The conference has presentations addressing a wide variety of topics in the Indian-Pacific region, including the establishment of commercial and labour networks, the development of notions of sovereignty and the establishment of borders, travel accounts and the construction of ethnic identity, archaeology of the region in the ancient world, cultural encounters in Australia, and much more. Among the current speakers and their topics:

Samina Yasmeen (University of Western Australia) “Moderate Muslim thinkers: A new Phenomenon in the Indian Ocean region?”, Dr Jerry Bentley (University of Hawaii), “Pacific Ethnography and the Theory of Society” and Imtiaz Ahmed (University of Dhaka) “The spectre of subaltern globalization,” Michael Pearson
(Sydney University of Technology) “Violence in the Indian Ocean: Micro and Macro Aspects,” and Marja Van Tilburg (University of Groningen) “Sexual Identities and Women’s Roles: gender in late eighteenth-century cross-cultural encounters in the Pacific.” Attendance at the conference is still possible, although paper submissions have closed. Information about registration can be located at http://www.ecu.edu.au/ses/iccs/conference2006/home.html
The conference will take place from 12-15 December 2006 at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, Western Australia.