Dr Anoma Pieris
PhD, MArch, SMArchS (Research), BSc (BEnv)
Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Email: apieris@ unimelb.edu.au
Pieris joined the University of Melbourne in July 2003. She received her doctorate from UC Berkeley, California for a topic researching the penal history of Singapore. She has degrees in architecture from the University of Moratuwa and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her approach is interdisciplinary with her major research field in architecture and minor fields in South and Southeast Asian history, and Postcolonial Studies. She is currently working on the following areas of research; prisons, nationalism, gender, utopia, Cold War politics, and exhibitions.
Current Teaching Responsibilities
Architectural Design 702503, Architectural Design 702506 and Multicultural/Postcolonial Cities 702637
Current Administrative Responsibilities
BAS Coordinator, Undergraduate Committee
Research Interests
- Prisons
- South and Southeast Asia
- Post Colonial History
- Gender
- Utopia
- Nationalism
Funded Research
| Project | Changi: The Politics of POW Heritage Sites |
| Year: | 2006 |
| Source: | Army History Research Grant |
| Project | Remembering Changi: the architecture of 19 th Century prisons in Asia |
| Year: | 2005 |
| Source: | ECR grant |
| Project | Imagining everyday modernity |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Source: | ECR grant |
Awards Received
- Scott Opler Annual Meeting Fellowships for Emerging Scholars (2004)
Recent Publications
Books
Pieris, Anoma. Hidden Hands and Divided Landscapes: The Penal history of Singapore's Plural Society (forthcoming with Hawaii University Press, April 2009).
Pieris, Anoma. Imagining Modernity: The Architecture of Valentine Gunasekara, (Stamford Lake (Pvt) Ltd & Social Scientists Association, Sri Lanka, July 2007).
Goad PJ & Pieris AD. 2005. New Directions in Tropical Asian Architecture. Sydney, Australia: Pesaro Publishing.
Pieris AD. 2005. JCY: The Architecture of Jones Coulter Young. Sydney, Australia: Pesaro Publishing.
Book Chapters
Pieris, Anoma. "The Trouser under the Cloth: Personal Space in Colonial-Modern Ceylon," in Scriver, Peter/Prakash, Vikramaditya (eds.,). Colonial Modernities: Building, Dwelling, and Architecture in British India and Ceylon. (London; New York : Routledge, 2007 - The Architext Series, pp.199-218).
Pieris, Anoma. "Is sustainability sustainable: interrogating the tropical paradigm in architecture," in (ed.) Philip Bay Joo Hwa and Ong Boon Lay. Tropical Sustainable Architecture: Social and Environmental Dimensions. Elsevier, 2006.
Pieris AD. 2003. Beyond the vernacular house. In GL London & P Bingham-Hall (eds), Houses for the 21st Century. Sydney, Australia: Pesaro Publishing, pp. 42-51.
Pieris AD. 2003. Outside the tropical house. In GL London & P Bingham-Hall (eds), Houses for the 21st Century. Sydney, Australia: Pesaro Publishing, pp. 18-24.
Refereed Journal Articles
Pieris, Anoma. "Modernity at the Margins: Reconsidering Valentine Gunasekara," in Grey Room, 28 (Summer 2007): 56-85.
Pieris AD. 2005. On Dropping Bricks and Other Disconcerting Subjects: Unearthing Convict Histories in Singapore. Fabrications. 15(2):77-93.
Conference Proceedings
Pieris, Anoma. "Redefining the dual city: Changing ideas of plural citizenship in colonial/postcolonial Singapore," in Public Versus Private Planning: Themes, Trends and Tensions, International Planning History Society Conference Proceedings, 2008.
Pieris, Anoma. "The Hidden Hand of Colonial Capital: penal labour and public works," in The Scaffolding of Empire, CAMEA Conference Proceedings, 2007.
Pieris, Anoma. "Scraps and Patches of POW History at the Australian War Memorial," in SAHANZ Conference Proceedings, 2007.Pieris AD. 2004. A Crisis of Boundaries: Gender and the Politics of a Virtual Nation. In H Edquist & H Frichot (eds), LIMITS: Proceedings from the 21st Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand. 383-387. Perth, Australia: Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ).