India.

About the Talk:

Trade relations between India and Australia have experienced significant growth over recent years.  As negotiations to conclude a free trade agreement continue to progress, industry is looking to identify new opportunities for investment and trade between the two economies.

QUT is pleased to announce a partnership with the Australia India Institute. Established by the University of Melbourne, the Australia India Institute is a leading centre for the study of India through its teaching, research, public policy and emerging business development outreach.

Lance Hockridge Emerging Opportunities in India

For his first public address in Tasmania, High Commissioner Suri will deliver a speech titled India and Australia: Glimpses through a Diplomat's Diary, a unique and personal insight into the range of activities pursued in his life, as he works to strengthen ties between India and Australia.

High Commissioner Navdeep Suri - India and Australia: Glimpses through a Diplomat's Diary

The University of Melbourne established the Australia India Institute in October 2008. In 2009 funding for the Institute was provided by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Both the University of New South Wales and La Trobe University were also founding partners.

The Institute will provide leadership in policy, business briefings, research and postgraduate training, for the benefit of India and Australia and the broader Asia Pacific region. The Institute will attract leading international and Australian experts on India and build on the University’s expertise and relationships.

A strong partnership with business, government and academic institutions in Australia and India will ensure benefits for all. Prominent business and community leaders in Australia and India will assist the University in developing the strategic vision for the Australia India Institute to develop a regional perspective which will enhance understanding and cooperation between Australia and India on trade, scientific, political, cultural and social issues.

Australia India Institute

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