Cocos (Keeling) Islands Fieldwork

I'm Nick Herriman, anthropology lecturer at La Trobe Uni. With anthropologist Monika Winarnita, I do fieldwork on with the Cocos Malays. They are descendants of slaves, convicts, and/or indentured laborers brought to these the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the 1800s. From the mid-1900s large numbers migrated to Singapore, Christmas Island, Borneo, and several locations in Western Australia. After a plebiscite, Cocos Malays became part of Australia in 1984.

Fieldwork

I'm Nicholas Herriman, lecturer in Anthropology at La Trobe University. My wife, Monika Winarnita, and I do fieldwork on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

The primary goal is to research Cocos Malay culture on Home Island. Over 400 Cocos Malays reside on Home Island, one of two inhabited islands in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. These atolls are located in the northeast Indian Ocean and are territories of Australia. .

I want this blog to provide an accessible introduction to our fieldwork. Along the way, other anthropological topics and observations might also pop up. The observations are preliminary, but I welcome any feedback from readers, especially Cocos Malays, who would like to clarify or improve the contents.